One of our own was very nearly elected to the B.C. Legislature earlier this month when NDP candidate Bart Healey lost out in the suburban Vancouver riding of Burquitlam. Bart, now 44, earned a B.A. in History and Political Studies. Bart has been busy over the last twenty years or so, operating a small business, co-founding Burnaby's first Community Policing office, and serving for nine years on the Community Policing Advisory Council. He also sat on the Board of Directors of New Vista Foundation advocating for seniors, and was a delegate to the New Westminster Labour Council. Click here to see Bart's election website.

Martha Smith-Norris was in Montreal earlier this month to participate in the National Roundtable on U.S. Studies, convened by the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America (The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program).

Congratulations to Rob Paul, who on May 13 successfully defended his M.A. thesis, "The Domestic President: The School Desegregation, Welfare Reform, and Environmental Policies of Richard M. Nixon."

Congratulations to Julie Gibbings (MA 2004), now a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), who has just been awarded the U of S Humanities and Fine Arts Graduate Thesis Award for her MA thesis entitled "Becoming Green Citizens and Other Subjects: Community Forests in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala".

On behalf of the entire History Department, What's Up extends its warmest congratulations to all the History Graduates who received degrees this morning at Spring Convocation, and to those who graduated in absentia. It has been a pleasure working with you, we are proud of all you have achieved thus far, and we wish you all the very best for the future.

The M.A. Oral Examination for Michael Thome is set for Monday, May 30, at 9:30 am, in Arts 710. Michael's thesis is entitled "Hon. Sir Frederick W.G. Haultain: A Political Biography 1905-1912."

Among the many History Graduates at Convocation this morning was Bonnie Wagner, who was officially granted her M.A. Bonnie actually completed her degree some months back, and has since been putting it to good use. She is currently working as a Cultural Resource Management/Communications Intern with Parks Canada in their Saskatoon office. It is a nine month position in which she is gaining experience in all aspects of Parks Canada work, and is putting her history skills to good effect in conducting historical research and in writing newspaper articles and press releases on historic sites in the region.

Many congratulations to Bill Waiser, who presented a special advance copy of his forthcoming book, Saskatchewan: A New History, to Queen Elizabeth last Friday at a special private ceremony during her visit to Saskatoon in commemoration of the province's centennial. "This book is the University's gift to the Province in this centennial year. I am honoured that we can now also call it our gift to the House of Windsor," said U of S President Peter MacKinnon. In addition to Bill and the Queen, those in attendance included Marley Waiser and Prince Philip, along with Lieutenant Governor Lynda Haverstock; President MacKinnon, and former provincial finance minister and History Professor Janice MacKinnon; University Chancellor Tom Molloy and Alison Molloy; and University Secretary Gordon Barnhart and Naomi Barnhart. Saskatchewan: A New History will be published in early June. Click here to read the official university press release about Bill, the Queen, and the Book.

Jacqueline Smith-Norris, at age five one of the younger members of the extended History Department family, presented flowers to Queen Elizabeth on Friday, during her (the Queen's) brief walk-about prior to a scheduled tour of the Canadian Light Source facility on campus. Interviewed afterward by CTV and other media outlets, Jacqueline recounted that the Queen said "Thank you" for the flowers.

Log Me In! We here at What's Up have been impressed of late with the ease and utility of LogMeIn.com, a free downloadable program that enables you (with permission and by prior arrangement) to access and operate a designated computer from afar: your office computer from home or an internet cafe in Papua New Guinea, for example, or your father-in-law's computer in Connecticut. With the free version of LogMeIn, you can work on documents and check email -- even send yourself an attachment of the file you forgot to bring. You can help distant friends and family sort out software problems by taking over temporary command of their computer. With the Pro version ($12.95 US per month) you can also transfer files from one computer to another efficiently and in bulk. If you are planning a research trip, you can (upon request) arrange for a Pro subscription for just a month at a time. Security is an obvious concern, but LogMeIn allows only designated users access to designated machines. The program is fast and remarkably easy to set up, and helpful and efficient support staff are just an email or 1-800 call away.

GoodNotes is a free open source FireFox browser extension for group online research. It allows faculty and students to categorize, leave notes on, and share web pages without leaving the browser. Have a look at http://www.goodnotes.org/.

Doctoral candidate Brendan Edwards recently returned from England after delivering a paper at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park as part of the Association for Commonwealth Studies conference on "The Literatures of the Commonwealth."

Historian Wanted: The Association of Professional Community Planners of Saskatchewan is sponsoring a centenary project involving the research and compilation of the history of planning in Saskatchewan. To that end, the Association is looking to hire an individual or individuals to undertake the project (for which a majority of the background material has already been collected). The person hired will have expertise in Planning, History, Geography, Local History, or a related discipline. The project entails organizing the materials collected, compiling a series of timelines, and writing a 10-20 page report highlighting the landmarks in Saskatchewan planning. The person hired will receive an honorarium of $1,000. The project deadline is September 15, 2005. Deadline for applications is May 31, 2005. For more information, contact Paula Kotasek at paula.kotasek@city.saskatoon.sk.ca or at (306) 975-7723.

Congratulations to Erika Dyck (MA 2000), who in addition to preparing to defend her Ph.D. at McMaster University this summer, has just landed a tenure-track appointment in Medical History at the University of Alberta. Erika's position is cross-listed, and she will be dividing her time between the departments of Medicine & Dentisty, on the one hand, and History & Classics, on the other.

M.A. candidate Rob Paul was among those offering testimonials at Man Kam Leung's retirement party last week. This Friday, May 13th, at 9:am in Arts 710, Rob has the opportunity to testify on his own behalf during the oral examination of his M.A. thesis, "The Domestic President: The School Desegregation, Welfare Reform, and Environmental Policies of Richard M. Nixon." The room is small, but anyone who wishes to attend may do so. Good luck, Rob!

Man Kam Leung, seen here at his retirement party last Wednesday, May 4th. The Faculty Club was thronged for the occasion. Colleagues, friends, family, and past and present students assembled from far and wide. There were a great many testimonials (prose and poetry), along with Chinese music, dragon dancers, much food, and a huge cake in MK's honour. Safe to say that a good time was had by all. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Advance notice: The official Saskatchewan Centennial Conference will be held in Regina next September 8-10th, next September, co-organized by our own Bill Waiser with help from several other members of our department. Click here for more details, and an invitation for you to attend.

Before you charge off to the library, know that as of today the materials in the Main Library Stacks catalogued within the "C" classification range [Auxiliary Sciences of History] have been moved from their accustomed place on the 3rd floor to their new location on the 5th floor. The new location should appear in the individual catalogue records.

Valerie Korinek has just published "'Mrs. Slobs' Manifesto: A Case Study in Critical Reading of Chatelaine Magazine", in Gendered Intersections: An Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2005). The book is edited by Lesley Biggs and Pamela Downe, our near neighbours in the U of S Department of Women's and Gender Studies.

Late breaking news... CRC postdoctoral fellow Lissa Wadewitz has just been awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University's Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West. Lissa came to us from UCLA, and this award allows her to return to California in style. What's Up wishes her all the very best.

For the record, over the first two years of the Canada Research Chair Postdoctoral Program in Native-Newcomer Relations, all four Fellows who came here to work with Jim Miller (Myra Rutherdale, Whitney Lackenbauer, Angela Wanhala, and Lissa Wadewitz) have secured prestigious appointments in Canada, New Zealand, or the United States during the first year of their two-year awards.

This just in.... John McCannon is one of three recipients of the College of Arts and Science Teaching Excellence Award for 2005. John was nominated by his departmental peers for his outstanding work as a teacher, but it was the overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses of his students over the past few years that sealed the deal. Congratulations, John.

Congratulations to M.A. candidate Chris Clarke, who has been awarded a Coca-Cola Bursary from the College of Graduate Studies.

Our busy friends at CMRS are hosting a major conference here next year. The preliminary program for the 2006 Meeting of the Classical Association of the Canadian West, to be held in Saskatoon this coming February, is now available, along with abstracts of the papers to be delivered, at:http://www.usask.ca/classics/cacw/. Those interested can contact conference organizer John Porter (<porterj@duke.usask.ca>) for more information.

Erin Millions (BA.Hons, MA), currently completing the first year of her doctoral studies in Canadian History at the University of Calgary, has been awarded a prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) Doctoral Scholarship from SSHRC (the upper echelon of SSHRC's doctoral awards). Congratulations, Erin!

Congratulations to Teresa Redlick, who has been awarded a SSHRC/CGS M.A. Scholarship for her work in Russian History.

Very many congratulations to Pamela Jordan, currently on maternity leave, who has received a SSHRC Standard Research Fellowship for her work on evaluating Russia's membership in the G8.