Inge Dorsey
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Slide - 50 Years, 50 Voices - Inge Dorsey - 0:00 Hi, I’m Inge Dorsey, and my connection to UPEI dates back to 1973 when my mom graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, that was my first memory of being at UPEI. Slide - Student Experiences - 0:17 My campus involvement was quite extensive. In my second year, I got to be an exchange student to a small, state-run university in upper Maryland, and that was an extremely beneficial experience. I came home with a much greater appreciation for UPEI and for my academic experience here. I also was employed on campus as a student assistant in what was then Student Services, and I worked for two years, and instead of getting a paycheck, I got my tuition credited. So, I think I earned a handsome sum of about $1500 a year for ten to fifteen hours work as a student assistant. I also was quite involved in the Student Union. I volunteered and helped chair events like Winter Carnival and I also served as a student senator where I got to really appreciate and understand decision-making, collaborative decision-making, and got to be the student voice. Slide - A Gathering Place - 1:31 My peer group’s social life centred on campus. Interestingly enough, the library was quite a significant place. It was a gathering place for my particular group of friends. There was often a study room booked - there was some studying that went on, but there was a pretty fierce game of Auction 45s you could probably find almost any day or evening. The library was where we gathered. We certainly spent some time at the Panther Lounge and attended some pretty significant entertainment events at the barn at that time, and, being involved in the Student Union, we wanted to be at the barn. We wanted to support the Student Union’s activities by attending. I can remember going to fancy dress-up dances. We had a Winter Carnival ball, and, actually, I remember dancing with the President of the University, Dr. Willy Elliot, at the convocation ball, you know it was pretty nice to be asked to dance with the President of the University. Slide - Carrelville - 2:55 Carrelville was the actual, physical location on the second level of Robertson Library where a group of my peers had their own study carrels, and they created their own, little utopian society up there where - this was where people gathered, people had their own assigned carrel, but they elected their own mayor of Carrelville, and it became the gathering place for a peer group that I belonged to and enjoyed their company. I personally didn’t have a carrel in Carrelville, but my husband did and many of my mutual friends. Slide - Perspectives & Capabilities - 3:55 Teaching and learning when - in the best case scenario, is a reciprocal process, and I certainly, I think that every semester, I learn as much as the students do. In terms - I’m continually impressed with the capability of students, their ability to synthesize information, to consume information, to communicate in a sophisticated and intellectual way. I’m - students have a facility to use technology in interesting and engaging ways, you know, beyond anything that I had the opportunity to experience as a student or would feel comfortable engaging in myself. And so, I learn from through looking at things from their perspective, and I am - at the end of every semester, I purposefully organize my courses so that students present their learning through presentations at the end. And what a beautiful way to end a course together, is by seeing these students stand up there and present what they’ve learned in a professional and engaging way. It’s, it’s my favourite time of the semester. Slide - Proud UPEI Family - 5:36 I’m a proud alumni, and I wear my own graduation ring, and I often put that on the first day of the semester and I proudly tell my own students that I am an alumni member. I also come from a proud UPEI family. My own mother graduated in 1973. She was a mom who was coming back to earn her degree in order to pursue her career as a public school teacher. She had four children at home. She became pregnant while she was finishing her degree with her fifth child. I have very clear memories of my father packing us all up in the car to take us to the North River Drive-In when my mother would be studying for summer school exams. Two of my siblings - three of my siblings attended UPEI and two graduated with degrees, and, in the next generation, our own daughter graduated in 2016 with a nursing degree and I have a niece who graduated from the next generation, as well. So, I’m proud to be part of the three-generationed UPEI family. Slide - Bachelor of Integrated Studies - 7:03 UPEI introduced the Bachelor of Integrated Studies program in 2009, and in January 2018, I became the coordinator for the Bachelor of Integrated Studies in the Faculty of Arts. This is an academic program that is geared specifically for mature students, and this is an opportunity for people who maybe have never attended university in the past or perhaps have some college or university experience to integrate their learning from other places, including their life in workforce into a degree program at UPEI. It’s been a genuine pleasure to be involved with Integrated Studies, for me. I’ve had the opportunity to work with highly motivated students who have a flexible degree program that allows them to concentrate in a discipline in arts, science or business, that allows them to self-direct some of their learning to their own personal goals and interests. It’s - yesterday, I had a brand new BIS student; a mom who’s got four kids who’s returning after twenty-four years away from post-secondary learning, tell me excitedly and hug me because she was so happy that she got an eighty-eight on her midterm exam. The joy that those - to share in the joy that these students experience, the thrill of learning, of belonging to this community, it’s beautiful, and I’ve had the opportunity to meet people who come to university in retirement, who are here just for the intellectual and social stimulation of being in the university environment. It’s a, it’s a pleasure. Slide - Favourite Day - 9:22 My favourite day of the year at UPEI is convocation day, when we have the opportunity as a campus community to truly celebrate our students’ greatest accomplishment which is graduating with their degrees. Because we have very few occasions that we invite, formally, families to campus - well, as a public place, people are welcome any time - but, there’s only a couple of times in a student’s experience at UPEI that we formally invite their families here. Convocation day is the happiest day of the year, and the, to see the joy of students receiving their degree and to have the opportunity to meet their mom or their dad or some other family member who has supported them throughout their educational experience is a real pleasure and I’ve - it’s a real treat for me when students invite me to get my picture taken when I’m dressed in my academic regalia, with them in their robe and their hood and maybe with their mom or dad who’s travelled a long ways away to come and celebrate with them. That’s my favourite day. Slide - Final Thoughts - 10:55 When I look at the change in the physical landscape of the campus from my time here as a student, you know, while I’m proud of the development, I mean, from a student population-wise, when I was here our student population was about fifteen hundred. Now we’re in the five thousand range. We offer a greater diversity of programs for students. We welcome people from all over the world here. All of that is exciting development. It’s my wish for UPEI that we also retain all the best parts of being a small institution that offers a very personal educational experience for our students. There are many faculty and staff at UPEI who shared the experience that I did. I can walk around and see lots of people who were here when I was a student who care very deeply for people. I attended the retirement of one of my professors, Dr. Phil Davis, in religious studies, and at his retirement, he talked about Sister Bernice Cullen, who was the first ever woman who graduated with a degree from St. Dunstan’s and went on to be a faculty member, that she made the distinction that she teaches people, not courses. And so it’s my hope that in the next fifty years of going forward, that we as a faculty will always remember that we teach people, not courses.