From time to time we hear from EDCP and for that matter UBC alumni who share the news of the passing of a former colleague, supervisor, instructor, student, etc. Below is a collection of tributes that have been sent to us for sharing with the EDCP community. Please contact us if you have information you would like to see added to this page.
Dr. Inge Andreen passed away on August 26, 2022. Inge was an Alumna of the Department of Physical Education (now the School of Kinesiology) graduating in 1961. She became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies (now Curriculum and Pedagogy), serving a 35-year career as a dedicated teacher and scholar. She retired in 1999.
A celebration of Inge’s life took place at the UBC Golf Club on October 16, 2022.
Please read Dr. Andreen’s obituary.
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of one of our former Faculty of Education colleagues. Dr. Anne Anthony passed away on September 1st, 2016.
Anne was born in England on 16 Feb 1938. She arrived from the UK in 1966 for a year at Prince of Wales Secondary School as an exchange teacher after teaching secondary in England. She decided to return to make her home in Vancouver and was appointed to the UBC Faculty of Education Physical Education Department was in 1969. Anne was appointed to teach the elementary physical education pedagogy courses and later taught the secondary physical education pedagogy courses. Anne received her Ph.D in 1987 from the University of Alberta.
Dr. Anne Anthony
Anne's passion for orienteering and outdoor activities resulted in the development of several unique Teacher Education courses in Outdoor Education. She also developed the Outdoor Environmental Education Diploma program that was approved by the Faculty of Education in 1993. Furthermore, Anne did all this while being very challenged with cancer which she successfully and very bravely overcame with the support of all her Breast in a Boat paddler friends and her St Philips Church community. Teacher Education students were inspired by Anne’s wonderful enthusiasm and passion for active living and the great outdoors. Anne retired from UBC in the summer of 2003 at the age of 65. Anne was a wonderful colleague and full of character and energy. She will be greatly missed by all her UBC colleagues and former teacher education students.
It is with sadness that we recently learned of the death of Cliff (Kip) Anastasiou, a Faculty member in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education (currently the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy) from 1962 to 1994. After completing his B.A. (1952) and M.Ed. (1957) at UBC he taught high school science in West Vancouver, Anaheim, and Claremont from 1955 to 1961. Kip then went on to complete his PhD at Claremont Graduate University in 1963 in the Department of Botany with a thesis on “Ascomycetes and Fungi Imperfecti from the Salton Sea”. While he maintained an interest in Mycology and published several scholarly articles on the subject, his primary teaching and research interests focused on the development of curriculum materials focusing primarily on the fields of environmental education and health education. His interest and expertise in Curriculum Development led to work in a number of important international curriculum projects in the 60’s and 70’s. The most notable of these were his work at the Education Development Center in Cambridge Massachusetts and his Directorship of the Primary Math and Science Peace Corp Program in Kuala Lumpur. In the 1980’s Kip played a leadership role in the establishment of the Pacific Circle Consortium (PCC), an initiative in international co-operation between educational research and development in the Pacific Region. Currently there are 15 countries involved in the PCC. In 1987 Kip was instrumental in establishing the journal Pacific Education, a publication supported by the PCC, and he served as editor-in-chief from 1986 to 1989. It is currently an internationally refereed journal called Pacific-Asian Education and is focused on issues of policy development and educational research in the Pacific and Asian regions.
Dr. Clifford "Kip" Anastasiou
However, his most significant curriculum development work was at the local and national level with the establishment of the Pacific Educational Press. Under Kip’s direction and leadership this local Press was initiated in 1971 as a vehicle to publish a series of teachers’ guides emanating from the Vancouver Environmental Education Project – a collaborative project with a group of local teachers writing curriculum guides using the local environment to study a variety of science, math, and environment related issues. In all, thirteen teachers’ guides were published over a period of 12 years. In the 1980’s, up to the time of his retirement in 1994, Kip continued his collaborative writing projects with local teachers and educators with a series of health related guides for teachers such as a sourcebook on Cancer (“The Wild Cells”) for teachers and students for the Canadian Cancer Society along with a number of other teacher guides on health related issues for the B.C. Ministry of Health. His collaborative work with practicing teachers was both notable and unusual at the time and clearly demonstrated the value and importance of this type of curriculum model. His legacy of initiating Pacific Educational Press carried on for decades and it became a significant educational press publishing over 300 educational resources across a variety of subject areas, including: Aboriginal and First Nations Education, Mathematics, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, Curriculum Studies, and Family Studies/Home Economics. In November 2015, Pacific Educational Press found a new home at UBC Press.
Kip will be missed by past and present colleagues in the Faculty and by the many teachers, educators, and students that he worked with over his distinguished career. His obituary may be found at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/vancouversun/obituary.aspx?n=clifford-anastasiou-kip&pid=189103847
It is with immense sadness that we share the news of the passing of Katharine Borgen on April 3, 2014.
Katharine received a BEd from the University of Alberta and her MA and PhD from UBC in Curriculum Studies (Math Education). She taught in secondary schools in Edmonton, Burnaby and Vancouver.
Katharine joined the Faculty of Education as Adjunct Professor in 2009 on secondment from the Vancouver School Board where she served as Math Mentor. She taught courses in the BEd and Math Education programs and authored or co-authored several books and guides for use in math education including Mathworks 10, 11 and 12 published by Pacific Educational Press.
Katharine was an EDCP member until her retirement in June, 2013.
Dr. Catharine Borgen
It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Professor Joy Butler on September 16, 2019.
Born in Cambridge England in 1957, Professor Butler was always determined to make a difference in the world. She surmounted class and gender obstacles in order to attend college and become a teacher. She was a visionary Head of Department and national youth basketball coach, using methods and programs that were considered innovative at that time. In 1989, Joy and her partner Claire moved to the US where Joy completed her master’s degree and then her doctorate, both at Boston University. After taking up a faculty position at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, Joy became one of the world’s best-known advocates for TGfU (Teaching Games for Understanding), a teaching model that uses adaptations to sports and games to make them accessible for all students. The inaugural TGfU conference that Joy convened in 2001 was the first time international TGfU educators met formally. Their rich collaborations led to an international TGfU Task Force, which Joy chaired for many years. In her current position as Professor at The University of British Columbia, Joy has worked with international colleagues to continue to research, document, and implement TGfU, as well as to research ways in which it can be used to teach democratic skills such as negotiation and decision-making, discussed in her most recent book, “Playing Fair”. Joy practiced what she preached. Diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer over 5 years ago, she exercised daily throughout a long series of debilitating treatments and continued teaching until a few months before her death.
Joy is predeceased by her father, Gordon, and her aunt, Pauline. She is survived by her beloved wife, Claire Robson, with whom she travelled and adventured for over 30 years. She is also survived by her mother, Irene, her uncles, John and Kenneth, her brother, Laurie, her sister-in-law, Tina, and her cousin, Debbie, as well as several other cousins, nieces, and nephews. Joy will be missed by her chosen family, students, and colleagues, and her friends in many community circles.
Dr. Joy Butler
View"Celebration of Life - Joy Butler" powerpoint.
View Dr. Joy Butler's faculty profile.
We are very sad to announce that Dr. Robert Carlisle, Emeritus Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education at UBC, passed away on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and after graduate work at Harvard University in the early 1970s, Dr. Carlisle came to UBC as Assistant Professor of Science Education in 1975, having previously worked as a Science Education tutor at the University of Leicester, UK. He was tenured in 1979 and gained promotion to Associate Professor in 1994. He retired from UBC in 1997.
Prior to coming to UBC, Dr. Carlisle had been extremely active in the development of science curricula. He played a significant role in the early work of the Nuffield Project in the United Kingdom, and was project director of the African Primary Science Project, a project conducted by the Educational Development Center in Boston, while he undertook his doctorate at Harvard. During his time at UBC, his primary interests were in the areas of curriculum development in science at the elementary level, and in students’ learning of science in informal settings, such as science centres, aquaria, and planetariums. His work with graduate students and with schools was greatly applauded by those who came under his supervision.
Dr. Robert Carlisle
It is with sadness that the Faculty learned of the passing of Allen Clingman on March 27, 2005. Dr. Clingman was a member of the Faculty of Education for 33 years until he retired in 1992 as Head of the Music Education program in Visual and Performing Arts in Education (VPAE). Dr. Clingman was born in Newton, Iowa on June 19, 1929, served during the Korean War, took his B.A. and M.A. at Drake University in Iowa, and received his Doctorate from Columbia University in 1958. Dr. Clingman taught instrumental music at UBC and was an advocate of Community Music Education. Over the years he presented many papers on Community Music Education at the International Society for Music Education (ISME). Dr. Clingman was also past president of CMEA, and BCMEA, and a long-time Canadian delegate to the ISME conferences.
Allen Clingman Memorial Prize - A prize has been endowed by friends, family, colleagues and alumni in memory of Dr. Allen Clingman for an outstanding graduate student in music education.
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of one of our former colleagues. Dr. Glen Thomas Dixon passed away at age 77 on December 7, 2016.
Glen’s education profile includes: Diploma in Elementary Education (Manitoba Teachers College - 1962), Bachelor of Music Education (Lowell University, Mass. USA - 1968), M.Ed. in Child Study (Tufts University - 1969), Certificate in Educational Admin (New York University - 1971) and Ed.D. in Early Child Education (University of Georgia - 1975). Glen taught in various schools in Winnipeg and New York before taking up appointments as Assistant Professor at University of Georgia (1973 – 1975) and University of Texas (Austin, 1975 – 1977) before taking an appointment in the same capacity at UBC (1977).
Glen retired from UBC in 2004 at the rank of Associate Professor. His profile at UBC includes over 70 invited presentations and refereed and non-refereed publications. We wish to acknowledge that Glen’s career is underscored by numerous outstanding awards including: in 1968, Glen received American Association of University Professors’ Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement at Massachusetts State College at Lowell; in 1984, Outstanding Member and Distinguished Service Awards by Association of Childhood Education International; in 1989, Kentucky Colonel Award for Outstanding Service to Education from the Governor’s Office of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; and in 1993, he received ACEI Outstanding Achievement Award.
Many of us who knew Glen will remember him as a colleague who offered a lot to education at UBC, especially to the Early Child Education community. He was Coordinator and Director of the UBC Child Study Centre (CSC) from 1982-1997. In 1994, he reported that the CSC was "one of Canada’s leading campus-based child development laboratory research and demonstration facility". Glen often hosted small groups of visiting educators. Numerous monthly seminars were a common feature at the centre. As well, workshops were offered at the centre to visiting educators who at one time included African Early Childhood Educators.
With Glen’s leadership, the Child Study Centre was for a long time a site for some of our current faculty’s research. The Centre was well renowned as a model/high quality daycare and also hosted, for a number of years until it closed down in June 1997, several programs including the Children’s Art Program.
Glen spent his final years supervising teacher candidates on practicum in Kindergarten classrooms while at the same time directly sharing his expertise with the future K teachers. He was a dedicated professional who worked hard to advocate for and support young children's learning and growth in safe and rich environments.
Dr. Glen Dixon
The Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy is sad to announce the passing of Dr. William Elder Doll Jr. on December 27, 2017.
Dr. Doll was a world renowned curriculum theorist and adjunct professor of EDCP. As a teacher and teacher educator he achieved the highest honours in his field, and was praised of his commitment, work ethic, passion, and unrelenting desire to advance curriculum studies internationally. Dr. Doll’s work and service to his profession will be sorely missed.
View family’s announcement of his passing.
Dr. William E. Doll Jr.
A message from Peter Grimmett about Bill Doll's passing:
Just as the priest was committing the corpse into God’s care at 1:50 pm on Saturday January 6, 2018, in that one glorious moment, the sun chose to burst forth in splendour and light up the darkened room of the quaint old church that goes by the name of St Francis Xavier Church in Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island. It was hard to miss, this mysterious sign that seemed, to those of us gathered there, as if the spirit of Bill Doll was once again palpably present in the room, serenading the mourners who were then inhabiting the cramped sanctuary. Bill Doll, that rare individual, full of winsomeness and pedagogical playfulness, whose presence transforms the lives of everyone he touches. Even in death, Bill Doll’s winsomeness and playful pedagogy were manifest.
Along with Samson Nashon, Bill Pinar, Jean Kentel, and Peter Trane, I was privileged to represent the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP) at Bill Doll’s funeral last Saturday. EDCP was Bill Doll’s last academic home. He was a Visiting Professor between 2012 and 2016. The course that he and Donna Trueit taught was immensely popular with students and faculty members alike, each year it was oversubscribed. Bill was particularly generous with his time and ideas, helping graduate students and junior faculty members to gain confidence in their scholarship, resulting in the publishing of their own ideas, in many cases for the first time. Such was the enthusiasm and creative energy that Bill brought to both his classes and the department seminar series which, with Bill Pinar, he led for nearly four years, that faculty members and graduate students alike became intellectually excited at being in his very presence.
Bill Doll was indeed a rare individual, a curriculum scholar who was also a pedagogue, a teacher and teacher educator who achieved the highest honours in his field, who was praised for his commitment, work ethic, passion, and unrelenting desire to advance curriculum studies internationally. But most of all, he was a rare individual whose very presence, his joie de vivre and hearty laughter, his tremendous intellect and effervescent spirit, transformed the lives and scholarship of everyone he touched. A close friend and conceptual soul mate of Bill Pinar for decades, Bill Doll became a close confidante of mine as I blithely toiled in leadership. He was a constant source of inspiration, grace, and joy to everyone he met and his munificent and ungrudgingly lavish support of scholarly discourse in EDCP remains a weighty and far-reaching pièce de resistance. He is now at peace. But we miss him greatly!
It is with sadness that the Faculty learned of the passing of Dr. Michael Foster on January 14, 2021. Dr. Foster was a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art Education (later amalgamated into the Department of Visual and Performing Arts in Education). Dr. Foster’s specialty was early childhood and he ran the Elementary Arts methods courses at UBC and the Child Study Centre where he taught Saturday morning art classes. In addition to his UBC career, Dr. Foster was a trained actor. He broadcast a monthly CBC art program, “Pictures in the Air”, during which children drew to the stories he told. Teachers throughout BC used this program as part of their classroom instruction in art at the elementary level. Dr. Foster was an important member of a vibrant art education group when the Faculty of Education gave undergraduate degrees including a major in elementary art education. He retired from UBC in 1989.
Full obituary
It is with deep sadness and sorrow we learned about the passing of Gordon Gore, whose distinguished career in education and specifically in science education spanned decades. Dr. Gore was one of our instructors from 1993 to 1996. He passed away on November 11, 2020. On behalf of the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, we wish to express our condolences to Dr. Gordon Gore’s family and professional colleagues. Dr. Gore had a long-standing relationship with the UBC Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP) and UBC in general as an Instructor of Physics Methods course for Preservice Science Teachers. Those of us who knew him and his works, including curricular publications, his passion for science teaching, and his immense knowledge of hands-on science will forever miss this great educator. Gordon, WE will miss YOU!
Dr. Gordon Gore
We are sad to announce the death, on December 21, 2014, of Mr. Frederick (Fred) Gornall, Associate Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Science Education.
Mr. Gornall, born in Victoria, BC, in 1920, was a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy and served during World War II. He was a high school teacher and principal in the 1950s, having completed a teacher education program (with distinction) at Vancouver Normal School, in 1949. He taught at Midway Superior School, Rutland Secondary School, and Como Lake Secondary School.
Mr. Gornall earned a BA (1952) and BEd (1957), from UBC, and was appointed a lecturer, at UBC, in 1959. He rose to the rank of associate professor, and served as Chair of the Department of Science Education (1972-78). Mr. Gornall taught environmental education, methodology in curriculum and instruction in science, and curriculum development in elementary science. His specialty was botany. Mr. Gornall was a team member of NITEP (1975-80) and taught in Terrace, Williams Lake, Kamloops and North Vancouver. In addition to his many memberships in science teachers’ associations, Mr. Gornall shared his leadership gifts with the BC Waterfowl Society, the Canadian Forestry Association, the Council of Outdoor Educators of BC, and the Tynehead Zoological Society. He travelled extensively and visited over 140 countries, including trips to the Canadian Arctic and to Antarctica. He retired in 1983.
Mr. Frederick Gornall
We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of one of our former colleagues, Dr. James Underwood Gray, on March 18, 2017. Professor Gray was born on November 8, 1927.
In 1950, Jim graduated from the Vancouver School of Art and Design with Honours in Drawing and Painting and from Vancouver Provincial Normal School (1951). He then taught in four Vancouver elementary schools and as an art specialist at Gladstone Secondary. From 1959-1967, he was Supervisor of Art for the VSB. After completing his PhD at the University of Washington he joined the Department of Visual and Performing Arts in Education (VPAE) at The University of British Columbia.
Jim was a mentor and an adviser to undergraduate and graduate students including Professor Rita Irwin, previously a Department Head of Curriculum Studies, Associate Dean for Teacher Education and now a UBC Distinguished Scholar. Jim provided counsel that was always thoughtful, considered, and practical. He had that rare quality, prized by senators in republican Rome, called ‘gravitas’ – imperturbable, not swayed by trends or superficial posturing. Jim was the kind of person you could try out ideas on, and be sure of a reasoned response, even if it wasn’t the one you were looking for. He was responsible for the creation of Quarterly Quorum, a lecture series that ran for years, drawing upon visiting Canadian and American art educators and helping raise UBC’s profile to an international level. He was very active both in the Canadian Society for Education through Art, and in the National Art Education Association (USA).
Jim taught a wide range of studio courses and graduate degree program courses in curriculum and instruction. His central belief, contained in the phrase “To hire a teacher is to hire a curriculum,” was that teachers stitch together programs for their students out of their own enthusiasms, experiences, and areas of expertise. This was in direct contrast to the widely held belief among some in higher education that a well written textbook provided all that a novice art teacher needs to conduct a successful program.
Jim retired from UBC in 1992 as a Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Jim Gray
Jim Gray Obituary written by Bill Macdonald, former UBC student (M.Ed '82)
We sadly share the news of the death of one of our former colleagues, Professor Sinclair Healy.
“Clair,” as he was affectionately known to his associates), passed away on March 14, 2017.
He was hired to the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at UBC in 1960 as a painter in the days when academic research in art education as a field of study was in in the early stages of development. In the late 1950s, he did his graduate work at Columbia University (MFA) and received a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Art (University of London). Prior to his appointment at UBC, he was an Art Instructor at New Brunswick Teachers’ College, including the Art Program, Grades 1-8, in the Teachers’ College Model School.
Clair taught through studio work and was widely respected as a master artist who promoted studio discipline as the key to success in the art classroom. He was an accomplished painter whose work was unrepentantly representational — a Maritime Realist of the Alex Coleville school — a fine artist who chose to ignore fashion but was every bit as impressive as his contemporaries. He was an amiable man, and was well liked and respected by both colleagues and students.
Clair continued to grow as an artist throughout his lifetime. From 1952-1984 he had numerous, successful exhibits of his works in New Brunswick and British Columbia. His art is represented in many private and public collections, including the Lord Beaverton Art Gallery and the University of New Brunswick, the BC Historical Society, and the UBC Faculty of Education art collection. As a compliment to his associates, over 25 years Clair produced hundreds of small Faculty portraits — a "rogues gallery” of the Faculty of Education.
Dr, Sinclair Healy and Scarfe portrait
We will miss his great talent and kind nature.
Heather Kelleher passed away peacefully on September 24, 2016 with family members by her side at the Yaletown House in Vancouver. Those of us who knew Heather as a friend and colleague in the Faculty will deeply miss her warm and generous spirit, her upbeat (often offbeat) sense of humor, and her fondness for travel, adventure and dance. "Andiamo!" was her usual response to any suggestion of a trip, and the phrase, "Onward and upward!" expressed her enthusiastic approach to each day. She loved spending time with her family including her husband Steve, her son Dave and daughter Bryn and their spouses, and her four young grandchildren. Heather was also an energetic skier, tennis player, and golfer. And throughout her life her creativity was reflected in the beautiful gardens that she designed and grew, the lovely homes she made, the whimsical pen and ink drawings she produced in her journals, and of course in her many professional contributions as a writer and teacher.
Heather Jane McNamara was born in Kitchener, Ontario in 1947. She and Steve Kelleher were married in BC in 1969. Heather enjoyed a career as an elementary teacher and district consultant in New Westminster prior to pursuing her doctorate at UBC. Her research into the development of mathematical understandings was supervised by Dr. David Robitaille and she completed her Ph.D in 1996. She was the originator and coordinator of the BC Early Numeracy project leading the province and Canada by developing research-based strategies for assessing and supporting young children’s mathematical thinking. Project resources are still used by teachers and families across the province. Even with multiple revisions of the school math curriculum, the Early Numeracy Project remains a valuable resource and continues to be available through the Ministry’s website. Heather was an outstanding presenter with invitations to lead over 60 workshops on Early Numeracy in school districts across the province.
Dr. Heather Kelleher
Heather contributed in significant ways to the Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy during her twenty years on Faculty as an outstanding math education instructor, influential and popular textbook author, and creative teacher educator who inspired both aspiring and practicing teachers with her humour, insight and her pragmatic, down to earth approach toward mathematics teaching and learning. Colleagues respected her work ethic, along with her willingness to serve on multiple committees and enthusiastically participate in department activities. She was coordinator of the mathematics education area and active member of the Mathematics Teacher Education Collaborative where she shared her insights and mentored teacher educators. In 1997 she became one of the original founders of the Community of Inquiry into Teacher Education (CITE) an innovative, collaborative cohort in the Faculty of Education that is still preparing K-12 teachers twenty years later. Always popular with students, she was the 2011-2012 recipient of the Sessional and Lecturer Faculty Teaching Prize for Outstanding Service to the Teacher Education Program. Heather retired from UBC in 2012.
It is with deep sadness that we report the passing away of Professor Don Krug on April 2, 2017 at age 60. Professor Krug was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin on Jan 23, 1957 . With expertise in art education and technology studies, Professor Krug joined The Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, UBC on October 1, 2002. On August 31, 2014 Professor Krug went on medical leave. Prior to taking the medical leave, Professor Krug’s depth of experience in ecology and the arts was an important consideration in his 2012 appointment as a University Sustainability Fellow. Professor Krug co-authored (with Ann Parker) Miracles of the Spirit: Folk, Art, and Stories from Wisconsin and was author of numerous articles on visual arts, technology, and folk culture. Professor Krug was dedicated to teaching and was on top of his game working with teacher education and graduate students. He coordinated the off-campus Digital Learning and Curriculum (DLC) cohort and was instrumental in the Faculty’s innovation and leadership in technology. In his spare time, Professor Krug was a talented painter, competitive golfer, active gardener, and passionate Green Bay Packers football fan. Professor Krug's work in the Faculty, activism on campus, and service to the profession will be sorely missed. Special acknowledgement goes to his wife Mary for the exceptional love and care she dedicated to Professor Krug.
Dr. Don Krug
View "Celebration of Life - Don Krug" powerpoint.
View Don Krug's faculty profile.
With deep sadness, we acknowledge William (Bill) Logan’s passing on October 22, 2019. Bill was hired into the Secondary Division of the Faculty of Education in 1960 and retired from the Department of Curriculum Studies in 1997. Bill was among faculty members extending the teacher education program to the new British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) complex in 1968. He remained in the BCIT division until 1986, when he moved over to the Vancouver campus to head up the academic side of the technology teacher education program. He helped smooth the transition as three Departments and units merged to become Curriculum Studies in 1994. Bill was instrumental in the development of the BC Ministry’s Technology Education Integrated Resource Package in 1995. As a smith, his skills and creativity in jewelry making were advanced to professional levels and he taught evening courses over the years in jewelry design. Bill supervised over 200 students on Practicum in the schools and his graduate students routinely moved into leadership roles in the schools and BCIT. Colleagues and students remember Bill for his humility and sharp sense of humour. Always a consummate Scot on all topics of technology, Bill often remarked that ‘anything less than a Mac is rubbish.’ He was a colleague of vision on one hand and grounded salt of the Earth on the other. Bill led a full, productive, balanced life and was most proud of his wife and family. A memorial in the spring is being planned by his children and grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life for Dr. William Logan will be held at the UBC Golf Club on Saturday, March 7th 2020 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Dr. William Logan
James MacDonald, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Art Education, passed away on November 29, 2013. James' death occurred just short of his 92nd birthday while he was in his home on Galiano Island getting ready for another great day and planning his "Le Dernier Cri" art exhibition. No one was more surprised and delighted than he that he had lasted that long. A graduate of the Vancouver School of Art, his career path took him from high school teacher through Normal School instructor and on to a professorship in Art Education in the Faculty of Education at UBC. He was a veteran of WW II, serving as a Navigator as part of Bomber Command. Shot down over France in 1944, he wandered the countryside, hiding in barns and haystacks until the French underground helped smuggle him across the border to a Swiss internment camp. Survived by his wife Zona, his children Bonnie, Brenda, and Lia, and his grandchildren Sylvia, Gwendolyn, Tess, Lachlan, and Maggie. Artist, educator, jazz lover, keen observer of the natural world, and superb wine maker. For those who remember the early days of Art Education at UBC, it will not be the same without him.
Photo credit: Peter Scurr; Left to right: Ian Thomas. James Grey. Gordon Smith and Jim MacDonald (all former UBC art educators )
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of one of our former colleagues, Dr. Alex McLeod. Alex passed away on January 4, 2017, one day before his 82nd birthday, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Alexander) McLeod was Senior Instructor in Music Education. Prior to coming to Vancouver, Alex had obtained a teaching certificate from N.S.W. Australia where taught from 1956-1961. Alex came to Vancouver from Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia via New Zealand in the early 1960s. He completed his B.Ed (Elementary) from the University of British Columbia Bachelor in 1967 and his first assignment was at Maple Grove Elementary (VSB).
One of the highlights of Alex’s early teaching career in Vancouver included a musical revue entitled “The Beatles” and “Bridges”. Both of these productions were due Alex’s drive and zeal for musical theatre. He had a real flair for inciting young people to sing, act and dance their roles as if they were professionals. He truly inspired all students to enjoy music and drama. He supervised everything – the music, sets, lights, costumes, and choreography.
Alex’s performances were always sell-outs and oftentimes many extra performances were added to accommodate the large numbers that wanted to attend. Throughout his years in the Vancouver School Board, Alex always assisted with the VSB Nights of Music, showcase productions held in the Kerrisdale Arena that featured choirs, bands, orchestras, and other ensembles from K-12, with different schools performing each night.
Alex McLeod joined the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (1974) prior to completing his Master of Education in 1977. He led secondary music education methods, choral music education (including swing choir) and musical theatre courses.
Throughout his distinguished musical career, Alex McLeod was actively involved in numerous Vancouver music organizations – as performer, choreographer, director, and board member in over 75 major productions for Theatre Under the Stars (1969-1990s; noted as noble alumni on Wikipedia page), Vancouver Opera Association (1969-1990s), Savoy Players (1974-1981), Freddy Wood Theatre (1976-1978), Dunbar Musical Theatre (1970-1980), Metro Theatre, Theatre in the Park (President & Producer, 1978, 1979, 1982), Burnaby Civic Opera, and BC Youth Orchestra (where he was named a lifetime honorary member). He served as a Committee Member and Artistic Judge for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships (1968) and B.C. Figure Skating Championships (1984). Alex retired 1997 as Emeritus Faculty: Senior Instructor Emeritus of Curriculum Studies.
Dr. Alex McLeod
Ever the performer, over the past 19 years he was a vocalist with a famous mariachi group in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where his music making and theatrics were loved and cherished by an international audience. We will miss Alex’s musical humour and care.
Peter Seixas died on October 9 at his home in Vancouver from complications from medullary thyroid cancer, which was first discovered in 2013. He is survived by his loving wife of forty-two years, Susan Cohen Inman, two daughters, Naomi of New York City, and Mikaela of Vancouver, his sister Abby (Mark Horowitz) of Seattle, and brother Noah (Dana Standish) of Port Townsend, Washington, and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by both of his parents: Frank A. Seixas and Judith Sartorius Seixas.
Peter grew up in the New York suburb of Hastings-on-Hudson, graduated from Swarthmore College and left the U.S. east coast for British Columbia in 1970. After three years in the bush outside of the mill town of Powell River, he started his education career as a social studies teacher in Vancouver. He earned an M.A. in the history of education from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1981 and a PhD in U.S. social history from UCLA (1988). In 1990, he became an assistant professor in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education, with responsibilities for history and social studies education. A decade later, he was awarded with the Faculty’s first Canada Research Chair, enabling him to establish the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, and the pan-Canadian Historical Thinking Project. He spearheaded the articulation of six concepts of historical thinking, which became the basis for history and social studies curriculum reform across Canada and internationally. His research was published widely in Canadian, American and international journals. His contributions were recognized with election to fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and numerous research and teaching awards.
From the secondary social studies classroom, through the UBC teacher education program, to his signature graduate course, “Problems in Historical Understanding,” Peter was an inspiration to the many students he mentored. He lived a life consistent with his strong moral values, touching his many friends and acquaintances with his humanity, intellect, humor, and generosity of spirit.
Dr. Peter Seixas
It is with deep sadness that we inform you of the passing of Professor Gordon Appelbe Smith on January 18, 2020, at age 100.
Born in East Brighton, England in 1919, Professor Gordon Smith came to Winnipeg, Canada in 1933. He enrolled at the Winnipeg School of Art and had his first professional exhibition in 1938. In 1941, prior to going overseas with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Professor Smith married Marion Fleming. Together they founded the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists which continues to support art education for young students.
A legendary teacher of art and art education, Professor Smith joined the Faculty of Education at UBC in 1956. He remained as a member of the Art Education Program in the Department of Curriculum Studies (now Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy) until his retirement in 1982, when he received the title of Professor Emeritus and turned his focus to painting full-time.
Professor Smith's exceptional artistic career included two major retrospectives at the Vancouver Art Gallery, over 25 solo exhibitions at Equinox Gallery, as well as significant commissions including the design of the Canadian Pavilion for Expo '70 in Osaka (in collaboration with Arthur Erickson), and major works for public buildings in Washington, DC and London, UK.
Professor Smith's many major awards include the Order of Canada (1996), the Order of British Columbia (2000), the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2009) and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts (2007). His work has been collected in public and private collections around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).
Professor Gordon Smith will be sadly missed by past and present colleagues in the Faculty of Education, by the many educators and students that he worked with over his distinguished career, by his family and friends, and by all who had the privilege to know him.
A memorial gathering in Gordon's honour will be announced at a later date.
Dr. Gordon A. Smith
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It is with great sadness that we announce that, after a brief illness, Bob died on August 2, 2018. He is survived by his wife Mary, his children, Marne, Beth and David, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. At Bob’s request there will be no service.
Dr. Robert Steele
Bob Steele was born in Mervin, Saskatchewan, in 1925 and his early years there growing up and teaching in one-room schoolhouses influenced both his personality and his developing sense of art and education. He moved his family to British Columbia after graduating from The University of Saskatchewan and taught art at Chilliwack high school and Vancouver school of fine art. After teaching at the Vancouver School of Art (which later became Emily Carr University of Art and Design), he came to the Department of Art Education (ARTE) at the University of British Columbia in 1962, where he taught studio printmaking and art methods for 28 years. The Graphics Print Hut west of the Scarfe building was Bob’s domain and many of his collection of the art education students that took Graphics still grace the walls of the Scarfe building. The Graphics sale was a highlight for students and staff during Bob’s years at UBC. He remained a practicing artist his whole life but it was only after retirement that he began the “Drawing Network” to encourage the idea that drawing was a language as important as talking or writing. He has published numerous articles and pamphlets and four books, “Draw Me a Story” (1998), “The Drawing Path for Children” (2011), “The Smith Ranch ‘After School’”(2011) and “A Picture Book of Children’s Drawings”(2013). He contends that in their drawings, children can capture degrees of sophistication in perception, understanding and emotion that are far beyond their literacy level. Although it was in his retirement that Bob really began publishing his ideas, his deep beliefs about drawing and children were articulated through his teaching and further refined by many of the students that he encountered in his years at UBC. A book inspired by Bob’s beliefs about art education was published last year and launched at the Faculty of Education. (M. J. Binder & S. Kind (Eds.), Drawing as Language: Celebrating the Work of Bob Steele. 2017 Sense Publishers.) Bob Steele’s legacy in art education will survive in the many art educators he influenced through his teaching and his writing.
It is with sadness that the Faculty learned of the passing of Walter on Jan 31, 2011. Walter joined our Faculty of Education in 1970 as an Assistant Professor of mathematics education. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1979 and retired from UBC in 1991.
Walter earned his Master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1958 and his Ed.D. from the University of Georgia in 1970. Prior to coming to UBC Walter was a mathem igh and high schools in New York State and Massachusetts. His major areas of interest were the use of calculators in mathematics learning and problem solving and he authored a number of refereed articles in these areas. In addition Walter was heavily involved in local and Provincial workshops in mathematics education.
Dr. Walter Szetela