By Natalie Sit
Grant MacEwan dies at 97
University of Calgary students may wonder about the connection between MacEwan Hall and the former Lieutenant-Governor who died Thursday, June 15. The student centre was named after Grant MacEwan, honouring his contribution to the university. MacEwan was an adjunct professor and taught a Western Canada history course. He often did research for the books he wrote about Western Canada at the U of C.
MacEwan was elected as a Liberal to the provincial legislature in 1955 but returned to Calgary politics as an alderman in 1959. In 1965, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor and he served two terms, travelling extensively throughout Alberta.
A staunch environmentalist, he planted a white elm every time he gave a speech and in the 1960s he built a log cabin without cutting down a tree.
A state funeral was held Tuesday, June 20 for MacEwan.
Score! Scholarships for grad students
Thanks to the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, 35 graduate students recently received $585,000 in scholarship money.
"Alberta’s graduate students are valuable resources," said Alberta Minister of Learning Lyle Oberg. "These scholarships recognize their accomplishments while providing them with the financial resources they need to take their pursuit of learning even further."
The Sir James Lougheed and the Ralph Steinhauer Awards of Distinction are based on academic achievement and province of study. Both award masters students up to $15,000 and PhD students up to $20,000.
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Scholarship honours students pursuing a masters or equivalent degree in music, drama, literary arts or visual arts. Each of the five students will receive $10,000.
The AHSF was created in 1981 and awarded over 143,000 recipients over $2 million in financial assistance.
U of C profs receive German marks
Two U of C professors received a prestigious German award recently. Usually only one award is given out in Canada.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awarded Math Professor Peter Lancaster and Chemistry Professor Tom Swaddle 100,000 marks to pursue long-term research projects in Germany. The non-profit Humboldt Foundation specifically grants foreign researchers money for long-term projects in Germany.
Lancaster will study vibration problems in gyroscopic systems at the Technische Universitat Darmstadt beginning this fall.
Swaddle will research high-pressure chemistry at the University of Erlandgen-Nürnberg beginning in Jan. 2001 during a six-month sabbatical from the U of C.