UBC Reports | Vol. 46 | No. 16 | Oct. 19, 2000

'Students the best part,' say veteran faculty members

'Some of the best people around' -- students -- keep these longtime faculty going after 25 years

This fall, 46 new members gain entry into the Quarter Century Club, which honours faculty members for 25 or more years of service at UBC.

And amid all the changes on campus over the years, the best part of the day for many of the inductees remains the time spent with their students.

"It's really wonderful to work with the very best, not simply the brightest, but some of the best people around in my students," says Law Prof. Robert Reid.

As the Faculty of Law's assistant dean of Admissions and Career Development, Reid gets to do what he loves each and every day -- interact with some of the brightest, young legal minds in the country.

In many years of helping UBC Law students get their first jobs in the legal profession, Reid has befriended many.

"I've been to a great many weddings, christenings and social events of students who are good, good friends of mine."

The Royal Military College graduate didn't begin his own legal career until he was 30 after stints as a military search-and-rescue officer in Comox and as an official military historian in Ottawa.

Reid says while the law profession has changed over the years, what makes a good lawyer hasn't.

"You have to be bright, not brilliant, with lots of common sense and really care about people."

For Sandra Millen, a senior Zoology instructor, technological changes in the past quarter century have affected the way she teaches.

Millen runs two anatomy labs -- invertebrates and vertebrates -- in the Dept. of Zoology.

She was among the first on campus to use the Internet as a teaching tool.

"In many ways, we were sort of ahead of the students in using the Internet," says Millen, who taught herself the skills necessary to venture on-line.

Besides new technology, she says the other major change on campus over the years has been the increase in class sizes. From teaching 75 students a semester at the start of her career, she now teaches upwards of 250 students per term.

And while the Internet has been a useful on-line resource, Millen says there is still no substitute for "the real thing."

"That's what I love about this job," she says. "The light that goes on when a student discovers something."

Others to be honoured at the fifth annual Quarter Century Club dinner Oct. 26 at the Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre include:

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences: David Shackleton, Agroecology; Faculty of Applied Science: Joan Anderson, Elaine Carty, Nursing; Faculty of Arts: Robert C. Allen, Charles Blackorby, Economics; John W. Foster, English; Alexander Woodside, History; J. Evan Kreider, Music; Lynn Alden, Boris Gorzalka, Psychology; Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration: Peter J. Frost, Peter N. Nemetz, Martin L. Puterman; Health Sciences, Office of the Coordinator: Gordon G. Page, Educational Support and Development; Faculty of Dentistry: Gary B. Gibson, Oral Biological and Medical Sciences; Virginia M. Diewert, Oral Health Sciences; Faculty of Education: F. Graeme Chalmers, Gaalen L. Erickson, Ian M. Wright, Curriculum Studies; Norman E. Amundson, Sharon Kahn, Perry T. Leslie, Educational and Counseling Psychology and Special Education; Richard E. Mosher, Human Kinetics; Kenneth F. Reeder, Jon E. Shapiro, Language Education; Faculty of Forestry: Frederick L. Bunnell, Forest Sciences; Faculty of Law: Robert K. Paterson, Dennis Pavlich; Library: Elsie C. Wollaston; Faculty of Medicine: Bernard A. MacLeod, Anesthesia; Patrick P. Dennis, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Dean Hideo Uyeno, Health Care and Epidemiology; Constance J. Eaves, Medical Genetics; Michael Schulzer, Medicine; Gordon R. Douglas, Opthalmology; James E. Dimmick, Pathology; A. George F. Davidson, Pediatrics; Michael J. A. Walker, Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Peter C. Vaughan, Physiology; Raja T. Abboud, Respiratory Medicine; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences: Sidney Katz; Faculty of Science: Terry J. Crawford, Botany; David Dolphin, Chemistry; Robert Israel, Mathematics.