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Day in the Life

Day in the Life: Christine Currie

The Ring

Anyone who’s ever misplaced keys, glasses, a wallet or a purse in their own home learns to appreciate the value of placing things in a consistent place. Now imagine keeping track of more than two million sets of ‘keys’—each o…

Day in the Life: Annabelle Victoria

The Ring

"Many folks on campus see us as an order desk and don't realize we're so much more," explains UVic purchasing officer Annabelle Victoria. "They don't have the full picture of our services and what kinds of things we can help them with."

Day in the Life: Stella Chan

The Ring

Stella Chan is relieved to know that UVic's ceremonial mace isn't quite as heavy as it looks. The petite recent-retiree's eyes sparkle as she considers the task ahead of her—serving as mace-bearer at convocation on the morning of June 14.

Day in the Life: Rob Johns

The Ring

Rob Johns has seen first-hand the destruction and chaos that large-scale disasters can cause. In his previous role with the City of Victoria, UVic’s new manager of emergency planning visited Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina, and Christchurch, New Zealand after its major earthquakes. “Seeing such massive damage really drives home the importance of emergency planning,” Johns says. “Especially in Christchurch, with its similarities to Victoria in terms of earthquake risks and impacts, I was forcefully reminded that, while we can’t prevent these disasters from happening, we can and must prepare for them.”

Day in the Life: Becky Cory

The Ring

Becky Cory’s office is surrounded by organized chaos, as people pop their heads in to say hi or ask a couple of questions about current class events. When someone knocks on the door of her office, Becky doesn’t hesitate to respond. Cory started working with University 101 two months before the first course began, back in 2006. The program offers free, non-credit university courses to people who face significant barriers to post-secondary education.

Day in the Life: Juanita Shorkey

The Ring

The moment she walks into her office, Juanita Shorkey can “feel the love.” The room is full of Hello Kitty memorabilia, from money banks to plush toys to candy dishes, and nearly all of the items have been gifts from friends, family members or colleagues—including the tour guides Shorkey coordinates. It doesn’t take long to understand why; Shorkey’s positive energy and enthusiasm for her work is practically contagious.

Day in the Life: Brad Binges

The Ring

Surrounded as we are by the Pacific Rim’s temperate rain forest, it’s only natural that the field of forest biology would flourish at UVic. At the program’s roots is Brad Binges, a problem solver with a green thumb, who has helped to nurture and grow forest biology at UVic over the past two and a half decades. Binges manages the Bev Glover Greenhouse Facility and field research compound for the UVic Centre for Forest Biology.

Day in the Life: Shauna Underwood

The Ring

The university’s heart is its students—and Shauna Underwood finds both meaning and joy contributing to their success as an Indigenous student advisor in the Faculty of Human and Social Development (HSD). Underwood sees herself as a traditional person; valuing her Coast Salish culture, she is from the Tsawout Band in W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich), is a member of the Samish Tribe in Washington, and has traced her roots to the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho. At HSD’s Indigenous Student Support Centre (ISSC), Underwood works within the only faculty-based centre of its kind on campus with a large Indigenous student cohort, faculty and relevant programs. A day in her life is a mix of the routine and the unexpected. “I never know what’s going to come up,” she says—and that’s okay with her.

Day in the Life: Paula Ceroni

The Ring

Paula Ceroni probably knows how to say “hello” and “welcome” in more languages than just about anyone else on campus. That’s one of the perks of her job in the English Language Centre, managing UVic’s homestay program. Each year the program places over 1,600 students from as many as 30 countries into 600 host families (and they are always looking for more hosts).

DITL: Daphne Donaldson

The Ring

You would be forgiven if you believed that Daphne Donaldson had invented the phrase “keep calm and carry on.” After a 30-year career at UVic and many years as the university’s emergency planner, she concedes that “the moment I hear a fire truck I hesitate because I wonder if something has occurred. I’m attuned to those sorts of noises.”

DITL: Sean Adams

The Ring

There is no question Sean Adams has made his mark on UVic: much of the world-renowned scientific research conducted on campus over the last two decades was produced with the help of instruments he created. Adams is a scientific glass blower in the Faculty of Science. He creates highly specialized glassworks for use in scientific experiments—the sorts of one-off things you’d never be able get from a commercial or industrial glass producer. “Researchers here are often creating new science for which equipment does not yet exist,” he explains. “They come to me with very specific needs and I work with them to design or modify equipment for their specific purposes.”

Day in the Life: Iona Hubner

The Ring

If proof of a rich life is the cultural treasures by which you surround yourself, then Iona Hubner is wealthy beyond measure. As the Visual Resources Curator for the recently renamed Department of Art History and Visual Studies, Hubner has been imme…

Day in the Life: Moussa Magassa

The Ring

A poster on the office door of UVic Human Rights Education Advisor Moussa Magassa features a photo of a ring of children, their feet forming a circle of upraised soles. Below the touching image is a quote from Desmond Tutu including the line, “I am human because I belong.”

Day in the life: Kirk McNally

The Ring

A decade ago he was recording the likes of A-list rockers R.E.M., Bryan Adams and the Foo Fighters, but these days you’ll more likely find Kirk McNally tweaking the levels in the MacLaurin Building’s recording studio. But as the Audio Specialist and Recording Engineer for the School of Music since 2004, the best part of McNally’s job is that he doesn’t really have a typical day.

Day in the Life: Judy Nazar

The Ring

Judy Nazar loves languages—and that passion has led to a long and fulfilling career at UVic.

Day in the life: Renee McBeth

The Ring

When people ask Renee McBeth what she does for a living, she often gives the same answer. “I tell people I’m an organizer,’’ she says with a laugh. “I depend on post-it notes and to-do lists.” Indeed, as someone who holds dual positions at UVic’s Faculty of Law, her daily balancing act requires a high degree of prioritization and time management.

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