The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts at Queen’s University continues to win awards as the architects who designed the facility were recently recognized for their outstanding work.

Ottawa-based N45 Architecture Inc., in association with Snøhetta Architecture Design Planning, an international design firm with offices in Oslo, Norway and New York City, were presented with the inaugural Lieutenant Governor’s Award at the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Celebration of Excellence in May.

“We are very honoured to receive the OAA Lieutenant Governor’s Award,” Robert Matthews, partner at N45 Architecture Inc., says in a media release. “The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts was designed not only as a beautiful place for the public to enjoy music, but as a versatile space for the students of Queen’s University’s music, drama, film studies and fine arts departments to learn and experiment. We were inspired by Kingston’s geography and wanted to make sure the building related to its environment. The main performance hall is wrapped in wood reminiscent of the rock you see throughout the city.” 

Also receiving recognition is Queen’s University’s marketing department for the video it created for the September 2014 grand opening of the Isabel.

The video team received a bronze Circle of Excellence Award in the General Information Long Videos category from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), an international competition that attracted 3,200 entries from 700 institutions worldwide, as well as a second bronze in the Best Use of Multimedia category of the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education's Prix D'Excellence.

“A lot of heart and soul went into the creation of the Isabel grand opening video produced for the opening event at Queen’s held in September 2014,” says Helena Debnam, Executive Director, Marketing, University Relations. “It is a great honour to win a CASE award such as this, particularly given its international recognition and scope in higher education. This award is a testament to those in the Marketing, University Relations and North Summit Productions, who were involved in the creation, coordination and planning of this video – and also significantly the late Jerry Doiron.”

Mr. Doiron, the inaugural director of the Isabel, passed away on Oct. 9, 2014.  

The video features before and after images as well as drone footage and footage captured from a ferry travelling along the lake. A wide array of stakeholders were interviewed including professors, students, project managers and architects, including lead architect Craig Dykers, who was not available until the day before the opening.

The video can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywTSrcKcsZk

The design of the Isabel incorporated the best features of the world’s greatest facilities and combines them with advances in modern technology to create a world-class building. The 80,000-square-foot facility features an acoustically superior 560-seat concert hall and a 100-seat studio theatre, as well as an art and media lab, a film screening room, laboratories, classrooms and rehearsal space.

The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts was made possible by a transformational gift from Alfred Bader (Sc’45, Arts’46, MSc’47, LLD’86) and his wife Isabel (LLD’07) as well as the financial backing of the federal and provincial governments, the City of Kingston and additional philanthropic support. The Isabel is a hub for artistic study, creation, exhibition and performance at Queen’s. It is home to the Department of Film and Media and also provides learning and working space for the university’s other creative arts disciplines.

While most engineering design is aimed at making things simpler, a special event on Thursday is asking local elementary students to make a basic task more complex.

It’s called a Rube Goldberg machine, named after the cartoonist and engineer best known for his cartoons depicting intricate gadgets that perform simple tasks in convoluted ways.

The aim of the annual Rube Goldberg design contest, organized by EngQonnect, an outreach program for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Queen’s, is to get local youth interested in design and possibly an education and career in engineering.

This first pilot event has students designing and building Rube Goldberg machines that complete the task of turning on a musical device.

The focus of the contest is to introduce young minds to the engineering design process, explains Scott Compeau, Outreach Coordinator.

“That’s what we’re trying to reiterate with this contest. Engineering requires a lot more creativity and innovation, building a prototype, testing it and going through a design process,” he says. “It’s using a lot more of the problem-solving skills that are necessary to become an engineer.”

Some students may be deterred from engineering as they believe it only requires strong abilities in math and science, but it’s more than that, Mr. Compeau says.  Providing an accurate representation of the engineering profession is the goal of the outreach program along with connecting with the community.

“I think that there are a lot of components to engineering that are not necessarily known – creativity, innovation, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills,” he says. “All of these are essential engineering skills that sometimes get overlooked, but, within the profession, are extremely important.”

Ahead of the event, Mr. Compeau and Monika Palinkas, Engineering Outreach Projects Coordinator and an engineering student herself, have been visiting local schools to spread the word about the contest and get students thinking about a future in engineering.

They want them to know that while engineering is definitely challenging, it can also be a lot of fun.

“The Rube Goldberg contest is a great introduction to the engineering design process because it’s practically impossible to make a machine that’s going to work the first time,” says Ms. Palinkas. “I made one myself and it took me a few days to complete. It’s all about building one step and asking yourself why it’s not working? You figure out the problem and you solve it. There are all these mini-engineering challenges within the whole design process which is why it works so well for exposing engineering to kids.”

Grade 8 students from Calvin Park Public School have been building their machines throughout the week and will be displaying their machines for judging on Thursday, June 11 from 12:30- 1:30 pm in Room 313 within Beamish-Munro Hall.  The Rube Goldberg machines will be open to the public during the final celebration between  6-7:30 pm where all attendees are welcome to actively participate in the event by voting for the “people’s choice” award

Further information can be found on the EngQonnect educational outreach program website or contact the team at eng.qonnect@queesu.ca.

Mike Condra was a psychologist at Kingston General Hospital (KGH) in the 1980s when someone asked his then-young son what his dad did for a living. Eoghan replied simply: “My dad talks to sad people and makes them happy.”

Dr. Condra still likes this description of his work (although he is quick to say that he doesn’t mean for it to sound “trite” or overly simplistic). In essence, it’s what the soft-spoken Irishman has done for the past two-plus decades at Queen’s, working in Health, Counselling and Disability Services (HCDS) after leaving KGH, and taking the helm as HCDS director in 1992.  He’s listened, offered gentle advice, been a friend to thousands, and spearheaded mental health initiatives across campus. When he retires in June, he leaves a mountain of accomplishments and a community he’s held close to his heart – a community he’s helped to shape, heal and grow.

“I got the job in counselling at Queen’s in 1992, and taking it was the best decision I’ve ever made,” says Dr. Condra. “It’s been a wonderful work environment for me. I’ve always felt supported in what we do in HCDS.”

In 1973, Dr. Condra had just wrapped up a bachelor’s degree in psychology when he and his wife, Eleanor, decided to immigrate to Canada from Ireland. He had thoughts of “maybe going to school” again, and maybe “staying in Canada for two or three years” before returning home. But shortly after arriving, Dr. Condra landed the job at KGH as a psychometrist, working with psychologists to administer psychological tests. It turned out to be a great introduction to Canada’s health-care system.

A couple of years later, he started his PhD at Queen’s. At the same time, Eleanor began studies, first at St. Lawrence College, then at the university – she is a three-time Queen’s grad, holding a BA in sociology as well as undergraduate and graduate degrees in education. They had children – two boys, one girl. They settled down, rooting in Kingston in family and work.

“We went back to Ireland six years after coming to Canada, and it seemed, to us, things there had moved on. So had we.”

•    •    •

Move on, he did. His years at Queen’s have been busy, and the last decade especially demanding. Mental health education and awareness, he says, has been the focus of his work over this time. Across the continent, postsecondary institutions have become increasingly aware of the importance of mental health concerns among students. Queen’s is no exception, but the university hit its hardest point in 2010 when Jack Windeler died by suicide. Several more student deaths followed.

“That shifted everything. It was a really difficult time for all of us at Queen’s. Suicides and suicide attempts are always terribly sad,” he says. “When we are mentally well and we have to deal with a crisis we can problem-solve, think of possible solutions. When a person’s mental health is compromised, problems that they could deal with confidently become overwhelming and seem insurmountable. This is when the risk of suicide can increase.”

At Queen’s, there has always been concern for students’ wellbeing and mental health, Dr. Condra says, but the deaths in 2010 and 2011 spurred new thinking, and many programs and initiatives blossomed. Principal Daniel Woolf put together the Principal’s Commission on Mental Health, generating a plan and guidelines for the university to follow in order to address the changing needs of its students.

“Daniel has done a phenomenal job of leadership in the area of mental health. There is a lot of support for the work we do from the principal’s office and all of the senior administration. The principal has worked to ensure that our efforts in HCDS and in mental health education are supported.”

In particular, Dr. Condra is proud of two workshops offered on a regular basis through HCDS: the one-hour Identifying and Responding to Students in Distress and the three-hour Mental Health: Awareness. Anti-Stigma. Response. He’s also very happy with the two-day Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), but says it’s not always easy for people on campus to devote two full days to the workshop. The other two programs, developed fully by Queen’s (MHFA is a nationwide program provided under the auspices of the Mental Health Commission of Canada), get quickly to the heart of the matter with relevant  information on the experience of mental health and stigma, and offer concrete strategies to help a person who is experiencing a mental health problem.

“It is not difficult to support someone who is dealing with a mental health problem. I’ve found that people really want to help,” he says. “But often they are scared. They don’t want to do the wrong thing. Participants tell us repeatedly that these programs give them reassurance and confidence in helping a person with a mental health problem.”

Dr. Condra, who was given a Queen’s Distinguished Service Award in 2014, is also celebrating the beginning of a new peer-mentoring program on campus for students with mental health problems. M² matches students who have a mental health problem with upper-year trained student mentors who provide personal support and suggest learning and coping strategies through weekly meetings. The findings from the evaluation process will be used to produce a program design and comprehensive resource manual that will be shared with colleges and universities across Ontario, and will also be incorporated into the peer-mentoring program offered through HCDS.

“It has been a wonderful experience. Queen’s has a well-established culture of leadership-development and peer programming. In this context, M² was a natural fit,” says Dr. Condra.  “Our students are enthusiastic, generous and very dedicated. M² advertised for 18 mentors and we received 135 applications. The wisdom and support of an upper-year peer can be very powerful in helping a student who is experiencing a mental health problem. Peer mentors have a lot of credibility.”

•    •    •

Dr. Condra grew up in a big family in Limerick, the sixth of seven children. In part, he says, his desire to be a psychologist grew out of his relationships with his siblings, with his younger brother especially.

His brother was born with a congenital dislocated hip, and while his older siblings did the “hard work” of caring for him in a more practical way, Dr. Condra set about making his brother smile.

“I could cheer him up, with jokes, a funny accent. I am certainly not a standup comic, and again, I don’t mean to trivialize, but I was just his friend.  It seemed to make a difference to him and it certainly made us very close.”

At Queen’s, Dr. Condra has countless stories of community members wanting to help others. He remembers an associate dean contacting him because a student, terrified, had come to her because she didn’t have enough money to buy much-needed pain medication.

“The dean didn’t have to call me,” he says. “But she wanted to help this student and didn’t know the best route, so we worked it out together. Like many of us in HCDS, I’ve had professors contact me to ask for advice on how to help a student. They are not looking for details about the student and are very respectful of the need for confidentiality. They just want to ensure that they know how to help students. They don’t have to do that, but they get extra marks in my books for taking the time. There is a tremendous amount of kindness and compassion on this campus.”

Asked how he deals with stress and being continuously confronted by other people’s struggles, Dr. Condra takes it back to family, both in Ireland and here, with his wife and three children. During his childhood, the family always sat down together for meals, and that’s important, he says, for developing close bonds.

“Loving, trusting relationships are really important. I’m in a relationship with someone I love, and I have three wonderful children. I have a great home life. Work is important to me, but it is not the only thing.”

•    •    •

At the time of writing this article, Dr. Condra had 10 weeks left at Queen’s before leaving for retirement in June.

“Ten weeks left, and four months of work still to do,” he says, laughing. “The upside of working at a university like Queen’s is that there are lots of exciting things to do. The downside: there are lots of exciting things to do.”

It’s understandable, then, given his busyness in past years, that he is not certain of what retirement will hold for him. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ll spend time outdoors, working on our property, an old barn. We’ll travel (his kids live in Edmonton, Lima and London, England). And I’ll probably do some consulting, particularly in the area of risk assessment.”

What’s certain, though, is the great bank of memories he’ll take with him. “It’s been a privilege working with the students, and faculty and staff. I’ve met many people whom I feel I’ve been privileged to get to know. I’m a very fortunate person.”

Teachers can have a lasting, positive impact and graduating students at Queen’s University are able to acknowledge the support they received from their high school teachers thanks to the Baillie Award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching.

Each year during spring convocation, Baillie Awards are presented, following a nomination and selection process. The award was established by Chancellor Emeritus A. Charles Baillie and provides undergraduate students in their graduating year the chance to honour educators who have had a decisive and formative influence on them.

“The Baillie Award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching is a wonderful opportunity for graduating students to honour a high school teacher who supported them on their path to higher education at Queen’s,” says Ann Tierney, Vice-Provost and Dean of Student Affairs. “The university is grateful to Mr. Baillie for establishing this program in recognition of the positive influence that so many secondary school teachers have on their students.”

One of this year’s recipients is Marina Westbrook, an English and drama teacher at Sacred Heart High School in Stittsville, Ont., who was nominated by Charlotte Orzel (Artsci’15). Ms. Orzel says she applied the writing, analytical and critical thinking skills she learned from Ms. Westbrook throughout her time at Queen’s and credits her former teacher with igniting her understanding of the importance of storytelling in life and society.

“Whenever someone asks why I study film, I don’t tell them about my favourite director, a formative viewing of Bergman, or even a compelling lecture from Film 110,” Ms. Orzel says. “Instead, I tell them about my high school English teacher.”

This year’s recipients also include:

• Francesco Malfitano, Physical Education, Religion, and Geography teacher at St. Joseph’s College School in Toronto, nominated by Jennifer Taylor, (Sc’15)
• Brian Rowe, History, Canadian and World Studies teacher at Brock High School in Cannington, Ont., nominated by Joshua Jones (Artsci’15)
• William Code, Chemistry, Science and Music teacher at West Carleton Secondary School in Dunrobin, Ont., nominated by Hailey Ventola, (Artsci’15)
• Andrew Culberson, Independent Study teacher and Guidance Counsellor at Fredericton High School in Fredericton, N.B, nominated by Alisha Virmani, (Artsci’15)

More information about the Baillie Awards is available on the Student Affairs website.

“You’re going to use your experiences at Queen’s in ways that right now, you can’t really fathom.”

That was Jim Cuddy, Artsci’83 and now LLD’15, when asked what he would want Queen’s students to know as he prepared to receive his honorary degree on Wednesday.

Beyond his life as an icon in Canadian music, Mr. Cuddy is an admirer of English literature, and says he is honoured to have the chance to share some wisdom with this year’s graduating class.

It was a homecoming of sorts for the Blue Rodeo co-founder and he says that Queen’s has helped shape his world in many different ways.

Kingston has been a regular stop for Mr. Cuddy over the years, whether it be to play a show, visit his son (who graduated last spring), or to play hockey in a beer league with some buddies, and he says each visit elicits the same feeling of nostalgia of a great fondness for his alma mater.

While at Queen’s, Mr. Cuddy was an extremely focused and diligent student and artist.

“It was a very productive time for me,” he says. “I played a lot of guitar and had a small group of friends. I had a really beautiful and peaceful time. It was the coming together of a lot of things for me.”

Harkening back to his time living on William Street, he described how his good friend and current Vice Chairman at MasterCard, Walter Macnee (Artsci ’77, B.Ed ’78), was one of the best musicians he’d ever met, and how Macnee served as one of his most impactful musical mentors.

“I would sit on his porch and wait for him to come home,” Mr. Cuddy explains, “and I begged him to give me lessons… I’d just get him to show me one thing, so I’d practice that all week, and I’d show up on the porch again.”

It was connections like this that Mr. Cuddy made while at Queen’s that served as the building blocks to his career as a musician.

Perhaps more surprising than his musical growth at Queen’s was the adoration he developed for the literature of Shakespeare and the Renaissance. When asked what he came away from Queen’s with, Mr. Cuddy cited a love for literature and time as the two most significant gifts.

“Time was very important because it allowed me to play guitar and contemplate all of these things I was learning,” he says. “But I think the really unexpected thing was that I really, really loved my studies.

“When I was in high school, I just did (my work) because you had to do it. But when I was here (at Queen’s)… I really was inspired by my professors… I did not think that I would get so wrapped up in it. I even contemplated, for a very short time, being an academic.”

Speaking about his related love for studying and developing the poetry and literature of music and lyrics, Mr. Cuddy feels that his love for literature and music are closely linked.

His being celebrated by Queen’s with an honorary degree is meaningful for him and he says that he is beginning to cherish the awards that look beyond the music and that celebrate, “how we’ve conducted our lives.”

Queen’s holds a special place for the Cuddy family as they pile up degrees and memories.

“To be honoured by an institution that graduated my parents, my wife, my son – my parents were married here by Padre Laverty – it’s very moving,” he says. “I have a very strong attachment to Queen’s. It means a lot to me.”

He wanted to leave Queen’s students with the following message:

“You have to appreciate that the way life is ordered now is not the way it’s going to end up being… You don’t know where life will lead you, but you will be ready.”

Elementary school students from across the Kingston area gathered at Lake Ontario Park on Thursday, June 4, for a day of fun and information on a broad range of topics involving water at the first Great Lakes Water Festival.

Through interactive and hands-on activities, students learned about water conservation and protection, water health and safety, water science and technology as well as water and society . 

Queen’s University helped organize the event along with KFL&A Public Health, Utilities Kingston, Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority, Limestone District School Board, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Ontario Provincial Police, Sustainable Kingston and the Katarokwi Indigenous Grandmothers Council.