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In Memoriam

Years at Trent: 1976-80

Major: Psychology

College: Traill

Favourite Course / Professor: Denis' favourite courses were 2nd year Personality Theory course in Psychology with Lee Beach and Computer Science with Jim Jury. Though he was not particularly successful with it at the time, his most, and still useful, course was advanced statistics.

Extracurricular interests while at Trent: Denis was a photographer and print maker for the Traill Yearbook in 1978­79. He was also involved, along with Jim Loukides '76 and others in operating the Traill darkroom. He was often seen on anthropology field trips and in guest lectures.

Hometown before Trent: Ottawa ­ Trent was the first university to accept Denis' application without conditions, followed quickly by Dalhousie and Concordia. According to Denis, a small university in Kingston has still not decided.

Career path: After graduating Denis did some freelance photography, security and clerical work. In 1982 he was hired by the National Arts Centre in a junior accounting role and has since progressed to a senior position in financial planning, risk management and financial reporting.

Family: Denis is married to Diana (Carleton grad) who is a registered technologist in transfusion medicine. (That's the blood bank in many hospitals). He has a son, Michel (13), and a daughter Elizabeth (10). Michel is active in Scouts and a volunteer in Cubs while Elizabeth is an "artiste" with a love for riding ponies.

Motivation as a Trent volunteer: "It is an important way to give back to the university. It is not totally altruistic ­ I have gained a great deal from chats with Bonnie Patterson, John Butcher, Tony Storey, members of the Board and the Alumni Council. I have been able to share my nac experience with Trent and also gain knowledge from Trent's experience."

Other Volunteer activities: Denis works for a performing arts centre that is also a charity and Diana works in a hospital. Both are organizations that require long hours or shift work so they tend to volunteer with their children's organizations. "Generally we try to limit our activities in order to spend some time as a family."

Message to alumni at large: "You CAN go back again!"

Trent Volunteer roles: Denis played a leadership role for the National Capital Chapter, serving as a committee member, co-president and president. He continues in his role as a self-described "highly unpaid consultant" to Alumni Council, is an Information Session volunteer, and a mentor.

Point of Pride as a Volunteer: Meeting brand new students at the Information Session ­ then watching them graduate and become involved alumni. Meeting the parents of new students and knowing that the alumni information sessions are a very positive and reassuring experience for them. Denis also enjoys illustrating statistics ­ that is compiling and analyzing data so that others can understand the results in an intuitive way.