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authority records
Corporate body · 1891-1925

The first branch in B.C. of the Methodist Woman's Missionary Society was organized at the old Pandora Avenue Church in Victoria in 1888. It soon became the auxiliary of Metropolitan Church, and its original purpose was to help in the setting up of a "rescue home" for Chinese women and girls who had been forced into prostitution. Other local auxiliaries soon appeared throughout the province, and in 1891 they were unified through the establishment of the B.C. Conference Branch of the W.M.S. In 1904, District branches were created for Victoria, Vancouver, Westminster and Kamloops. Besides the rescue home in Victoria, the Methodist W.M.S. in B.C. supported Residential Schools such as the Crosby Girls' Home in Port Simpson (Lax Kw'alaams), the Coqualeetza Institute in Chilliwack, the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home in Kitamaat (Haisla); the Turner Institute in Vancouver; and Methodist hospitals at Port Simpson, Bella Bella and Hazelton.

Corporate body · 1903-1925

The Presbyterian Woman's Missionary Society, nationally organized with a few auxiliaries in B.C., was originally concerned with foreign missions. Both native Indian and Chinese work in B.C. (as they were known at the time) were included as foreign. As an outgrowth of the committee, which supported the Atlin Hospital, a new organization emerged in 1903: the Woman's Home Missionary Society. In 1914, the two societies were united nationally as the Woman's Missionary Society and a provincial synod branch was organized. In addition to its support for the Atlin Hospital and a hospital at Telegraph Creek, it took special interest in the Loggers' Mission. Support was also give to Indian Residential and Day Schools at Alberni, Ahousaht, and Ucluelet. After church union in 1925, the society was merged into the Woman's Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada.

Splane, Verna Huffman
Person · 1914-2015

Verna Huffman Splane was born in 1914 in Peterborough, Ontario. She became a nurse after high school. In 1939 received a diploma in Public Health from the University of Toronto School of Nursing, and worked from the Victorian Order of Nurses until she entered Columbia University where she graduated with a Bachelor in Science in 1957 and then went on to earn a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan. After she graduated she worked for the World Health Organization as a nurse advisory in the health ministries of Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and the Windward and Leeward Islands. Upon her return to Canada she joined the federal Department of National Health and Welfare as a public health nursing consultant from 1963-1966, though she returned to the WHO to work on a national health planning project in Libya in 1966. In 1967 she once again returned to Canada, becoming Canada’s first Chief Nursing Officer, a position that she held until 1972. After her marriage to Richard Splane in 1971 the couple moved to Vancouver in 1973 where Verna joined the UBC School of Nursing from 1975 to 1984, and in 1985 she joined the University of Victoria School of Nursing faculty until 1991. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was granted the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilee medals (1977 and 2002). She held several honorary degrees and won awards such as the Jeanne Mance Award and the Lillian Carter Centre for International Nursing Award from Emory University. She died in January 2015.
Verna and Richard were married in 1971 following the death of Richard’s first wife Marion. After their move to Vancouver they were active members of the University Hill congregation of the United Church of Canada, and together undertook a study on Chief Nursing Officer positions around the Globe, which resulted in the 1994 publication Chief Nursing Officers in National Ministries of Health: Focal Points for Nursing Leadership. In 1996 they were awarded UBC’s first ever-joint honorary degree.

Splane, Richard B.
Person · 1916-2015

Richard Beverly Splane was born in 1916 in Calgary, Alberta. During the Great Depression Richard worked in construction camps with Frontier College in Alberta and then taught in a one-room school for two years. Following this he went on to earn a B.A. in economics and history from McMaster University (1944) and M.A. (1945), M.S.W. (1951) and D.S.W. (1961) from the University of Toronto. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, afterwards staying in London to complete a certificate in Social Science and Administration from the London School of Economics. He returned to Canada with his wife, Marion, to continue his education at the University of Toronto after which he worked for the federal government in various important positions in the Department of National Health and Welfare including: Economist, Research Division; Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister of National Welfare; Director, Unemployment Assistance; Director General, Welfare Assistance and Services; Assistant Deputy Minister, Social Allowances and Services. In addition to his significant contributions to the development of the social welfare system in Canada, Splane was also very interested in international welfare issues. He served as Canada's representative on the UNICEF Board and was a member of the United Nations' Expert Group on Social Welfare Policy and Planning. In 1973 he became a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia and served as acting director of the School 1980/81. He retired from UBC in 1982. Before and after his retirement he served on the boards of many organizations such as the International Council on Social Welfare, the International Association of Schools of Social Work, the World Federalists, and the Vancouver Branch of the the United Nations Association of Canada. He held many honours and awards – he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was awarded honorary degrees from Wilfred Laurier University, McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and UBC. He died in November 2015.
Verna and Richard were married in 1971 following the death of Richard’s first wife Marion. After their move to Vancouver they were active members of the University Hill congregation of the United Church of Canada, and together undertook a study on Chief Nursing Officer positions around the Globe, which resulted in the 1994 publication Chief Nursing Officers in National Ministries of Health: Focal Points for Nursing Leadership. In 1996 they were awarded UBC’s first ever-joint honorary degree.

Spaulding, John Gordon
Person · 1907-1996

John Gordon Spaulding earned a B.A. at Pomona College, California, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. After teaching at Stockton Junior College in California, he joined the UBC Department of English in 1946, where he remained on faculty until his retirement in 1972. His areas of scholarly interest included the history of literary criticism, Romantic poetry and prose, semantics, and the relationships between literary criticism and philosophy, science, and psychology.
While conducting research at the British Museum in 1961 Spaulding was using "The Preacher's Assistant", a catalogue of sermons presented and published in Great Britain, Ireland, and the American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, compiled by the Rev. John Cooke and published in 1783. Spaulding saw the possibility of gaining new insights into the political, social, and literary history of the period covered by the catalogue by correlating the entries in the first volume (the sermons) with the entries in the second volume (the authors), using then-new computer technology. By 1966 he had both volumes encoded on punch cards, and then spent the next 25 years correlating the two sets of records. An early print-out version was deposited at the Huntington Library in California in 1988. The final version was published in 1996, shortly after Spaulding's death, as "Pulpit Publications 1660-1782", in six volumes. As he wrote in the preface:
"By translating the data from Cooke's two volumes into six volumes it lays out the data in ways that make them accessible for purposes that Cooke did not have in mind. His catalogue of sermons is herein transformed from an Assistant to Preachers into an Assistant for Historians who wish to search out the vital relations between religion and literature, philosophy, science and politics in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or, more generally, are making bibliographical, philological and economic studies concerning the period. The usefulness of the sermon catalogue in historical studies is enhanced by the fact that the data within the catalogue come close to being exhaustive in regard to certain aspects of the period and, in the form presented within the present edition, make some novel statistical studies quite possible."

Smedley, Geoffrey
Person · 1927-2018

Canadian sculptor Geoffrey Smedley was born in London, England in 1927, and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College in London. He served in the British Army (1945-48) as a member of the Royal Engineers – his training as an engineer would influence his artistic career. Early in his career Smedley worked in the “constructivist tradition, and participated in two exhibitions with the Systems Group – the first organized by the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1972, and the second at The Design Activity International in 1974. His method later became intuitive, mathematical and site-specific. Subsequently he evolved from using specific landscape sites to the use of language, and also came to question the notions of light, time and memory in his sculpture. He first came to Canada as a visiting artist at Queen’s University in 1977, and the following year joined the faculty of the UBC Department of Fine Arts, where he remained until his retirement in 1992. After his retirement he continued to work at his studio on Gambier Island, B.C., where he lived with his wife Brigid.
As a sculptor Smedley combined disciplines such as mathematics and philosophy with accomplished craftsmanship, and his finished works often functioned as metaphors for language, time and memory. His sculptures were exhibited at more than sixty galleries in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, and can be found in various public collections, including The Arts Council of Great Britain, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. His sculpture "Rowingbridge" was a centrepiece at Expo 86 in Vancouver. His 2001 work "Piero en tête / Meditations on Piero" (often referred-to in his working notes as “Piero’s Head”) explored the links between architecture and other disciplines, such as geometry, cosmology and human anatomy, centred on Piero della Francesca’s attempts to draw the mathematically ideal proportions of the human head. Another work completed in 2012, "Descartes’ Clown", is a sculpture-installation that is a philosophical reflection on the mechanization of man. Shortly before his death Smedley completed another work on Piero and his book "De Prospectiva Pingendi", a book entitled "Beneath Appearances".
Geoffrey Smedley died suddenly on Gambier Island on 9 May 2018.

Thornton, James E.
Person · 1927-

James E. Thornton (b. 1927) received his MA (1967) and PhD (1972) in Adult Education from the University of Michigan. From 1969 until his retirement in 1992, Thornton taught in the Department of Administrative, Adult and Higher Education at the University of British Columbia. His research interests concern the impact of educational, social and economic programs on the development and well-being of the older adult. Current research interests are education for the third age: second careers, retirement, leisure activity, aging in the workforce, and life-span learning and education. At UBC Thornton introduced graduate course in educational gerontology and on aging themes. From 1980 to 1990, he served as co-ordinator for the Faculty of Graduate Studies Committee on Gerontology. The Committee encouraged teaching and research programs in faculties, schools and departments.

Slater, Ian
Person · 1941-

Ian Slater was born in Australia in 1941, and worked for the Australian navy, as a cipher clerk in that country’s Department of External Affairs, and as a defence officer for the Australian Joint Intelligence Bureau. After leaving Australia he became a marine geology technician with New Zealand’s Institute of Oceanography, and later with UBC’s Institute of Oceanography. In 1977 he earned his Ph.D. in political science. As an author and lecturer he has taught a wide variety of courses in the humanities.
Dr. Slater is the author of twenty-three adventure thrillers, including his best-selling "Firespill"; "Sea Gold"; "Air Glow Red"; "Storm"; "Deep Chill"; "Forbidden Zone"; "MacArthur Must Die"; "Showdown"; "Battle Front"; and "Manhunt". He is also the author of eleven books in his World War III series. His non-fiction book "Orwell: The Road To Airstrip One", a study of George Orwell’s social and political thought, has been acclaimed by publications from the Times Literary Supplement to the Washington Post. The latter wrote, “It is doubtful that any book provides a better foundation for a full understanding of Orwell’s unique and troubling vision.” ABC Book World states, "In Slater's revised version, his new preface contains a true story that Slater was part of and which is at once so moving about the power of one good, brave man and the power of literature to change events that it alone is worth the price of the book."
Dr. Slater also served as editor of the UBC academic quarterly "Pacific Affairs" from 1988 to 2002; has written book reviews for major North American newspapers; worked as a film critic; and written radio dramas and short stories for the CBC. He also wrote the screenplay for the National Film Board’s animated film, "Flash Point", based on his novel "Firespill".

St. John’s College UBC
Corporate body · 1997-

St. John’s College UBC is a graduate residential college for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars from around the world who study and teach at the University of British Columbia. St. John’s College was founded in 1997 by a joint venture agreement between The Johanneans’ Educational Foundation and UBC in memory of the original St. John’s University, which was once one of China’s most prestigious and influential universities before the institution was forcibly closed down in 1952 following the successful communist revolution. Symbolically, the College is next to the Pacific Ocean facing Asia. The first Principle of the new St. John’s College, Grant Ingram, took office in August 1997. St. John’s College seeks to inspire a global vision and foster a spirit of community among its residents and alumni through multicultural education, intercultural understanding and international exchange. The College is committed to enriching the intercultural and cultural life of the University, as well as welcoming and engaging with off-campus communities. It strives to embody the traditions of academic excellence and public service inherited from its founders, the alumni of St. John’s University Shanghai.
St. John's University was established in 1879 as “St. John’s College” by Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, the Anglican Bishop of Shanghai, by combining two preexisting Anglican colleges. In 1879, St. John's began with teaching 39 students mainly in Chinese. Subsequently, more college courses were offered. In 1896, St. John's was reformed; and in 1905, it was granted university status and started to confer bachelor's degrees. Gradually, the number of registered students started to expand and various schools were established, including arts, science, medicine, and theology. In 1913, a graduate level school was founded. The university began to accept female students in 1936. St. John's University was one of the 14 renowned
universities established in China before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Up until 1947, the university was approved to register with the then Chinese government. St. John's combined with three other schools -- Shanghai University, Soo Chow University and Hangchow Christian College – and formed Shanghai United Christian University on August 13, 1937. St. John's University gained an international reputation as one of the most prestigious universities in China. The university was famously known as "the cradle of diplomats in China" or even "Harvard in the Far East." St. John's became independent from the American Anglican Church in 1952. In the same year, the Ministry of Education in China reconstructed the departments and faculties of St. John's University. The journalism program was incorporated into Fudan University, architecture into Tongji University, economics into the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, politics into the East China University of Politics and Law, Chinese language and culture into East China Normal University, and the medical school into Shanghai No. 2 Medical University, which became the School of Medicine at Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2005. Thus, St. John’sUniversity became history. The initial English motto of St. John's is "Light and Truth." However, the Chinese motto, originated from Confucius, is "Learning without thinking is labor lost, thinking without learning is perilous." Both mottos are incorporated into the emblem of the former university.
During the first world reunion of St. John’s alumni – or Johanneans – in 1988, they promised to uphold the spirit of St. John's by starting new educational enterprises, and, if possible, restore St. John’s University, their alma mater. Therefore, this vision led to the founding of the Xinpu Institute of Technology in Taiwan, subsequently renamed as St. John's University of Science and Technology, which gradually become a comprehensive university. This view also motivated the establishment of St. John's College at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1997. The Johanneans continue to contribute to society from all walks of life.

Ridington, William Robin
Person · [ca. 1940- ]

William Ridington - also known as Robin Ridington - joined the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at UBC in 1968 after completing his Ph.D. at Harvard. Ridington began a study of the Beaver Indians in 1963 while an undergraduate majoring in archaeology at Harvard.

Riddehough, Geoffrey B.
Person · 1900-1978

Geoffrey Blundell Riddehough was born on March 18, 1900, in Bramhall, Cheshire, England. Educated in Penticton, B.C., he went on to become a UBC Fairview graduate, earning a first class honours B.A. (1924) in Latin and English in addition to being awarded the Governor Generalʹs gold medal as head of his graduating class. Riddehough obtained his M.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley (1925). After teaching in the English Department at the University of Alberta for several years on a contract basis, the Nichol Scholarship enabled Riddehough to pursue his studies and research interests in London and at La Sorbonne in Paris (1929‐1932). Returning to Canada in the autumn of 1932, he set aside his PhD. studies at the University of Toronto to become a classics instructor at UBC. Riddehough joined the UBC faculty in 1933 and remained a member of the Department of Classics for the next thirty‐eight years. While at UBC, he continued to pursue his education, obtaining a M.A. (1939) in classics and a Ph.D. from Harvard (1951) with a thesis on the medieval poet Joseph of Exeter. While studying at Harvard, his dissertation essay ʺDe Medeae In Iasonem Odioʺ won the Bowdoin Latin Prize (1950). At UBC, Riddehough specialized in Medieval Latin and was noted for his satirical verse.
Riddehough was a prolific writer and a number of his essays, poems, and short stories were published in a variety of journals and newspapers. Two of his better known works were his collection of verse, Dance to the Anthill (1972) and the posthumously published Rueful Rhymes: The Satirical Verse of a Couple of Anti‐Bodies (1994) that was co‐authored by Geoffrey A. Spencer. Riddehough was familiar with several languages, including French and Cornish, as well as being versed in ancient Greek and Latin. An interest in the paranormal led Riddehough to participate in a Wicca witch‐naming ceremony on the Isle of Man. He wrote numerous short stories about his female witch persona, “Anaitis”, and the majority of the correspondence from Riddehough within the Pegeen Brennan and Doreen Nalos sous‐fonds are signed with the Anaitis symbol. Riddehough died suddenly on April 6, 1978, in London, England, while returning to Vancouver after a holiday in Malta.

Ricou, Laurence R., 1944-
Person · 1944-

Laurence "Laurie" R. Ricou was born in Brandon Manitoba on October 17, 1944 and earned his B.A. at the University of Manitoba in 1965. He moved to the University of Toronto where he earned his MA in 1957 and Ph.D. in 1971. Ricou then went to the University of Lethbridge where he taught English for eight years beginning in 1970. While at Lethbridge he became a specialist on Canadian Prairie regionalism and prairie writing. In 1978 he moved to Vancouver and joined UBC's Department of English. Ricou has written or co-authored a number of books including "The Arbutus/Madrone Files: Reading the Pacific Northwest" (2002), "A Field Guide to Dungeness Spit" (1997), "Everyday Magic: Child Languages in Canadian Literature" (1991), and "Vertical Man/Horizontal World: Man and Landscape in Canadian Prairie Fiction" (1973). He has also contributed numerous journal articles, conference papers and chapters for books.

Corporate body · 1991-

While courses in women’s studies were first offered at the university in 1971, the degree-granting Women’s Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts began offering an undergraduate major in 1991. The program was an interdisciplinary field of study that drew upon the social sciences, humanities, research methods, theory, literature, and gender relations. Tannis MacBeth Williams was the program’s first chair.
Early faculty involved in the Women’s Studies Program were Dr. Dawn Currie, Dr. Valerie Raoul, Dr. Veronica Strong-Boag, Prof. Sneja Gunew, Dr. Sharalyn Orbaugh, Dr. Becki Ross, and Dr. Lenora Angeles. The Women’s Studies Program worked closely with the Centre for Research in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations (created in 1991 with a mandate to support research and develop links between local and international scholars, policy makers and activists). The Founding Director of CRWSGR was Veronica Strong-Boag. Graduate-level courses were first offered in the 1998-99 academic year, initially from within the Interdisciplinary Studies Programme in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The CRWSGR began administering M.A. and PhD programs in Women’s Studies and Gender Relations in 2000-2001. It changed its name to the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies (CWAGS) in 2006. In 2012, CWAGS and the Women’s and Gender Studies graduate and undergraduate programs merged to form the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, directed by Dr. Mary K. Bryson.

Corporate body · 1964-1983

The history of the University of British Columbia Resources Office can be traced to 1964 with the establishment of the Resources Committee Office. In the early 1970s, the organization became the University Resources Council based at Cecil Green Park. In 1980, the name was changed to the Resources Office and it appears to have operated until 1983.

Corporate body · 1977-

The UBC Office of Research Services was established in 1977 as Research Administration. Prior to its establishment, the President’s Office oversaw the administration of research activities for the University. In 1983 Research Administration changed its name to Research Services. In 1986 it became Research Services and Industry Liaison. In 1992 it changed its name back to Research Services. Throughout this time Richard D. Spratley managed its activities. In 1983, when Research Administration changed its name, Spratley’s position as Research Administrator was re-named Director.
The Office administers grants and grant programs for the University. A number of separate committees are responsible for administering grant programs and overseeing different types of research. The Human Ethics Committee oversees ethical review procedures for research involving humans. The Animal Care Committee approves research involving animals, while ensuring that animal care guidelines were met. The Biosafety Committee reviews and approves research involving bio-hazardous materials, and also sets safety standards.

Reid, Philip Edward
Person · 1936-

Philip Edward Reid was born on January 29, 1936 in Westcliff-on-sea, Essex, England. Reid obtained a BSc Honours in biological chemistry in 1957 from the University of Bristol in England. In 1959, he received a MSc in chemistry from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario, which was followed with a PhD in chemistry in 1924. Reid's main research focus was the correlative chemical and histochemical studies of the epithelial glycoproteins of the normal and diseased large and small intestine, and the development of new histochemical procedures for the examination of epithelial glycoproteins. His teaching career expanded over thirty years. In 1964 he began teaching as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at UBC. In 1966, Reid became Assistant Professor and MRC Scholar for the Department of Pathology. During his tenure he held many titles in the Department of Pathology, from Assistant Professor (1966-1983) to Professor (1983-1993) to Acting Head (1992-1993). He is best known as the coordinator for the distance format Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science (BMLSc) degree program, as well as course coordinator for Pathology 300, 404, 405, and 438. Other titles that Reid has held over his career include: founder member for the Mucin Club, member of the UBC Graduate Council and Executive Committee Graduate Council, member of the curriculum committee, to name a few. In 1993, Reid was appointed as honorary member of the BCSMT.

Read, Frank
Person · 1911-1994

Frank Read was born on March 1, 1911. In the early 1930s, he became an accomplished oarsman with the Vancouver Rowing Club. Following a back injury, suffered while playing football, that ended his rowing career, he went into the hotel industry. In late 1949, Read agreed to coach the University of British Columbia rowing team which, at the same time, began a formal co-operation with the Vancouver Rowing Club. In recognition of both institutions, it was decided to call these new members "VRC/UBC" oarsmen. Despite very limited resources for UBC’s fledging rowing program, Read focussed on the importance of training and conditioning and instilling in his athletes dedication to the sport.
His intensive training program soon produced results. Competing against other top Canadian teams to represent the country at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the UBC team was beaten by the Toronto Argonaut club. Two years later, Read’s eight-oared crew represented Canada at the 1954 British Empire Games in Vancouver. There the team won Canada’s first ever gold medal for the eights. The following year, invited by the Duke of Edinburgh to compete against the world’s best at the Henley Regatta in England, the students scored an upset victory over the world champion Russians in the semi-finals, and finished second to the U.S. team in the finals. In 1956 Read lead his rowing teams to the Melbourne Olympics where the coxless four won a gold medal and the eights came a very close second to capture a silver medal – these were the first Olympic medals won by Canada in rowing.
After a brief retirement (1957-60) Read returned to coach the rowing team at the 1960 Rome Olympics. That year, his eights finished second, earning Canada’s only medal at the games. Following the Olympics, Read once again retired, bringing to a close an important era in this country’s rowing history.
Read was also a mentor to those who followed him as rowing coaches. During his first retirement, John Warren coached the UBC team which represented Canada at the 1958 Empire Games in Cardiff, Wales, winning a gold and two silver medals (in the eights, fours, and coxless fours, respectively). Two others, Wayne Pretty and Glen Mervyn, were on the coaching staff for Canada’s rowing teams at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo (resulting in one gold medal in the pairs) and the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
John Carver in "The Vancouver Rowing Club: A History, 1886-1980" offered the following assessment of Frank Read’s accomplishments:
Starting with almost nothing, operating on the most meagre budgets. he took his crews to the top international competition and, incidentally put himself among the top rowing coaches in the world. He had the drive, and the patience to stand the rugged twice daily grind in all kinds of weather; he demanded discipline and condition, and got them, and he had the
knowledge and knew how to impart it to his crews. He will say to himself that it is the horses in the boats that win races and of course he is right. But no sport demands more coaching than crew rowing and Read supplied it beyond measure.
Frank Read died in Vancouver in 1994.

Ralston, Keith
Person · 1921-2009

Harry Keith Ralston was born in Victoria, B.C. on 3 September 1921. Graduating from Victoria High School in 1938, he earned the Royal Institution Scholarship for Victoria District. He then attended Victoria College and the University of British Columbia, receiving his BA in 1942 with 1st Class Honours in History. Ralston entered the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1942 – beginning as an Ordinary Seaman, he worked his way up the ranks to Lieutenant, and served on the Atlantic Coast, before being discharged in 1945. He was the legislative correspondent for the left-wing weekly "Pacific Tribune" from 1952 to 1955, and also wrote for "The Fisherman" and other labour periodicals – he was a life-long supporter of socialist and labour causes. Turning to teaching, Ralston entered the Vancouver Normal School, graduating in 1956 “with distinction”, in the top ten among 500 graduates. He taught at Templeton High School in East Vancouver from 1956 to 1960. In 1960 he was hired as the first curator of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, where he assembled its original collections and mounted the first exhibits. Returning to UBC, he completed his MA in History in 1965; his dissertation was entitled "The 1900 strike of Fraser River sockeye salmon fishermen". He joined the the UBC Department of History in 1967. His teaching focussed on the history of British Columbia and the Canadian West. Ralston retired in 1986 with the rank of Assistant Professor, although he continued to write and conduct research. He published articles on B.C. and labour history in "B.C. Studies" and "The Beaver", as well as a number of articles for the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography". He died 20 June 2009.

Peterat, Linda
Person · [ca. 1950- ]

Linda Peterat holds a B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Ed., and Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from the University of Alberta. Prior to coming to UBC she taught home economics in both junior and senior high schools. At UBC she directed the home economics teacher education program and graduate programs at UBC and taught graduate courses in curriculum studies and research methodologies. At the end of her career at UBC she pursued her interest in researching food as it relates to home economics. The research led her to become the co-creator of the Intergenerational Landed Learning Project in 2002 and its co-director until 2007. Following her retirement in 2006 she moved to Vernon BC, where she directs an Intergenerational Landed Learning Program in the Xerindipity Garden at the Okanagan Science Centre and is a Program Developer for the Okanagan Science Centre, Vernon.

Thompson, Peggy
Person · [ca. 1954- ]

Peggy Thompson graduated from Point Grey Secondary School in 1972 before attending the University of British Columbia. Later, she became a professor of screenwriting in the Creative Writing department at UBC. She has worked as a writer, producer, and director for film, television, radio, and stage.
Thompson is the screenwriter of the feature films "Better Than Chocolate" and "The Lotus Eaters". "Better Than Chocolate" premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won numerous international awards, while "The Lotus Eaters" was nominated for 11 Genie Awards, and won three. She also won a Genie for the short film "In Search Of The Last Good Man". Her short documentary film "Broken Images – The Photography Of Michelle Normoyle" has played festivals worldwide. "It’s A Party!", another short film, was nominated for a Genie. Peggy Thompson has also written for series television ("Da Vinci’s Inquest", "Big Sound", "PR", "The Beachcombers", and "Weird Homes"). Her radio play "Calamity Jane And The Fat Buffalo Moon" was published by Blizzard Press and was staged in New York. Her stage work has been nominated for both Chalmers and Jessie Awards. She was one of four producers on the feature film "Saint Monica", which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, won the Cultural Expressions Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Sarasota Film Festival, and was nominated for two Genie Awards. "Saint Monica" received its European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. She has recently produced the animated short "Chanterelle Rain", was the Executive Producer on the Crazy 8 short drama "Sacrifice", and is one of the producers on Sharon McGowan’s award winning documentary "Bearded Ladies: The Photography Of Rosamond Norbury". She also co-authored, with Saeko Usukawa, the books "Hard-Boiled: Great Lines from Classic Movies" (1995) and "Tall in the Saddle: Great Lines from Classic Westerns" (1998).
As of 2017, Thompson is a Professor Emerita of UBC’s Creative Writing Program, and has served on the Board of Directors of Women in Film and Television Vancouver as well as Out On Screen. She is currently on the From Our Dark Side Screenplay Genre Competition’s Steering Committee, a national competition for genre screenwriters run by Women in Film and Television Vancouver.

Parnall, John A.E.
Person · 1914-1992

John Parnall completed his B.A. (1935) and B.Ed (1949) at the University of British Columbia and an M.A. at the University of Toronto. After serving as Associate Registrar and lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, Parnall became Registrar in 1957 and held that position until 1980.

Pacific Educational Press
Corporate body · 1971-

Pacific Educational Press (PEP) is the publishing house of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. PEP publishes educational books and media resources, including textbooks and supplementary resources for schools, scholarly books for education specialists, textbooks for teacher education programs, and professional resources for practicing teachers. The Press was founded in 1971 as the Vancouver Environment Education Group (VEEP). In its early years VEEP focused on providing resources for elementary school teachers, focussing primarily on environmental education. In 1974 it changed its name to Western Education Development Group – abbreviated to WEDG, and later, WEDGE, only retaining its full name in the copyright information of its books. WEDGE expanded the range of subjects of its publications, and a number of series were produced in conjunction with other organizations during this period. The final name change to Pacific Educational Press occurred in 1987. PEP began producing textbooks for both the K-12 market and for teacher education courses. In addition, the Press has published a number of supplemental resources for teachers, and also several children’s fiction books with accompanying teacher guides.
The original director of the Press was Kip Anastasiou, who often served as the editor or even co-author of the books. The second director, Catherine Edwards, began circa 1990. She also served as an editor of the books produced by PEP. Edwards retired in 2014 and the Press is now under the direction of Susan Howell. The Press has remained small throughout its history, as of 2014 employing only about 10 full-time employees.