(L-R) Margaret Tom-Wing, Richard Moore, Patricia Rose, James Bellavance and Moya Waters – photo by Martin Dee
UBC Reports | Vol. 54 | No. 5 | May 1, 2008
By Meg Walker
Five members of the university community are being recognized for outstanding contributions to campus life and for personal achievements as recipients of the 2008 President’s Service Award for Excellence (PSAE).
This year’s winners are James Bellavance, Facilities Manager, Plant Operations; Richard Moore, Facilities Co-ordinator; Patricia Rose, Secretary of the Arts and Creative Writing Program; Margaret Tom-Wing, Executive Coordinator to the Dean of Arts; and Moya Waters, Associate Director of the Museum of Anthropology.
Each recipient will receive the award — a gold medal and $5,000 — in a presentation during Spring Congregation Ceremonies.
James Bellavance, a UBC employee for 22 years, is known for his open and approachable manner, whether he is figuring out drainage issues at the Norman MacKenzie House, interfacing with film crews on the campus or handling the flow of contractors working on major construction projects like the recently completed Life Sciences Centre.
He first started as a Building Service Worker and then earned successive promotions into supervisory and management positions including Head Service Worker, SUB Proctor, Custodial Services Manager before moving into his current role as Facilities Manager.
As a volunteer, Bellavance’s cooking expertise has become legendary at UBC. Each year he prepares, and then cooks, about 300 pounds of chicken at the Land and Building Services’ United Way Barbecue.
Outside UBC, Bellavance coaches youth soccer teams and is active in the Greek community, helping new immigrants immerse themselves in the community and becoming ‘uncle’ to many.
Richard Moore is responsible for the safety and functioning of UBC Library’s 22 branches and divisions, including the newly opened Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
In his 39-year career at UBC, Moore has taken on increasing responsibilities and has developed a reputation for being willing to do hands-on work as well as administrative duties. He is even available by cell phone when he’s away on vacation.
When Phase One of the IKBLC opened several years ago, Moore had responsibility for moving the collection and library occupants into their new spaces. Among other tasks, he was the expert on installing the new Automated Storage and Retrieval System.
Even now, if one of the system’s 19,000 steel book-holding bins gets stuck, he’ll put on a safety harness and climb among the forty-foot high rows of automated shelving to nudge a bin back in alignment.
Inter-cultural education is also dear to Moore’s heart. As a volunteer, he co-created a database of African and Diaspora Children’s literature with Department of Education faculty.
During her 20 years at UBC, Patricia Rose has helped hundreds of fledgling writers navigate their careers at UBC and then tracked their development in the professional world.
Rose, the long-time Secretary in the Department of Creative Writing, is known for her skills fostering a deep sense of community amongst students and staff. She organizes department socials and student readings, sometimes demanding that participants come in costumes. Her bake, thrift and book sales have raised funds for UBC’s United Way campaigns over the years.
Brightness, colour, humour and constancy are words that colleagues and students use to describe Rose. A stalwart on her dragon boat crew, she is also appreciated for her ability to raise money and enthusiasm fundraising for cancer and AIDS runs and walks.
Moya Waters, Associate Director of the Museum of Anthropology, has developed a reputation for good judgment and quiet determination during her 29 years at UBC.
From her first UBC job as a curatorial and photographic assistant at the Museum of Anthropology, Waters worked her way into increasingly senior managerial positions. The Museum also grew, and Waters is currently the project manager for the $55 million expansion and renovation project.
In earlier years, Moya was highly involved in Museum programs that focused on youth. She oversaw the Museum’s student internship programs and co-managed the Native Youth Program, an ongoing summer program that introduces urban First Nations teenagers to First Nations artists and leaders in a research setting.
In the community, Waters is also known for her decade of service on the Board of United We Can, a social enterprise for low income residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Now in her fifth year as Executive Coordinator to the Dean of Arts, Margaret Tom-Wing is known as the calm in the storm that the Dean’s office can sometimes be.
Professors, department heads and students alike say that Tom-Wing’s encyclopedic knowledge of departmental and university procedures has been essential to keeping the Faculty of Arts running smoothly.
Tom-Wing, in her 11th year as a UBC employee, demonstrated her untiring efficiency as a core member of the planning team for the Arts Gala organized in the fall of 2006 that introduced the then-new President of UBC, Stephen Toope, to the talents of its students.
Previously, Tom-Wing served as the Administrative Secretary to the Head of the English Department for five years. In this role she became a regular proof-reader for the journal Canadian Literature, a volunteer task she continues to this day.
As a trained print-maker and cellist, Tom-Wing puts her volunteer energy into the arts community. She has been a board member for eight years with the Electric Theatre Company and has been volunteering since 2004 with the Union Gospel Mission in the kitchen for evening meals.
