Have you met Lucie, Director of the Centre for Writers? Spend the next few minutes getting to know her a little better.
Right here in the Centre for Writers. I’ve been here for ten years now. It’s a place where we see a lot of students, not just from one class or one program, but from all over the university. It’s a hub of support for everybody. We see students, faculty members, staff, alumni. We see a lot of diversity in this place, and I love that.
Paper, but a lot of students have everything online, so I’ll say 50–50. For the work that we do here, paper is preferable. It’s easier to read, write, take notes, and make edits on paper.
Cookies. I like to make cookies, and I like to bring them here for people so I don’t eat them all.
Books. I love biographies, autobiographies, novels — but nothing too complicated because I have to read lots of complicated stuff for work already. I love to read when I’m traveling or whenever I have time off, it’s something I really enjoy.
Machu Picchu. It’s my dream. I’m desperate to see it before they cut it off from tourists in a few years. I’d also like to visit Japan, it’s another place that intrigues me.
Oliver Sacks. He was a psychologist who wrote a lot of books about odd psychological and physical issues that people came to see him about. He wrote a book that’s very famous called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat which was about things like people who had vision problems and couldn’t recognize faces. His books are fascinating, but still quite accessible.
I would like to learn more about what they do at the UAlberta International office. I think they do recruitment, study abroad programming, and I would love to see what they do their in a week.
Giving the chance to learn to everyone.
Education, especially for women, children, and girls. I would make sure everyone has access to a good education regardless of accessibility issues, money issues, cultural issues — whatever the barriers are, I would make sure they are removed.
Flexibility — It was something I had to develop over my ten years here.
Grit — I had to persevere and make sure I always keep my goal in mind and not get distracted by surrounding difficulties.
Fun — I’ve had fun helping and meeting people and learning a lot along the way.
Dr. Lucie Moussu joined the University of Alberta in July 2009 and is an Associate Professor in Writing Studies and Director of the Centre for Writers. She is originally from France and Switzerland and became a proud Canadian citizen in 2011. While studying Design and Applied Linguistics, she taught French and ESL at Brigham Young University, as well as Composition and Communication at Purdue University. At Ryerson University, in Toronto, she worked as Coordinator of ESL writing courses and Director of the Writing Centre. She loves to play music (piano, clarinet, viola, etc.), to sing, to cook, to read, to play with her cat, to drive nice cars, to teach, and to travel.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.