Have you met Shannon Erichsen, Team Lead of Undergraduate Surgical Education in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry? Spend a few minutes getting to know her a little better.
What is your first U of A memory?
I have a few. Being about 5 or 6, watching Golden Bears Football games with my Dad sitting on the hood of our car parked at the top of the south edge of the Stadium Parkade, overlooking the football field. I grew up in Michener Park in the 70s, as both of my parents were in university. There was no shortage of children to play with at so many different playgrounds and pretty flowerbeds everywhere. I can remember going to campus with one of them for a handover, looking up at all the tall buildings and going home with the other. I have no idea how they handled being in university with two small children, but they made it work successfully.
What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?
I was in the front row of the infamous Radiohead show at Dinwoodie Lounge in March 1996 and I have Thom Yorke’s setlist from the show framed on my wall.
What’s your favourite distraction?
I can go down a YouTube or IG wormhole with the best of them.
If you were enrolling in one course, program or degree right now, what would it be?
Oh so many! Anything that has medicine intersecting with arts. I think those history, philosophy and anthropology of science and technology courses sound really interesting. I still need to get to the Indigenous Canada MOOC, it’s on my “to do” list. Some of the urban and regional planning courses look pretty cool and I know that the new College of Health Sciences is looking at creating some sort of health science degree, which seems very appealing.
What’s a weird pet peeve you have?
It’s not a weird one, I think it is pretty common among purists: The first Indiana Jones movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark, not “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It makes me crazy that it has been changed. "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" is not a thing.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
Not sure, but I am craving a Catfish Po’Boy and Sweet Potato Fries from DaDeO’s right now.
If you could see any live performance tomorrow, what would it be?
Well, I still have tix for Rage Against the Machine for 2022 which has been cancelled twice due to the world we now live in, but if I had to pick LCD Soundsystem – no contest.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Be kinder to yourself. Believe and reach for what you want.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Music.
What three words describe your U of A experience?
Challenging, engaging, fulfilling.
About Shannon
Shannon has worked for over 30 years in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD)/Alberta Health Services in various positions and is currently the Team Lead of Undergraduate Surgical Education. She has contributed to the great success of Surgery 101 and received the David Cook Award for Innovation in Medical Education with her colleagues. She has received the University of Alberta Support Staff Research Enhancement Award for her work in FoMD with summer students and research. Shannon has represented support staff on the General Faculties Council in various roles since 2014.