Have you met Trevor, Associate Director of Education Abroad with University of Alberta International? Spend the next 2 minutes getting to know him a little better.
Where is your favorite place on campus?
My favourite place on campus is the water feature over by Humanities — the pond with the big koi fish and the picnic tables. On a sunny day it’s awesome. I used to work in the humanities building, so I was there all the time.
Tablet or paper?
Paper. I’m very much old-school. Being an English major, there’s just something about the feel of paper.
Name one thing you’ve brought to work from home.
Art.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
The easy answer is coffee. But a better answer would be: I can’t live without having a purpose, whether that’s in a job, or whatever it is that you’re doing.
If you won airfare to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I have two destinations right now:
I really want to explore Japan — I know it’s going to be so radically different from Canada.
The other place I want to go is Croatia, and specifically the Dalmatian Coast. It’s spectacular, it looks so beautiful.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
My fun, nerdy answer is Yoda, so that he could impart a little Jedi wisdom to me.
But the more serious answer: I never had a chance to meet my paternal grandparents. They both passed away before I was born. I would be so fascinated to meet them.
If you could switch jobs with someone else on campus for a week, what would you do?
When I tell people I work at the university, they always ask, “Are you a professor?” And I say no.
But the second thing I always hear is: “the campus is so beautiful!” And I have to say, “I have nothing to do with that.” So I think I would be really interested in working with Facilities and Operations for a week.
What does “uplifting the whole people” mean to you?
I think it’s about trying to engage the whole community, and not just the university.
For example, we’re funding a grad student from Ghana right now who is working in community development, and he got involved with End Poverty Edmonton. He’s been telling me about his work, and learning about strategies that might work here in Edmonton — but also about what he’s going to take back to Ghana with him. So suddenly, we have the university reaching out to communities that might never make it onto campus — and he’s making that connection.
So for me, it’s all about engaging with the greater community, and trying to improve quality of live.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Climate change. Climate change scares me. I think it’s going to have a huge effect on everything else.
What 3 words best describe your U of A experience?
Long — I’ve been here for 31 years.
Invigorating — there’s something about the energy on campus that makes me want to come to work. There’s so much going on.
And rewarding is number three.
Trevor Buckle has been employed in the post-secondary sector for his entire professional career, primarily at the University of Alberta. Starting in the Office of the Registrar, he transitioned to student advising and recruitment in the Faculties of Arts, Science and Engineering. His focus shifted from Canadian to international recruitment and programming, including managing UAlberta’s School in Cortona, Italy. After working at Athabasca University as the Director of Partnerships and Student Recruitment, Trevor returned to U of A as the Associate Director (Programs), Education Abroad where he oversees institution-wide study abroad programs.