Have you met Sarah, Associate Director for Advancement in the Faculty of Arts? Spend the next few minutes getting to know her a little better.
The patio in front of CCIS. It’s a nice place to unwind, decompress, be able to look out into nature, and a nice way to show off our campus.
Both. One thing I love to be able to do is physically cross things off of a list. On the other hand, I couldn’t do the dictation of meetings without my phone. It’s a real time saver for me.
My Marilyn Monroe painting!
The story behind it is that I used to share an office with a colleague when I worked in the School of Business, and we were renovating our office and wanted to get some art. So we went to IKEA and we saw this painting coupled with an Audrey Hepburn painting, and our personalities are such that she was Audrey and I was Marilyn. She still has the other one which she took with her after she left her job here.
Other then my family, it would have to be music. I’m a music grad from Grant McEwan — I took a vocal performance diploma there, and I sing professionally in a band. I’ve done the cruise ship circuit which is my first love as far as my career goes.
Bora Bora. I just want to get in one of those little huts! The water there is blue and crystal clear, everything is vibrant — it would be a nice place for me to get away from it all because I tend to make my life very busy.
Billy Joel — he’s one of my favourite musicians. But if I wasn’t going to do musicians, I would probably pick Obama. He is classy, well-respected, treats his family well, and funny. It would be cool to pick his brain.
A student recruiter. I have a lot of energy and I think that being able to go out and talk to prospective students about coming here and getting them excited about the U of A would be a cool job.
Government unity — meaning it would be nice to have all of the governments across the world get along and figure it out together so nobody’s fighting over trade agreements or whether this group of people can get married or not, etc. I think that if there was more collaborative thinking among governments the world would be a better place.
Experiential — I spent eleven years at the School of Business trying out different roles there, and now I’m [in the Faculty of Arts] on this secondment. The ability to gain a different perspective and learn more about what’s going on around campus is awesome.
Network — I built a network that I never thought I would by working here.
Purposeful —In particular, the work I do fundraising for the university.
Sarah Kowalevsky has been employed with the University of Alberta for twelve years. She spent much of her time at the Alberta School of Business with Executive Education and then moved into events and advancement. She is currently seconded to the Faculty of Arts (until October) in advancement, where she is enjoying learning a completely different perspective at the U of A. Sarah is a graduate of MacEwan University’s Vocal Performance Program. From there, she toured the world on cruise ships with her husband and friends, singing in a band. She now leads the Edmonton-based corporate party band Five on the Side, and appreciates an energetic lifestyle with her family, music, and work.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.