Meet Raymond, director of the Student Service Centre and a lover of words. Spend a few minutes getting to know him better.
What is your first U of A memory?
When I was in elementary school, my mother went back to school to do her MBA (her previous degrees were in pharmacy), so I have a foggy memory of her convocation at the Jubilee Auditorium. Outside of that, I also remember attending a summer computer camp in CAB.
My son Nicholas has been a big part of my U of A experience: he was in the HUB daycare until kindergarten and now goes to McKernan junior high and walks from school to my office in the Administration Building.
What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?
I think most folks assume that I was always interested in languages and the humanities (like I am now), but my original plan in high school had a bigger focus on math, science and computers.
What’s your favourite distraction?
Language learning is my absolute passion. Part of that process means that I enjoy listening to music in other languages, even if I don’t understand a word. Last year, it was music in Farsi, but recently, I’ve been listening to so much French music that Apple Music has started to make some interesting recommendations!
If you were enrolling in one course, program or degree right now, what would it be?
If I were going to “start over” and do a whole new degree, I would probably study computer engineering with a minor in linguistics. I would also take the certificate in sustainable learning — yes, it absolutely is possible to do all three of those things. :)
What’s a weird pet peeve you have?
I love to geek out over language and words, but I find it really off-putting when people deliver strict admonitions about the “right” way to say things, or take a dogmatic approach to grammar and vocabulary.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
My uncle, Randy Nicholson, came to the U of A for graduate studies and that decision was part of the story of how a whole side of my family decided to move to Canada. My uncle passed away from Alzheimer’s almost 10 years ago, and the chance to have one more family dinner with him would be an unabashedly auspicious occasion.
If you could see any live performance tomorrow, what would it be?
Edmonton is getting so many cool shows these days! I just bought tickets to see Weird Al Yankovic with my son, and I’m debating whether to see Trevor Noah next year.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
I would probably try to convince myself that there was more than enough room to bring my “people passions” into studying the sciences. Somehow it ended up feeling like a kind of one-or-the-other choice at the time, which is really a pity.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Tombow Fudenosuke pens are a personal favourite, but if we ever end up shopping at Michaels together (or Stylus, downtown!), be ready for me to spend an uncomfortable amount of time looking at pens, pencils and brushes.
What three words describe your U of A experience?
Family, serendipity, curiosity.
About Raymond
Raymond is the director of the Student Service Centre at the University of Alberta. He was born and raised on Treaty Six Territory with bicultural roots in South America and southern Saskatchewan. His University of Alberta career has spanned roles in International Student Services, the Faculty of Engineering and also the Office of the Registrar. Before joining the U of A as a staff member, Raymond worked for the better part of ten years in Japan and China. He speaks Mandarin and Japanese and is studying French through Alliance Française in order to improve his ability to connect with francophone students and campus colleagues.