Change makers

2008 Arch Award winners personify “the power of one”

By Matthew Fox

Two women who have each had substantive impact in their respective communities—a poor, indigenous village in central Mexico in one case, and the city of Calgary in the other—are recipients of the 2008 Arch Awards, the University of Calgary’s highest honour for alumni.

The Distinguished Alumni Award winner is Susan Smith, BN’75, PhD’95. Smith has worked in the Arctic, in war zones and in the middle of a famine. Those experiences led her to Mexico’s Tlamacazapa—one of the most impoverished places on the continent.

Arriving a decade ago, Smith discovered a population plagued by disease, fatigue and violence. Founding an organization called Caminamos Juntos para Salud y Desarrollo (Walking Together for Health and Development), Smith has established health care, water and sanitation, education, economic self-sufficiency and social healing programs.

“Dr. Smith’s work using participatory action research has awakened the community to become involved in resolving their life issues,” wrote Smith’s nominator, Sarla Sethi, a recently retired professor in the Faculty of Nursing. “Her ability to help people develop their resources and skills to manage their lives effectively is beyond description.”

The 2008 Graduate of the Last Decade Award recipient, recognizing a graduate under 35 who has made an early impact in their career, is Robyn Hauck, BCS’05.

Hauck witnessed Calgary’s anti-smoking legislation become stalled in a gridlock of competing interests in 2006. The 30-year-old mounted a one-woman advocacy campaign, rounding up like-minded Calgarians for support and organizing a petition with more than 12,000 signatures. Thanks to Hauck’s efforts and those by others she mobilized, Calgary city council voted to ban public smoking a year earlier than planned.

“It was one of the most amazing examples that I have seen in my 27 years of public life; how a single, determined, skilled and able person through principled leadership can inspire positive change,” wrote Calgary Alderman Bob Hawkesworth, MA’03, in a letter of support for Hauck’s nomination.

“Susan and Robyn exemplify how powerful one person can be as an agent of social change,” said Tamara McCarron, BSc’00, MBA’05, president of the U of C Alumni Association. “Their successes—and their connections back to the U of C—are the source of immense pride within our alumni family.”

Smith and Hauck will be honoured at a gala on June 5 at The Grand in Calgary. To find out more about the Arch Awards, visit archawards.com.