The Psychology Department is pleased to announce that the provincial government has approved a third Psychology program: the 4-year General B.A. in Psychology! This program will be available for declaration in Fall 2017, but students who would like to take this program may begin taking the required courses (commencing with Psyc-1000).

The 4-Year B.A. degree in Psychology meets the needs of students interested in psychology-related careers who require a deeper examination of psychology than provided by the 3-year degree program, but do not require an Honours degree in Psychology. Students may plan to enter careers with an applied orientation directly after graduation (e.g., human services, community settings, law enforcement, health, business), or to apply for professional programs that require a 4-year degree, but not the more academic stream represented by the Honours degree. The program provides an opportunity for students to explore how their developing knowledge about psychological science can be applied in one or more fields of application.

For further details on this program, please consult the Psychology Department.

On Thursday 5th May, the University of Winnipeg held a champagne reception for faculty and staff members who reached major employment milestones during the current year. Psychology was exceptionally well represented this year, with seven people reaching milestones, including the unbelievable record of 50 years achieved by Harry Strub. Here are the department members recognized in 2016.

50 Years
Harry Strub

35 Years
Bruce Bolster
Gary Rockman

30 Years
Beverley Fehr

25 Years
Douglas Williams

10 Years
Derrick Bourassa
Stephen Smith

In Honour of Harry’s outstanding achievement, the following short presentation was made by the Chair of Psychology.

ON HARRY STRUB’S 50 YEARS AT UWINNIPEG

Harry has asked me to not go on at length, which is a good thing because Andraea told me that three minutes would be about right. That allows 3.6 seconds per year of service, so I’ve already used up about 10 years of Harry’s very productive life at UW.

People outside Psychology and even some in the department may not know that Harry started out as an animal researcher, studying rats to better understand the basic associative processes involved in learning, processes that help to explain and treat anxiety and other psychological disorders. Since that time, he has had scholarly interests in such diverse topics as the use of hypnosis to control pain, and Panopticon control, an allusion to Bentham’s premise of an all-seeing institution able to monitor every action of its inhabitants. Certainly a topic that resonates today at the societal level.

But Harry’s true calling has been his deep involvement with the Arts, both as a promoter and as a student of the underlying creative processes. With respect to the latter, he created and offers a course on Psychology and the Arts, supervises student theses on creativity as manifested in artistic and other behaviours, and has given conference presentations on such topics as Human Nature and the Arts. I’m sure it is only a coincidence that the last was given during the frigid month of January in Hawaii!

As a promoter of the Arts and of the University of Winnipeg, Harry has given outstanding service. Through Virtuosi Concerts and even before, he has contributed much to the musical offerings in Winnipeg, especially in the area of Chamber Music. And his forays into the arts have been diverse, for example, including performances of Hebraic inspired music at the Rady Jewish Community Centre.

Also subsumed under the umbrella of Virtuosi were the many lecture series that Harry initiated and for the longest time managed. These include the well-known Skywalk Concert & Lecture Series that so many faculty have participated in, as well as talks at numerous venues, including Fred Douglas Place practically next door, to the Wellington way down on Grant Avenue, to the Rady Centre in between. Harry has done much to insinuate UW faculty and our institution into the consciousness of many people in Winnipeg, and he didn’t even have to use hypnosis.

Harry has a deep commitment to students. Many of the preceding activities have resulted in scholarship funds and endowments that benefit, not only the Arts scene, but also UW students. And his commitment to students is also manifested in the classroom. Harry has always been a dedicated teacher, working hard to involve his students in class and engaging in very early examples of what now would be called experiential learning.

Given these accomplishments, it is no surprise that in the year 2000 Harry was the inaugural winner of the Marsha Hanen Award for Excellence in Creating Community Awareness.

In closing, I challenge people to think about how old they were and what they were doing 50 years ago, circa 1966. I hazard to guess that Annette was just a toddler, many in the room were still in diapers, and others were yet to be conceived! Now imagine that Harry was already at that time teaching young people at the United College, something he continues 50 years later with the same enthusiasm and youthful vigour!

We thank everyone who participated in the annual Prairie Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference and Colloquium! 28 Honours theses students from University of Winnipeg joined presenters from University of Manitoba, University of Regina, and University of North Dakota for a memorable Conference: from the unprecedented number of poster presentations this year (18 posters and 30 spoken presentations), to having the youngest attendee on-record (the newborn daughter of University of Winnipeg’s Honours thesis student, Carly Cressman), to the fascinating and topical Keynote Address by Dr. Joanne Wood of UWaterloo, the 35th Conference celebrated the notable academic accomplishments of dozens of regional undergraduate Psychology students. Thank you to the volunteers, staff, and faculty members who helped make this Conference a success, and to the UWinnipeg sponsors of the Conference–The Dean of Arts (Dr. Glenn Moulaison) and Vice-President, Research and Innovation (Dr. Jino Distasio). Congratulations to all of the presenters for achieving this capstone of their undergraduate degree!