Drawing on his knowledge

Drawing on his knowledge McGill University

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ALUMNI QUARTERLY - winter 2008
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Home > McGill News > 2000 > Summer 2000 > Newsbites > Drawing on his knowledge

Meet the president

Sally McDougall, BSc'67, DipEd'69, has taken over as President of the McGill Alumni Association (MAA) now that Ian McLachlin's term has come to an end.

A long-time McGill volunteer, Sally comes to the presidency with plenty of knowledge of campus life and the MAA. She has served on the MAA Board of Directors as treasurer and vice-president, has been Director of the McGill Society of Montreal, and has served on committees all over the University, including University Admissions, Scholarships and Student Aid, the Faculty of Dentistry, Alumni Services, and the Sports Hall of Fame. She been a constant supporter of the MAA in countless activities, and if she spent any more time at Martlet House in Development and Alumni Relations, the University would probably have to put her on the payroll.

McGill has always been a significant part of Sally's life that of her family as well, with husband Doug, BA'67, active in many sports and volunteer activities at the University. Their four sons are all very involved McGill grads as well -- Todd, BEng'95, John, BEng'95, Reid, BSc'97 and Peter, BSc'00 -- and have learned from Sally the importance of volunteer work.

"Volunteer work has taken up most of my spare time," says the career mother, who has also pitched in for the Montreal Diet Dispensary and the Grenfell Association, though McGill has been the focus of most of her activities. "The University is a vital part of the Montreal and Quebec economies," she says.

The Alumni Association is fortunate to have someone of Sally's energies take over the reins. Look for her at an alumni event near you.

Drawing on his knowledge

Harry Mayerovitch, BA'30 BArch'33, celebrated his 90th birthday in front of a crowd. Family and friends gathered at the Montreal opening of an exhibition of his work called "Drawing: A Way of Knowing." He was presented with a gift of a colourful bird, which he received with delight, and then pressed for his secret to being alert and productive at 90. In a word, said Harry, sex. The audience wanted to know more, but Mayerovitch refused to elaborate, instead inviting everyone "to a lecture I'll be giving on the subject at the Olympic Stadium."

Mayerovitch later confessed that the real secret to happiness in his life is that he discovered very early what he loved to do. In fact, he discovered it at McGill. "I was going to go into law, but one day I walked past an architectural drafting room. I watched what the students were doing and in a flash of inspiration, I knew that that was what I had to do. I've been happy ever since."

The title of his exhibit, also the title of a soon-to-be-published book, refers to what he learns as he draws. "You have to be able to look at something and go beyond the surface. Drawing is not just copying the appearance, you have to see what the significance of the object is, how it relates to other objects and to the forces that play upon it. It's a way of trying to understand things and people and how they fit into the rest of the world."

He says another important lesson he learned at McGill is to look at things from many angles. For that reason, although he has kept drawing at the heart of his work, he has had careers as an architect, a cartoonist, a town planner and an artist. Mayerovitch's works are found in many private collections and galleries, most notably in the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Cool million for libraries

Every day, thousands of students pass through the turnstiles of McGill's libraries, hunting down a journal article, thumbing through stacks of reference material and above all checking out books, books and more books. So it's no surprise that students themselves have a heightened sense of the libraries' needs. Once again, the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) has convinced McGill students to dig into their own pockets and pay more than their overdue book fines: collectively they've come up with a $500,000 gift to the libraries. The special Library Improvement Fund is funded by an extra $14 in annual student fees, a charge which students approved in a referendum last year.

"It's heart-warming that students have demonstrated their faith in McGill's future through this donation, since it will benefit future students rather than the present ones," said Principal Shapiro at the presentation ceremony. McGill will match the students' gift, making it a million-dollar day for the libraries.

The money will be used for books, monographs and journals, as well as additional study space, and $200,000 will go toward the Digital Millennium Initiative, the technology development program that has recently seen the launch of the new web-based library interface, MUSE2.

Xavier Van Chau, BA'00, SSMU Vice-President (University Affairs) said, "The impetus is on students. If we want our libraries to reflect the changes that are coming in the next ten years, we have to prepare today." Chau (far left) is pictured with SSMU President Andrew Tischler, BA'00, Principal Shapiro and Director of Libraries Frances Groen.

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