Site administrator for the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Barb Hodgson

Tell us a little bit about yourself, please share some highlights of your journey up until the time you joined the U of L.
After high school, I attended the University of Kings College (Dalhousie University campus) on a scholarship, but found after a year, university was not for me. How ironic my entire career has been in an educational setting! I enrolled in a business certificate program and found my niche in the world of pushing paper and have never looked back. I was fortunate to be chosen as the valedictorian at graduation.

I moved west with the intent to stay only two years. After a year in Calgary working for an accounting firm, I relocated to Lethbridge where I worked for three years as the evening supervisor of Continuing Education at the Lethbridge Community College. Although it was a continuing nine-month position, I needed something full time. On impulse, I called personnel at the University of Lethbridge. I was given a half-day assignment to sit in the lobby of the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel, handing out name tags and information sheets to the dignitaries and guests for the grand opening of the Performing Arts Centre (now the University Centre for the Arts), featuring Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, renowned singer Liona Boyd and actor Peter Ustinov, to name a few.

The next morning, I received a call from the head of Information Services offering me a half-time job. We renamed the department to be “Communications and Public Relations.” My role entailed preparing news releases, clipping and archiving local newspaper articles referencing the University, as well as interacting with the media and community. My office was a desk in the break room in the current administrative offices area on the seventh level of University Hall.

Within a short while, my boss offered me another half-time position as the admin support for the Alumni Association. Around the same time, the department moved into one of the original service buildings previously located on the college campus, where the young U of L was first housed in the early days. It was torn down to make way for Hepler Hall.

How long have you been at the U of L and what do you do here?
After seven years, I was chosen for the admin support job in Political Science, where I remained for 23-plus years, before being assigned to Mathematics & Computer Science during a revamp of the Arts & Science admin support positions. I’ve been with the Math department for almost 11 years as the admin support, and that date coincides with my 40th anniversary at the U of L (September 2021). I have witnessed the construction of many new buildings, amazing changes in technology and a more structured set of procedures from those early days.

Would you like to share any exciting news happening in Mathematics & Computer Science as we look forward to the Fall semester?
The department is the largest in the Faculty of Arts & Science. The teaching personnel are noted for their progressive work and desire to send graduates out into the world with an appreciation and respect for computer science, math and statistics. Currently, we boast more than 45 graduate students, most of them international, as well as an array of faculty with highly respected backgrounds from various nations. Our undergrads are enthusiastic to learn, and some are hired during their studies as summer research students. Several computer science and math majors have competed in both national and international level competitions and placed respectably.

What's the best part of your job? What is the most meaningful part of your job?
I love the activity within the department, particularly the paper side of things, with intervals of enjoying the department members, the students and other admin support colleagues throughout campus. Overall, it has been my privilege to interact with amazing, honourable people who are examples of all that is good in human nature. I like to think I have absorbed some of that.

What's one thing most people don't know about you or alternatively, what do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time, I participate in a women’s organization, research family history, drive aimlessly admiring this beautiful province, visit family in the east, and enjoy the occasional horror movie. With retirement being the next eventual step, I will have more time to do those things and who knows what else is out there?