After supporting education at MacEwan by guiding the provision of technology to Academic Affairs for more than 49 years, Peter Brown will retire on August 25, 2020.  While Peter is familiar to faculty members and staff in the Faculty of Arts and Science primarily in his role as Manager, Technology Services in the Dean’s Office, his history goes back to the very beginning of MacEwan almost 50 years ago.

In July 1971, after three years of work for the Edmonton Public School Board, Peter was invited to participate in the preliminary start up of Grant MacEwan Community College. Just one month later, when MacEwan opened its doors to students for the first time, Peter was the resident audio-visual resource expert in charge of all lab and classroom technology. For his first 25 years, Peter had institution-wide responsibilities. He even worked with designers and architects on planning for technological needs in preparation for construction of the downtown campus.  

Peter has played a very active role in the educational mission of MacEwan. In the mid-1970s, he was an instructor in the Audio-Visual Technician program. After joining the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1994, Peter worked on integrating computer technology in the classroom, and developed and taught internet courses to the general public. In 1995, under Peter’s leadership, the Eldernet (soon renamed Elderweb) program was conceived to teach computer skills to older adult learners.  This unique program brought technical skills and knowledge of the internet to learners not only in Edmonton, but across Canada and abroad. The Elderweb team beat out many nominees from a range of post-secondary institutions to win the 1998 Smart City Innovative Teaching Award.

For the past few years, Peter has worked out of the Dean’s Office in the Faculty of Arts and Science where he has been the go-to person for all things technology, and has set an exceptional standard for serving the technology needs of faculty and staff.

When asked how we could best celebrate his long career at MacEwan and say goodbye to him, Peter said in his usual quiet manner that he does not want a big fuss over his departure. His one request is that he does not want any retirement gifts or get-togethers, virtual or otherwise. Instead, he invites anyone who wishes to do so to donate to the MacEwan Retention Bursary, which supports continuing students across the university who demonstrate financial need in years two, three and four of their programs. To donate to the fund, contact giving@macewan.ca or 780-497-5410.

From the Faculty of Arts and Science