Last week, we celebrated John Vardon who has made a tremendous impact in his 40+ years working as a Writing and Multimodal Communication Specialist at the Writing and Communication Centre. As John retires and starts a new adventure in doing so, we look back at his time spent here.
We kicked off the celebration with a speech by Clare Bermingham, Director of the Writing and Communication Centre. Clare gave a heartwarming speech about the many qualities John embodies such as “patient, insightful, and always willing to think about his teaching.” The stories from his friends and coworkers that followed made it clear that, as Clare had said, his retirement “will leave a big hole at the Writing Centre that will be impossible to fill.”
John has been a part of the Writing and Communication Centre since its establishment in the late seventies. He has spent about 78 960 hours here and has had numerous appointments with undergraduate and graduate students to help with their writing. Along with his work at the WCC, John taught English at Renison University College and helped develop a professional development course: PD2: Report Writing and Critical Reflection.
In addition to his professional work, with his sense of humour and friendliness John created a welcoming environment for all the staff and students that worked with him.