Media releases

• $2.7-million gift will help more students gain valuable experiential education

  Monday, August 10, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 August 2020 – R0123

  Brock University students will have increased opportunities to strengthen their education with career-building workplace experience, thanks to a generous family who touched many lives and helped shape stronger communities.

  The $2.7-million gift was left to the University by Stephanie Mitchell in honour of her late husband Gerald Mitchell. Forced by economic hardship to drop out of high school and help support his family, Gerald then went on to become a highly successful global business leader. Gerald Mitchell died in 2016, and Stephanie passed away last December.

  In announcing the donation, the University said it will use the funds to establish the Dr. Gerald B. Mitchell Centre of Excellence in Career & Experiential Education, which will help students discover and pursue their passions by providing grants, workshops and other resources, including work opportunities to allow them to gain experience in their chosen fields. The Centre’s mandate will also include creating greater access for underrepresented groups, and deeper research for career and experiential education.

  Gerald Mitchell had a renowned career that began in 1943 as a 16-year-old labourer in a St. Catharines car parts factory operated by Hayes-Dana. By age 36 he was the president of Hayes-Dana Canada, before moving to Ohio where he eventually became president and chief operating officer of the global giant Dana Corp., which has since become Dana Inc.

  In 1982, Brock University awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his contributions as a community leader and builder.

  This gift marks Stephanie’s second investment at Brock to honour her late husband. A previous gift also supported the programs in co-op, career and experiential education.

  University President Gervan Fearon said the generosity speaks to clear vision, belief in the importance of education and a commitment to building communities by helping today’s students become tomorrow’s leaders.

  “Brock’s students are the direct beneficiaries of Stephanie’s remarkable generosity and philanthropy,” said Fearon. “Her gift will change the lives of students today and through the years to come, by ensuring an education that provides experiential real-world opportunities coupled with our world-class teaching and research.

  “Brock is honoured and humbled to be home to the Dr. Gerald B. Mitchell Centre of Excellence in Career & Experiential Education, named for one of our region’s most successful business leaders whose personal story of perseverance and leadership is inspirational and motivating.”

  Click here for more information about the Stephanie and Gerald Mitchell gift

  For more information:

  * Kevin Cavanagh, Brock University Marketing & Communications, kcavanagh@brocku.ca  905-321-4310

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock researcher looking for Canada Games stories

  Friday, July 31, 2020 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 30 July 2020 – R0121

  Canadians across the country are invited to share their Canada Games story as part of a new crowd-sourced digital history project.

  The Canada Games Collection, spearheaded by Brock University Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak, will be a publicly available collection of diverse stories of people’s experiences of past Canada Games.

  “We’re creating a collection of material that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Canada,” said Vlossak. She hopes Canadians of all backgrounds and experiences will share their stories, whether positive or negative.

  The project came about as Vlossak was preparing for her new course, Making History in Niagara, which will see students create an online museum exhibition about the Games to launch in time for the 2021 Canada Summer Games in Niagara next August. Vlossak discovered there weren’t many sources for students to work with and decided to create this new collection.

  “We had originally imagined the collection would consist of oral history interviews we are conducting with past Canada Games Council members, high-profile athletes and Games officials,” she said. “But as the project evolved, we realized that these should not be the only voices and narratives that we include in the collection.”

  Vlossak thought it would be important to include the stories of a more diverse range of Canadians, young and old, about their experiences and memories of the Games.

  “We decided that crowd-sourcing would allow us to reach out to more people and capture these personal and local memories more effectively,” she said.

  Vlossak is asking people with Canada Games memories, whether as athletes, coaches, local organizers, volunteers or attendees to share their images and thoughts about their experiences through the project’s website.

  Crowd-sourced material, including digitized Canada Games artifacts, will form part of the larger collection featuring interviews with individuals about their experiences and exploring themes such as race, class, gender, disability, immigration and Indigenous rights.

  Vlossak and Brock History master’s student Jessica Linzel, who was awarded a Match of Minds grant to help the professor build the collection, will contact some participants for follow-up interviews.

  “I’m looking forward to hearing the stories of those who have been involved in or affected by the Canada Games, and learning more about how the Games have helped shape people’s identities as Canadians in sport,” says Linzel. “I’m also excited to see the types of material we gain through crowd-sourcing and getting to see how different people have experienced the Canada Games in their lifetime.”

  The public are invited to upload their images, such as personal photos from the Games, medals, or memorabilia, and to reflect on what the Games meant to them.

  The Canada Games Collection, hosted by Brock’s Special Collections and Archives, will become available to the public in October and will be an important source for students to build their online museum, as well as for future researchers. The collection is part of a larger project also launching this fall, called the Sport Oral History Archive, which Vlossak is co-leading with Julie Stevens, Associate Professor in Sport Management and Special Advisor to the President, Canada Games.

  Brock University Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak is available for media interviews.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

   * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases