UCalgary’s contributions to health education and research celebrated in new book

It’s the inside story of five decades of cross-campus collaborations, links between departments, relationships with the community and evolving research and teaching methods that place the University of Calgary within a national context while examining contributions to the health needs of southern Alberta.

Beside and Community: 50 Years of Contributions to the Health of Albertans by the University of Calgary is the latest release from the University of Calgary Press and will be celebrated at a public book launch on Feb. 25.

The publication was many years in the making, the project of retired UCalgary nursing instructor Diana Mansell, who is co-editor.

Collaborative approach

“I am especially passionate about the need for all nurses to know our history and strongly believe there should be nursing history in the curriculum,” says Dr. Mansell, PhD. “Students need to learn the evolution of nursing and how we responded to changes all around us.”

Mansell’s vision expanded to include others across campus who were vital to the University of Calgary’s innovative and collaborative approach to health-care education. Book contributors include authors from the Cumming School of Medicine, the Faculty of Nursing, Faculty of Kinesiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Environmental Design, Department of Psychology, and Indigenous Health Initiatives.

The collection draws upon first-person accounts of researchers, administrators, faculty, and students along with archival research and faculty histories to chronicle the university’s strides in health research, health education, and community outreach.

“The many contributions from across campus in Bedside and Community enrich this examination of health-care innovation at the University of Calgary and show how these experts have paved the way for future outreach and discovery,” explains Brian Scrivener, director of the University of Calgary Press.

Salute the contributors

Editors of Bedside and Community are: Dr. Diana Mansell, PhD; Dr. Frank W. Stahnisch, PhD, Alberta Medical Foundation/Hannah Professor in the History of Medicine and Health Care at the University of Calgary; and Paula Larsson, Oxford-based scholar of health history with a focus on intersections of ethnicity, health and policy.

Contributors include: Dr. Alastair Cribb, DVM, PhD; Dr. P. Tish K. Doyle-Baker, PhD; David Bright; Dr. M. Elizabeth Cannon, PhD; Barbara Dupuis; Dr. H. Lorraine Radtke, PhD; Paula Larsson; Dr. Diana J. Mansell, PhD; Dr. David Monteyne, PhD; Dr. Brian Sinclair, PhD; Dr. Frank W. Stahnisch, PhD; Dr. Henderikus J. Stam, PhD; and Dr. Wilfreda E. ("Billie") Thurston, PhD.

Book Launch for Bedside and Community

• Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020
• 3:30 p.m. with remarks at 3:40
• Gallery Hall, Main Floor, Taylor Family Digital Library