October 2008 issue
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Summits Then, Summits Now
Past winners comment about the lasting impressions their awards have made
— just in time for members to put forward 2009 nominations
BY GEORGE LEE
The PEGG
Receiving a Summit Award is a validating and inspiring event in an APEGGA member’s life and career. That’s a story we tell each time we feature top-notch, Summit-winning people and projects on these pages.
But what happens after the stage lights have dimmed? Does the fancy award on the shelf mean anything to a winner after a few months, a few years or even a decade have passed by?
The PEGG asked several past winners those questions, with the Oct. 31 deadline for 2009 nominations drawing near. What we learned is that the level of professional peer recognition the Summits offer is not soon forgotten.
“I was obviously very honoured to be nominated and to win,” recalls Angie Garg, P.Eng., the 1996 Early Accomplishment Award winner. “I really appreciated the strong show of confidence I’d received from the Honours and Awards Committee and from my nominators.”
Flattering though it was, finding out she’d won proved to be little preparation for the big night itself. “I was overwhelmed by how impressive the other winners were,” says Ms. Garg, a Syncrude engineer who lives and works in Calgary. “I was really humbled and honoured to be in their company.”
Allan Bartolcic, APEGGA Manager, Member Affairs, agrees that the winners are an impressive group. The 2008 edition of the Summit Awards was the first he’d attended, after accepting a position with the Association last year.
“Just going from table to table, I learned so much about the quality of the winners and their projects,” he says. “It’s really inspiring. It makes you want to take your own career to a higher level, when you see what some of our members have achieved.”
Those achievements aren’t always directly related to the professions. Many of the big names in APEGGA have won Summits for the work they do in the larger community.
“I feel it’s very important for everyone to serve the community, of course. But I think it’s even more important for professionals,” says Ralph Young, P.Eng.
APEGGA’s engineers and geoscientists “need to take a leadership role,” adds the winner of the Community Service Award in 2005.
It comes down to giving back, says Mr. Young, the president and CEO of Melcor Developments Ltd. in Edmonton. “We benefit so much from a strong society that it’s really up to us to make sure it’s strong for others, too.”
Mr. Young led the planning committee for Edmonton’s centennial celebrations. A member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton since 1981, Mr. Young is a past recipient of Rotary’s prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship.
Through Rotary, he and his wife have often hosted international exchange students. He’s also chaired the club’s international committee, which raises funds for projects in the Developing World.
That’s only a small sample of his community work. And the APEGGA award is only one of many honours bestowed upon Mr. Young.
But it means a lot to him. “I think we all like the approval of our peers, whether it’s for our professional work or for the things we do in general. It’s great to make a difference and for your peers to take notice.
“The recognition isn’t why I do it, though — I’d continue, with or without the award. But it sure helps reconfirm that what you’re doing is worthwhile.”
Says Mr. Bartolcic: “This isn’t only about individual accolades. This is a celebration of all the great work and projects our members are involved in, within their industries, within their professions and within society in general.
“The Summits give all our members something to aspire to. And they serve as validation that the extra effort means something.”
For Uttandaraman Sundararaj, P.Eng., his award is validation of the professionalism he passes along to his students. In 2007 he won the Excellence in Education Award.
“All along, I’ve been teaching my students that they need to be ethical and professional,” says Dr. Sundararaj, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. “I expect their assignments to be of professional quality, and I expect them to display the ethics that being engineers will require of them.
“Receiving the award just reconfirmed for me that I’m doing the right thing — that the expectations I pass along in class really are the same ones the professions hold for my students.”
Dr. Sundararaj receives good feedback on campus for his ethical emphasis, too. “I really think my students appreciate it,” he says.
When Ms. Garg received her award, she was seven or eight years into her career. “Throughout the awards evening, I was reminded of how engineers have and continue to make significant contributions to society and truly make a difference. Hearing about some of those contributions at the Summit Awards night was inspiring and I was proud to be part of it.”
More Info
The Summit Series
Pages 18 & 19
Prepare a Nomination
& Learn More About
Award Categories
www.apegga.org
See Hotlink on Home Page
Remember: Deadline for nominations in the 2009 Summit Awards is Oct. 31, 2008.
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