1960s
Diane Whalen (’60) received the Governor General's Sovereign Volunteer Award at Government House in Halifax in November 2023. This national award recognizes the volunteer achievements of Canadians from across the country in a wide range of fields.
1970s
Frank Hiscock (’71) has retired from National Bank Financial after 38 successful years as a portfolio manager, estate planner, and stockbroker. He may be remembered for directing a number of sold-out shows – Once upon a Mattress and Jesus Christ Superstar for Musicadians in 1972 – and also performing in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1971, directed by Carol Ann Pope. He also appeared in Noise in the Street, written by the late Michael Chaisson and directed by Mike Fuller, for the Acadia Dramatic Society in 1971.
Frank really enjoyed "Acadia Goes Grease", the very successful winter carnival in 1973, where he was the lead singer and trumpet player in the grease band “Vaseline and the Viceroys”, who rocked the variety show big-time and played for a week after in the malt shop dance party every night in the SUB. It was quite a time! "Vaseline and the Viceroys" was made up of Sandy Hatfield (’73, ’75) on drums, Paul Bailey (’75) on guitar, Dave Vowels (piano), and Chris ‘Ace’ Maclean (’77) on bass, plus Frank on vocals and trumpet.
These days Frank has opened his new business of private estate and investment counsel and loves every minute of it. He is still busy reading and writing and still playing piano, trumpet, and his many jazz, classical and blues records and CDs. He is very proud of his family, with his two daughters: the eldest, Faye, who is studying with the Syracuse University Italian Renaissance Art Master’s program in Florence, Italy; and his younger daughter Bella, who is at Dalhousie, in her last year, and will graduate this fall. Frank would like to wish his old friends and classmates well, and is on LinkedIn if anyone wants to keep in touch. Stand Up and Cheer!
This is Bill Buckingham (’73) with another entry for the Class Notes section of the Acadia Bulletin. Last year I put up a note about the World Outrigger Canoe Distance Championships. This year I have something for the World Outrigger Canoe Sprint Championships.
In August, I travelled with the Canadian national outrigger canoe racing team to Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, for the 2024 World Outrigger Canoe Sprint Championships. This involved 27 countries and over 3,000 paddlers. With heats, repechages, and finals, there were almost 450 races in eight days. I came away with a gold medal in the V12 (two canoes, with outrigger “amas” removed and hulls lashed together to form a catamaran) for men in the 70+ age group. We beat Australia by 0.5 seconds over 500 metres. I also made the finals in the V1 (single paddler canoe) and came in seventh out of 21 paddlers in total. It was a very exciting event overall, under some challenging conditions at times, and great to meet and mingle with athletes from all over the world.
Here is a video clip of the V12 race. I am in the left-side hull in seat 4 with a gray cap on.
1980s
“It's not everyday you wake up to find out you are the 2024 Top Parental Advice Writer for Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom and find out you are being honoured next to Dr. Temple Grandin!”
That’s the latest from Acadia Alumni Association Director Dr. Ron Malcolm (’82, ’83), who was named the Top Parental Advice Writer for 2024 by Autism Parenting Magazine. Dr. Malcolm contributes to the magazine in his Ask Dr. Malcolm column, expertly answering parent questions and writing articles. He is an Assistant Director of Student Services and Special Education for a public school district, an Associate Faculty Member with the University of Phoenix, and a Special Graduate Faculty member at the University of Kansas. He has over 39 years of experience working with students ages 3-21 with autism and other medical needs in different school and community-based settings.
Kent Bascome (’86) of Bermuda has been awarded the prestigious FCPA designation (Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants). This prestigious designation is the highest honour in the accounting profession, awarded to individuals who have not only demonstrated outstanding professional excellence, but also made a transformative impact on their industry and community. Achieving the FCPA distinction represents a career-defining milestone, a recognition of the highest standards of leadership, integrity, and dedication. CPA Bermuda noted in a release, “Kent Charles Bascome has been honoured for his exemplary career spanning over three decades, including roles at Deloitte, CG Insurance, Accountant General’s Department, and Chief Financial Officer of Bermuda Land Development Corporation (formerly WEDCO). Known for his strategic vision and commitment to fiscal responsibility, Kent has also devoted significant time to volunteerism, enhancing the financial systems of the Bermuda Football Association, Sandys Secondary Middle School, Boaz Island Village Corporation and contributing to the Matilda Smith Williams Seniors Residence and Committee of 25 for children with special needs. His recognition as an FCPA celebrates his profound impact on the accounting profession and the Bermuda community.”
From Dr. Alison Seely (’86) MSc DVM CAC: We had our family all home for Christmas last year (first one in five years with our daughter being away in New Zealand for those years.) We gathered in Acadia attire to produce this note:
This Christmas, we had the chance to gather and celebrate a special milestone – five Acadia graduates in one family. We thought it would be nice to share this story in the Acadia alumni Bulletin.
Kevin Mahoney ('86) and Alison Seely ('86) met while living in Seminary House in 1983, married in 1992, and settled in the Ottawa Valley. Kevin works as a chiropractor while Alison is a veterinarian, animal chiropractor, and author. Their three children all followed in their footsteps by attending Acadia as well.
Savannah Mahoney ('17) went on to earn her chiropractic doctorate in New Zealand and now practices both human and animal chiropractic care in the Ottawa Valley.
Forest Mahoney ('20), a former member of the varsity basketball team, studied physics at Acadia and is now studying medicine at Yale University. He plans to graduate this spring and begin his residency in general surgery.
Logan Mahoney ('23), also an Axemen basketball player, is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Calgary, researching soft tissue sarcoma.
Heather Rankin (’89, ’96 HON) of Mabou, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2024. Rankin is a singer and songwriter, and esteemed member of the award-winning band The Rankin Family. Her solo albums and performances have inspired fans from coast to coast to coast. She is a revered icon of Cape Breton music and a generous mentor in her field.
Marion Aretha Borden-Davis (’89, ’92) was on a cruise recently and, while in port in Nassau, Bahamas, met up with alum Gillian Dillet-Moss (’90), who gave Marion a day-long tour of Nassau. They reconnected 14 years after Marion’s last visit to Nassau.Larry Mussenden (’86) was appointed as Bermuda’s new Chief Justice in February. Mr. Justice Mussenden is a former senator as well as Director of Public Prosecutions. He has over 27 years of professional legal experience in public service and private practice, serving as Crown Counsel, Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, and most recently as a puisne judge. His background includes information technology, working with youth groups and service as a criminal defence lawyer. He is also a former president of the Bermuda Football Association, and served on the Campaign for Acadia cabinet.
1990s
Nathan Beeler ('92) completed a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Music Education at Boston University. Congratulations, Dr. Beeler!
Congratulations to Kiersten Amos (’96, ’98), who was named a partner at McInnes Cooper law firm in Halifax earlier this year. Kiersten represents clients with labour and employment and pension and benefits matters. She provides strategic advice to clients on a wide range of issues including human resources matters, human rights, employment standards/labour standards, privacy, workers compensation, wrongful dismissal, mergers and acquisitions, workplace investigations, employment agreements, restrictive covenants and employment policies, labour relations, grievances, collective bargaining, pension and employee benefits. Kiersten also advises pension and benefit plans on such matters as governance, trustee obligations, regulatory requirements and obligations, and plan amendments. Kiersten also served on the Acadia Alumni Association Board from 2010 to 2018.
2000s
NorQuest College is proud to welcome Bailey Sousa (’02) as its inaugural Associate Vice-President, Research and Development. This new AVP role will provide strategic leadership to NorQuest's Research and Academic Innovation division, increase and diversify revenue in applied research, and undertake leadership and coordination of portfolio business activities.
Bailey brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise to the Academic portfolio. With a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration and Leadership from Royal Roads University, a Project Management Professional Certificate, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Acadia University, Bailey has demonstrated exceptional leadership and administrative skills in post-secondary education. Learn more HERE.
Congratulations to Linda Yip (’05), who has been accredited as an ICPAGen (International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists) genealogist for Canada Western Provinces. She is the first Canadian and second person to be accredited in the western Canadian region. Linda is a popular speaker and she writes about Canadian and Chinese genealogy, as well as organizing and archives on her blog, Past Presence. The Western Canada section on her blog lists many resources for all types of genealogy research in that part of the country.
Amy Johnston (’05) is now an Assistant Professor at University of Calgary. She is an epidemiologist specializing in women's reproductive and cardiovascular health. Her research focuses on cardio-obstetrics, knowledge synthesis, and the development and application of novel epidemiologic methods to address clinical questions. Any is also committed to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in health research.
Stephen Richey (’07, ’21) recently received the Award of Excellence from the Nova Scotia Physiotherapy Association (NSPA). Stephen is a graduate of the Acadia kinesiology program in 2007 and served as the President of the NSPA from 2019-2022. Congratulations, Stephen!
2010s
Brent Robicheau (’13, ’16) was in touch to let us know that this past academic cycle, three Acadia alumni were hired as new assistant professors in Canada. Collectively, the three appointments represent a significant number of all the academic environmental microbiology jobs advertised this past cycle. The hires include Brent at UPEI as well as Loay Jabre (’13) at Mount Allison University and Emily Chase (’15, ’17) at University of Winnipeg. He adds, “all positions are also tenure track, which is astounding given the competitiveness for such positions in today's job market. All three of us graduated from Acadia and conducted research in faculty labs during our time in the biology department. I am not alone in thinking it is remarkable that three graduates from the Acadia master's and undergraduate honours programs in biology were chosen by Canadian universities to help lead the future of Canadian environmental microbiology research at their respective institutions. These successes are a real testament to the quality of education Acadia's biology department provides when it comes to the early training of scientists.” Couldn’t agree more! Thanks, Brent.
From John White (’15): “Hello, and thank you for keeping me updated on the great work Acadia’s students and grads are doing. Congratulations! As a 2015 Master of Education Counselling graduate myself, I want to take this opportunity to bring your attention to a 30-year annual tradition that my wife, Junie, and I have built into a registered society back in 2001. Please enjoy the award-winning documentary we were fortunate to have had completed for us. If you would like any further information, I can be reached at 902-304-0833.”
2020s
Abby Mosley is a 2023 graduate of the School of Kinesiology and Certified Personal Trainer with the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. She completed an independent study project under Acadia School of Kinesiology professor Karen Kendall’s supervision that was accepted for presentation at the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Conference in the fall of 2023. She presented her undergraduate research project in an award category with four other award nominees, including post-graduate students and professional members, and won the award. Abby was accepted into the MScOT program in September 2024 at Dalhousie University. She has been recognized as one of the top three highest ranked students admitted to the program and received the Lawton's Home Health Entrance Scholarship. Congratulations, Abby!
Acadia Writes
Warwick Lister (’61) has recently published Tempo Rubato: Memoirs of a Rank-and-File Musician, which devotes several pages to his four years (1957-61) at Acadia.
Born in Moncton, NB, orchestral violinist, sometime chamber music player, sometime musicologist, Lister looks back on a long international career. He takes us from his idyllic childhood summers near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, through his musical training and early professional career, orchestral, string quartet and academic positions on both sides of the Atlantic before settling in Florence, Italy, where he played in the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale for 18 years. He was first violinist of the Quartetto Musica Ricercata and, among other projects, wrote an acclaimed biography of the great violinist-composer G. B. Viotti (1755-1824).
But Lister is not reticent about the regrets, disappointments and, yes, failures in his life and career, not the least of which were his obsessive attempts ('tempo rubato') to become a good tennis player. Nor does he shrink from commenting sharply, sometimes caustically, on orchestra conductors, the education of musicians, the writings of certain authors, and what he calls “assaults on the English language."
In sum, the reader will find in these pages a much more intimate and representative glimpse into the life of a 'normal' musician, a rank-and-filer, than in the autobiography of a celebrity. For more, please click HERE.
After 20 years of working for the federal government in Calgary, Trevor Chittick (’91) returned home to Nova Scotia in 2024 and realized his childhood dream of having a book published. White Rabbit: An American Satire was published in September 2024 under his pen name, TC Scott. The first novel of his middle grade mystery series set in Nova Scotia, The Boy in Mitchell Bay, was published in May 2025 under his given name, followed by a young adult horror novel, Stanley, in the fall of 2025. He can be contacted @trevorchittick on social media.
New historical fiction draws heavily on archival sources
Timed to be released for the 104th anniversary of the destruction of second College Hall on December 2, 2024, Acadia archivist Wendy Robicheau uses archival sources to draw the reader into the moment of the tragedy in her debut novella Hidden in Plane Sight: The Burning of College Hall (available on Amazon.ca). “The article in The Athenaeum describes the event so vividly,” says Robicheau. Published in January 1921, the newspaper item written by Carey Kierstead Ganong (‘22) explains how students and staff tried to save items from the building. “Eventually they gave up and sang to College Hall while it burned. It was a funeral for a dear friend.” Pictures, available on the Acadia Archives website, show the progression of the fire. “I chose to put on the cover of the book an image taken by student A. W. Boulter of the crowd watching it all happen from the north lawn. I can imagine them singing at that moment.” Robicheau also used newspapers, class photos, and student lists to build the story. “Older issues of the Acadia Bulletin describe the aftermath of the fire as well as report on the accepted cause.”
The cause of the 1920 fire fuels this historical fiction. It comes with evidence-based but fictionalized twists and turns to suggest incendiarism. Laura Churchill Duke (’98), author of Two Crows Sorrow, Rooted in Deception, and Footprints in the Snow, read an advance copy. She said, “as someone who has an interest in history and who has grown up, attended, and now work at Acadia, I had always heard the story about the burning of College Hall. It had always been an event recorded in a line in a book until now. Robicheau places the reader right at the scene, and you can feel what it must have been like there at the time to witness the tragic fire. To place it further in context, many of the students and staff had just returned from WWI - another aspect I had never considered of what it must have been like at the time. Robicheau’s novella takes the reader back in Acadia’s history to examine an alternate explanation as to what might have happened during the fire of 1920. Leave it to a group of female students and they will come up with the answer, which just might be in plane sight.”
Zoe van Lingen (’17) has written a series of young adult novels. Her first book in the dystopian genre is titled The Liberator, and her latest work, a debut in the young adult fantasy genre, Hosting the Peace, launched on March 18, 2025. You can find her books on most online retailers and updates on Instagram and TikTok @zvl.books.
A synopsis of The Liberator is as follows: Molly Birch has everything a poor city girl could want – an apartment with her own bedroom, two living parents and a boyfriend. But none of it is stable when the anonymous government dictates all aspects of citizens' lives, from food and medical care access to the number of children couples can have and who can marry. Molly is 16 and now old enough to apply for a courtship with her boyfriend, Gavriel Kingsley, so they can legally date and get married. However, things don't go as planned following their application and medical tests on Clinic Day. The fallout leaves Molly's world shattered, and she makes a desperate and dangerous escape from the only life she has ever known. On her journey, Molly makes new friends, discovers her dad's secret past, learns her heart's true feelings, and finds out how to make a difference in the city for everyone.
From retired Acadia professor, Dr. Doug Symons: “My book has come out: Oak Island’s First Visitors: Irish Monks, Vikings and Templars. It may be of interest to alumni given that I taught many of them as a psychology professor over the years. There have now been six current faculty on the TV series Curse of Oak Island (including biology professor and botanist Dr. Rodger Evans; geoscientist and sediment/soil expert Dr. Ian Spooner; Dr. Matt Lukeman, chemistry; Dr. Aaron Taylor of Earth and Environmental Science; Dr. Rob Raeside, geology; and Doug Symons, psychology). The book is geared to the general public and Oak Island fans (not an academic audience), which number in the millions worldwide.
“The initial book idea began in 2019 at 17 Westwood Avenue, the Acadia University Club, over a beer with Dr. Spooner and Oak Island researcher, historian, and regular on the series Doug Crowell. For more please, click here. ”
Jen Colclough (’17) is a Pushcart-nominated poet, essayist, artist, and ESL Instructor based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her debut poetry collection, Our Little Agonies, was released on May 1, 2025 by Montreal Publishing Co. Jen’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including CRAFT Literary, Tabula Rasa Review, Heimat Review, ionosphere, MORIA, and Free the Verse. Jen is also an active member of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia's Writers Council, and enjoys sharing her work with her literary community in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Jen holds a Master of Arts in Classics from Western University and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Classics from Acadia. With an academic background in ancient literature and trauma theory, Jen’s creative projects pair timeless stories of profound connection with devastating emotional catharsis. She is currently writing a historical fiction novel and developing a serial drama for a major streaming service.
In her debut poetry collection, Jen explores themes of love, loss, and belonging. Summoning figures from classical mythology, she engages with personal loss through timeless narratives of descent and endurance. The result is an ode to survival and persistence of memory. Jen blends the mythological with the intimately real, crafting a literary journey for readers that is laced ‘with a considerable amount of strategic hope.’
For more, please visit her website: www.jencolclough.com
Alumni - Stay Connected
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