Alumni

Sweeping up to the challenge

With no wins, two losses and a very difficult match still to come at the 1982 Southern Alberta Curling Playdowns, Don Chandler (BASc '73) was taken aback when people shook his hand, thanked him for coming and said goodbye.

"I remember thinking, wait a minute, the game isn't over until it's over," says Chandler. "We took that as a challenge and ended up winning our next four games before losing in the final."

Years before this seemingly impossible come back, Chandler's natural determination would lead him to become one of the pioneering students at the University of Lethbridge.

"I began my degree in geography in 1969. The University, only two years old at the time, was very small, only about 800 students, so you got to know your professors very well. It challenged me to do my best," Chandler remembers.

When he took on the presidency of the campus curling club during his second year, Chandler uncovered a new passion: community involvement.

"While I was president, I found out that I had the ability to organize groups and events and make them successful. I have done a lot of that since then."

After receiving his chartered accountant designation in Edmonton in 1977, Chandler, currently a partner at Meyers Norris Penny LLP, returned with his wife Nadine to Lethbridge, where he would begin both his accounting career and his many years of involvement with the Lethbridge Curling Club, Little League, McMan Youth Services and numerous other organizations.

"I believe that, as a professional, when you live in a community and the community is good to you, you have an obligation to give back," Chandler says.

Described by his peers as a man of integrity, Chandler practises what he preaches. He has never forgotten that a large part of his community includes the University. With his second term on the University Senate at an end, Chandler joined the University of Lethbridge Alumni Association in 2008 and was elected president in June 2009.

"The challenge will be to continue the association's growth of the past few years. Our objective is to expand the committee structure to get alumni involved in actually running the activities that were previously run by the council," Chandler explains. "By expanding, we hope to make the organization more visible and provide opportunities for alumni to network, connect with mentors, learn more about the University and ultimately help maintain the University's role as a vital part of our community."