Mount Allison Universitys Rhodes Worthy Scholars

Mount Allison University is outstanding for many reasons. But one of the most remarkable is the large number of graduates who have been selected as Rhodes Scholars.

From 1905 to 2007, there have been 46 Allisonians so honoured - a record for a small institution. This figure also underscores the importance of a liberal arts university with a limited enrolment. At the undergraduate level bigger is clearly not necessarily better.

To understand the significance of the Rhodes Scholarships, its necessary to review the basic requirements spelled out by their founder - Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902). As visualized by Rhodes, each recipient must demonstrate a judicious mix of four major characteristics.

Foremost was above-average academic achievement. However, Rhodes made it clear that he did not want to single out bookworms or solely those who were classified as brilliant scholars. Each successful candidate would have to offer something more. Three broad categories filled in the blanks - community service, leadership, plus participation in sports and extracurricular activities.

Today, the total number of Rhodes Scholarships awarded annually in Canada is 11. They are distributed as follows three from the Prairie provinces, two each from Ontario and Quebec, two representing the Maritime provinces, and one each from British Columbia and Newfoundland. During the early years, it was possible for an institution to have two or more Rhodes Scholars in a given year. However, each had to represent a different geographic jurisdiction.

This happened at Mount Allison in 1905, with awards to Frank Parker Day (New Brunswick) and Arthur Motyer (Bermuda). Sadly Motyer, destined for a career in engineering, was to lose his life while on active duty in World War One. Day also served overseas but survived the war. He went on to achieve fame as a professor, university president, and novelist. Although he died in 1950, Days most famous novel Rockbound won the CBC Canada Reads competition in 2005.

Dual Rhodes Scholarships also came to Mount Allison in 1912 when Pierson Vivian Curtis (Newfoundland) and Frank Morton Smith (New Brunswick) were declared winners.

Some interesting family links are found within the ranks of Mount Allisons Rhodes scholars. Arthur Motyers nephew won the same honour as his uncle in 1945. Arthur Motyer II was to return to his alma mater where he rounded out a distinguished career as a professor of English, founder of Windsor Theatre and university administrator. Recently retired, he continues to live in Sackville.

A second example focuses on the family of Derek Hum, Mount Allisons 1967 Rhodes Scholar. Regarded today as the leading Canadian economist in the field of immigration and labour, Hum is a professor in the department of economics at the University of Manitoba. His niece Jacqueline Wong was Mount Allisons Rhodes Scholar for 1989.

Overall, the Mount Allison Rhodes Scholarship tally (by decades) has been: 1903-09 [3]; 1910-19 [6]; 1920-29 [5]; 1930-39 [8]; 1940-49 [3]; 1950-59 [3]; 1960-69 [4]; 1970-79 [5]; 1980-89 [5]; 1990-99 [0]; 2000-2007 [5].

The dry decade of the 1990s is puzzling. When I questioned current faculty for a reason, more questions than answers were raised. As a result, Ill leave this exception to be answered in the future.

To attempt to include references to all of Mount Allisons Rhodes Scholars, with any degree of adequacy, would require a book. In particular, their careers in such widely diverse fields as business, engineering, law, medicine, education, politics, the civil service and the arts, tipped the scales in favour of sketching the careers of a few examples.

The first name in this random sampling is Henry Davies Hicks 36. A native of Bridgetown, N.S., he was named a Rhodes Scholar in 1937 and went on to Exeter College Oxford, graduating with a degree in jurisprudence or legal studies.

Following the outbreak of WWII, Hicks served overseas with the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was elected to the Nova Scotia legislature in 1945, later being appointed the provinces first Minister of Education. Hicks played an important role in the establishment of rural and regional high schools throughout the province. Elected leader of the Liberal party in 1954, he was briefly Premier and, on the defeat of his government in 1956, became Leader of the Opposition.

Resigning from the legislature in 1960, Hicks was named dean of arts and science and then vice-president at Dalhousie University. His appointment as president came in 1963. Upon his retirement in 1980, Hicks could look back on an impressive expansion of the university, not only in enrolment, but through the establishment of new faculties and the construction of much-needed facilities.

As if this were not enough, Hicks was called to the Senate in 1972 and managed a second political career along with the demanding role of university president.

The 75th anniversary of the first two Rhodes Scholarships awarded to Allisonians was marked in 1980 by a symposium with Henry Hicks as its chair. Held during the autumn convocation, it coincided with the installation of the universitys ninth president Guy MacLean, a Dalhousie Rhodes Scholar and former vice president of his alma mater. MacLeans predecessor William Crawford had been earlier designated in 1939 as Mount Allisons 22nd Rhodes Scholar.

It is of special interest that one small town - Sackvillle - was home for five Mount Allison Rhodes Scholars. They were, with their Oxford colleges in brackets: Edmund Tucker 46 (New College), Murray Mundle 54 (St. Johns College), David Cuthbertson 62 (Brasenose College), David Gass 69 (Brasenose College) and Alexander Cameron 82. (Wadham College).

Selecting one individual to represent local Rhodes Scholars proved difficult. All were well qualified and went on to make, and are still making, positive contributions in their respective fields.

The choice fell to David Cuthbertson, named Mount Allisons 29th Rhodes Scholar in 1962. Graduating in 1961 with a B.Com degree, Cuthbertson was a star varsity athlete and made his mark in a wide variety of sports: e.g. track and field, football, basketball, and volleyball. Here the qualities of leadership, so evident in his later career, were to be honed.

During his years at Oxford, he completed two additional degrees: a BA in jurisprudence and his MA in Law. Following a brief stint teaching at the University of Queensland in Australia, he returned to Canada and settled in Ottawa.

Cuthbertson was selected as a member of the first group of law clerks assigned to the Supreme Court of Canada. Here, his immediate superior was a fellow Maritimer - Justice Roland A. Ritchie. Later he served as executive assistant to two federal cabinet ministers - Hon. Otto Lang and Hon. Jean-Luc Pepin. Between these assignments, he was corporate secretary at Canadair, and afterward concluded his career in the public service as executive vice president of the Canada Ports Corporation.

In common with other Rhodes scholars, Cuthbertson still retains fond memories of his Oxford years. The one exception was his first brutal British winter, when he lived in a room heated by a small two bar heater. . . Aside from that, he came to love every stone in a remarkable university.

Matthew Jocelyn, the next Rhodes scholar on the list, blazed a trail in a very different direction. A native of Toronto, he was a graduate of Malvern Collegiate Institute. Shortly after his arrival at Mount Allison in 1976, he became involved in Windsor Theatres French productions. Jocelyn later played a lead role in The Caretaker, which won the Atlantic Drama Festival Award in 1979. His second major interest was music, as revealed by his involvement with the Mount Allison Chorale.

Jocelyn graduated in 1979 with a first class honours degree in French. Named a Rhodes Scholar in 1980, he studied contemporary French theatre at Oxfords Balliol College. Since then, Jocelyn has pursued a career as an actor and director on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to Canada and the United States, he has worked in Poland, Japan, France and Spain. During the 2006 season, he directed The Liar, a comedy by Pierre Corneille at Canadas Stratford Festival. More recently, Jocelyn has been working with the Royal Theatre in Brussels and the Frankfurt Opera Company.

Jocelyns career was anticipated by his Mount Allison mentor - Professor Alex Fancy. The latter once commented: Matthew is one of the most talented actors that I have ever seen. He will represent Mount Allison well, wherever he goes and whatever he does.

The year 1977 was an important year in the evolution of Rhodes Scholarships. For the first time, the nomination of women was approved for this prestigious award. Since then, several hundred women worldwide have been named Rhodes Scholars. Mount Allison has had its share with Sarah Maybee Crowe leading the way in 1981. She was followed by Jacqueline Wong (1988), Dominique Chaput (2002), Erica Lilly (2003) and Josie Marks (2004).

Since several of the last named are still in the early years of their careers, I will briefly summarize the record to date of Josie Marks from Elgin, N.B. On the academic side, her high grade-point average immediately placed her in contention for a scholarship. Outside the classroom, extracurricular interests gave her an opportunity to develop leadership skills and make a contribution to society.

A member of the womens varsity soccer team, she was also a soccer coach and an active participant in the Mount Allison Leadership Program. In her spare time, she tutored students with learning disabilities. Graduating in 2004 with an honours BA in international relations, she is enrolled in a program at Oxford leading to a career in law.

Mount Allisons most recent (2006) Rhodes Scholar Kyle Hill is a native of Yarmouth N.S. In the words of one of his professors Robert Hawkes: He combined a near-perfect academic record in honours physics and mathematics with strong student leadership and service. Especially noteworthy were his undergraduate research achievements in astrophysics.

Already Hill has written five articles which have been published in international scientific journals. He also won first place for papers presented at regional and national conferences and served as a skilled and passionate teaching assistant. On the extracurricular side, Hill played in the university jazz and symphonic bands, and was elected a student representative on the university senate. He is now pursuing studies at University College, Oxford with his sights set on a Ph.D. in physics.

How can 46 academic success stories in little over a century be explained? Certainly the lure of the grey spires of Oxford had something to do with it; but also the grey skies of the Tantramar and a small university that focuses on excellence - are all part of the answer.

Ideas for or comments about Tantramar Flashback, may be addresed to Bill Hamilton in care of the Sackville Tribune Post, 80 Main Street, Sackville NB. E4L 4A7 or by e-mail tribune@nbnet.nb.ca. Readers who may wish to consult previous Flashbacks are directed to recent on line issues of this newspaper and to billhamiltonflashback.ca .