“We always rise to the occasion”: Come to think about it, not a bad motto.

The first Arctic Workshop was intended to try and provide what was solely missing in my graduate education---that is an opportunity to learn how to present research materials to an audience; some might (truefully/cruelly) say that nothing has changed in my presentations! Martha told me that at my first presentation in 1961 I spent the entire talk with my back to the audience! Comparing the graduate and even undergraduate presentation efforts then to now is literally lettuce v oranges.

My own PhD advisor Professor Cuchlaine King, the University of Nottingham, told me during my one year PhD period at Nottingham (yes indeed---ONE Year---eat your hearts out! The University changed its rules as a result) “…it is more important (and fun) to disprove a paradigm than support it”. A message I have tried to impart to graduates I have supervised and I must admit that they---many in this audience---have done an excellent job of correcting me. Infact, it is both necessary and important for me to thank my many MSc and PhD graduate students----- I learned from all of them and it has been a pleasure to keep in touch with many and watch their progression through life, frequently with a certain level of awe and amazement, and certainly with a large measure of pride. A combination of Martha, my Mother, three unmarried aunts, the girls of Millom Grammar School, and my supervisor Cuchlaine King, resulted in me understanding that women are often, usually smarter than I am, and I was my fortunate enough to have many excellent women graduate students---that does not take away any credit from their male counterparts.

I reached Boulder via: Millom, Nottingham, Montreal, Knob Lake, Montreal (1960=McGill= Martha & 60 yrs later), Ottawa, Nottingham, and Ottawa. Martha, Melissa, and I came to Boulder and CU in January 1968---Thomas arrived in 1972. My mother (Dorothy nee Black) and father’s Millom Grammar School (aka High School) class included Cliff Addison , FRS, who went on to be the Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Nottingham , and the Poet Norman Nicholson, who wrote in his autobiography “Wednesday Early Closing” “Marjorie married a Professor (Cliff Addison) and Dorothy was mother of another.” We can now add “Melissa married a Professor and Martha was mother of another!”

All my graduates (and others’ graduates) learned the value of library research under the guidance of Martha, a professional librarian, and she also hosted the “poster breakfast” in the Reading Room for the AWs. A feature of the early AW’s was also the party that Martha and I hosted in our house; this essential activity was taken over for many years by Giff and Midra, but at some point the size of the workshop (and/or the ages of the hosts?) relegated that high-point. I managed the AW (with the help of Wendy Roth, Anne Jennings, Bill Manley and Dave Lubinski [the web manager], and others) until I retired, at which point it was under the direction of Tad Pfeffer, who in turn relinquished control to Giff Miller, assisted by Anne Jennings, Wendy, and Dave. Of course for many years the AW has alternated between its “home” base and other Universities in the USA, Canada, Norway, Iceland, and Sweden and the local committees (many with CU connections) have played a major role in keeping the workshop relevant, interesting, and fun. Thus the AW has been under the management, in an academic sense, of “sons” and “daughters” and whether it continues in the future will depend on “granddaughters and grandsons”. Whatever happens, it has been a blast!

MANY THANKS, especially to Martha, Melissa, and Thomas, to Giff, Anne, Wendy, and Dave for organizing the 50th AW, and to all of my graduate students and to you here for attending this celebration. It is also a pleasure to recognize Pat and Mukta Weber who are both old friends (from 1963) and former colleagues---Pat was a former Director of INSTAAR.