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As part of a large, nation-wide project to develop a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), the country of Lithuania’s National Lands Service contracted Vancouver Island University to develop nine GIS courses.  These courses were to provide civil servants with a set of geomatic tools and techniques that would strengthen Lithuania’s geographic information infrastructure at the local and national levels.  Over 180 GIS professionals from various ministries and local governments participated in the training program, which was delivered over a 1-year period from May, 2007 to May, 2008.

Thanks to his job with the Liberal Party of Canada, Mat Snowie (Bachelor of Arts '13, Major in Creative Writing) has now seen almost every part of the country and met a lot of high-profile politicians and celebrities along the way – including, of course, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he films every few weeks.

Olivia Mongard Lyle, BA (with Distinction), 2004, Double Major – Liberal Studies, Anthropology

Some motherly intuition led Olivia Mongard Lyle to VIU – and ultimately, to her BA. "My mom encouraged me to attend and take some first-year anthropology and Liberal Studies classes," she recalls. "She could see right from the get-go that this would be a good fit for me – and she was right!"

A couple of life-changing excursions also encouraged Mongard Lyle, 34, to pursue her subjects of choice as a double major.

Katelyn McDougall (Bachelor of Arts '12, Major in Sociology, Minor in Geography) is finishing her Masters in Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University. After graduating from VIU, Katelyn started her own research and social planning company called OfCity Consulting working on projects with the City of Nanaimo, the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region, Island Timberlands and the Planning Institute of British Columbia.

Serene Kerpan surprised herself in her first few semesters of working towards a BA in Phys. Ed and History at VIU in 2003. Not only did she find she was able to manage her courses, part-time work, and the demanding schedule for players on the VIU Mariners Women's Basketball team, but she pulled in some very good grades as well. With encouragement from her faculty who took notice of her intelligence and burning curiosity, Serene was soon involved in undergraduate research involving fitness levels in young Aboriginal athletes.

Rolanda Murray is passionate about the ability of post-secondary education to transform people's lives. As Vancouver Island University's Canada Learning Bond Coordinator, she spends her days getting the word out about the free government grants that can help families save for their children's education after high school.

Shaleeta Harper (Bachelor of Arts '15, Major in Creative Writing) was the founder of text magazine (textlitmag.com), a free, bi-monthly in-print and online literary magazine that focused on concise and eclectic poetry. Now she is the executive director of the Federation of BC Writers, and is editor in chief of the publication WordWorks, a magazine by writers, for writers.

Mandy Lawson (Bachelor of Arts '06, Major in Psychology, Minor in Business Administration) has made a fulfilling career out of training yoga teachers around the world. She started down her new path in 2010 after moving to Costa Rica, where she became a yoga teacher and met and started a family with her husband, Johanne. Mandy is now the Training Director and a Trainer for Kidding Around Yoga, an organization that provides yoga teacher training around the world, focused on teaching people how to share the amazing benefits of yoga with children.