Now that's a thank you
When Jang Kwon learned that Richard K. Dimond, a retired Concordia staff member, had died, he was saddened by the loss of the manager who had launched his professional career at the university.
“Dick was the person who had hired me almost 17 years ago for a position in the Department of Computing Services” (now Instructional & Information Technology Services or IITS), says Kwon, now a senior supervisor at IITS.
Kwon had worked with Dimond for just 14 months when the latter retired after a long career at Concordia. It wasn’t until he heard the tributes and saw all the well-wishers at Dimond’s retirement party that he realized the profound impact Dimond had had on the university community.
Reflecting on his first boss’s legacy, Kwon decided to commemorate him by creating an endowed award in Dimond’s name that would help a deserving student every year. It would also serve as his way of saying thanks to the man whose hiring decision had made a major impact on his life.
Sitting on the advisory board of the Community Campaign – Concordia’s annual internal fundraising appeal – Kwon knows first-hand that the funds raised each year are critical to providing the resources that enable students to receive the best possible education.
Donors can direct their contributions to a program or initiative that matters to them, so they can choose to help students in financial need, provide state-of-the-art equipment for a lab or studio or help a department maintain a program.
The Community Campaign is underway right now and runs until April 30. Its volunteer canvassers are faculty and staff members, who appeal to their peers for donations to the university’s areas of highest priority. Kwon hopes his colleagues will feel as strongly as he does about showing confidence in Concordia, to both its students and its faculty and staff. People like the late Dick Dimond.
Gifts can be made through the MyConcordia Portal. Click “Faculty and Staff Services” and then “Give now to the Community Campaign.”
Related Links
• Community Campaign
• Instructional & Information Technology Services