Norm Embleton, Yellowknife
Computer Information Systems 1992
Norm Embleton works in one of the most rapidly changing professions in the world – information technology. And yet more than 20 years after completing his Computer Information Systems diploma, this 1992 grad finds himself calling on a few of the lessons he learned as a student two decades ago, including “the theory behind almost every project plan.”
Embleton has plenty of opportunity to put these and many other lessons into practice in his role as Chief Information Officer for the Government of the Northwest Territories’ Department of Justice. He and his team “work hard to provide technical solutions to sometimes not so technical individuals,” Embleton explains. “We control the entire infrastructure from phone systems to cell doors in the prisons to the applications that provide information to Stats Canada. Every day presents challenges as well as new opportunities to learn.”
The most satisfying part of his work is completing a project, he says. “Production always puts a smile on my face,” he adds. “I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and knowing that the design is solid, contingencies have been addressed and best efforts have been taken to provide a top-notch solution.”
A native of the Northwest Territories, Embleton’s only time outside of his home province were his years at the college. While he says he enjoyed his Alberta experience (and still comes down for visits), Yellowknife is the only home for him.
“We have the best aurora borealis viewing in the world and the sun never sets in the summer,” he says. “We have lots of surrounding water so boating and fishing are popular pastimes. When the five o’clock whistle blows, I can drive home, pick up the boat or RV and be at my favourite lake before 5:30 p.m. There are not too many places in the world that can offer that.”
Tracy Turk, Yellowknife
Communication Arts 1995
Tracy Turk didn’t plan to stay in Yellowknife. After finishing her Communication Arts diploma in 1995, she was hired over the phone by Northern News Services Ltd. and was ready to start work in the Northwest Territories two weeks later. “I looked on my trip to the Northwest Territories as an adventure,” she recalls, “and I was planning to move back to Alberta after about six months.”
That never happened. After meeting her husband, having a son, and moving on to work at the Yellowknife school district as executive assistant to the superintendent, Turk says there’s no place she’d rather be. “My friends have all tried to get me to consider moving back down to Alberta,” she says, “but they just don’t understand with the North you either love it or you hate it. I fell in love with the place!”
Her job involves working side-by-side with the Board of Trustees, Superintendent of Education and Assistant Superintendent of Education for the largest school district in the Northwest Territories. She also is responsible for communications for the school district – work she describes as a passion that ties her back to her education at the college and that early, seemingly-short-term job in Yellowknife, nearly two decades ago.
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