ATHABASCA — It all started with a little sleight of hand, a few white lies and swearing many people to secrecy, but it ended up with a great honour bestowed upon Mike Gismondi by McMaster University.
Gismondi graduated from McMaster with two degrees, then earned his Ph.D. from York University, and early in his career found himself living and working in Athabasca for Athabasca University (AU) becoming deeply involved with projects to better life for residents of the small town beside the river, but he wasn’t aware he was up for the award at all.
“For the better part of two years I lied to my partner of two decades,” laughed Gismondi's partner Lori Claerhout in a June 17 interview.
Gismondi’s cousin, Cameron Nolan, who also went to McMaster, works with the Alumni Association and asked Claerhout in 2017 to gather letters of support to have Gismondi’s name put forward in the alumni hall of fame.
"(Cameron) floated the idea to me (saying), ‘I know I'm Mike’s younger cousin and I looked up to him, but geez we've been visiting and he's telling me what he's doing in this town and I've seen what he's done with (AU), and I think he might be a match for this honour,’” she said.
Being named to the McMaster Alumni Hall of Fame isn’t bestowed on just anyone; the person had to have an impact on the world in a well-rounded way so Claerhout convinced Gismondi to update his curriculum vitae — a short summary of a person’s experience and body of work — to surreptitiously help in the application.
Both his professional and public work started shortly after moving to Athabasca and hasn’t stopped. As a town councillor for almost 10 years, he fought for and helped design the Riverfront Park, insisted Extra Foods – now Tipton’s Independent Grocer – run north-south to preserve the view of the river, published four books and many papers, was a major architect of the historical signs and murals placed around town, and has been involved with countless more committees and organizations.
“I came here the very year that they announced the quite controversial development of five new pulp mills in northern Alberta, and I got involved in those public hearings ... and found myself doing research,” Gismondi said. “I wasn't a Canadian specialist at that point in my life; I was a researcher on Latin America so, I was able to bring my research about industrial extraction and big industry in Latin America and apply it here in northern Alberta.”
That led to what turned into a lifelong passion to help community members present concerns and have their voices heard.
While it’s difficult to distil a rich and full academic and personal life into one key moment, Gismondi said his most impactful work – whether a book, research paper or a community project – is born from working with others.
“Whatever I've achieved in the community it's because of these relationships that I’ve develop with people – of trust and of respect and collaboration – and that's always been my strength,” said Gismondi. "Whatever I win, including this award, I really want to share with all those people.”
Technically, Gismondi is a 2020 Hall of Fame inductee but the ceremony was postponed and finally happened over Zoom June 2 with McMaster University sending out a box of swag — a charcuterie board and the hand-blown glass award.
He is one of only 400 or so inductees in McMasters’ history and graces the halls with fellow alumni Eugene Levy, Martin Short and many non-entertainers who have represented the university well since graduating.
“I'm also sharing this with Lori who's been supporting me for 20 years in this work,” he said, forgiving her for keeping him in the dark for two years.
