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- 2024 Archives
- Professor Nicholas Blomley Honored with the Community-Engaged Research Achievement Award
- Graduate Students Claire Shapton and Marina Chavez Honored with the Community-Engaged Graduate Scholar Award
- Applications now open: 2024 ESRI Canada GIS Scholarship 尤物视频
- Associate Professor Rosemary Collard achieves 13th place on SFU Altmetric List
- The PEAK feature: GSU hosts inaugural RANGE conference
- Gabrielle Wong wins First Prize in 2023 Student Learning Commons Writing Contest
- Gabrielle Wong receives Warren Gill Memorial Award
- Professor Nick Blomley receives Warren Gill Memorial Award for Community Impact
- Geography Student Union recipient of the FENV 2024 Changemaker Awards
- Senior Lecturer Tara Holland reveals the secret sauce of great teaching
- Senior Lecturer Tara Holland Receives SFU 2023 Excellence in Teaching Award
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Bright Addae
- GIS undergraduate students participate in the Canada-wide 2024 AppChallenge competition
- Senior Lecturer Andrew Perkins Receives SFU 2024 Dean's Award of Excellence in Teaching
- Congratulations to Alysha van Duynhoven, Canada's 2024 ESRI Young Scholar
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Robert Ehlert
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Stephan Nieweler
- Eugene McCann writes on "livable cities" in The Tyee
- Tiana Andjelic wins the 2024 SFU ECCE GIS Scholarship Award
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Marina Chavez
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Mia Fitzpatrick
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Lan Qing Zhao
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Tyler Cole
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Benjamin Lartey
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Olivia Nieves
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Max Hurson
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to John Sykes
- Farewell to Robert "Bob" Horsfall, Associate Professor
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Andr茅 Ara煤jo
- SFU Geography welcomes ethnobotanist, Leigh Joseph, as professor of Indigenous geographies
- Physical Geography September: What is Physical Geography?
- Alysha Van Duynhoven communicates award-winning research at international GIS conference
- How Dr. Tracy Brennand鈥檚 visionary leadership shaped the Department of Geography - a heartfelt thank-you
- Dr. Tracy Brennand honoured with the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) Award
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Jay Matsushiba
- Human Geography October: What is Human Geography?
- MA Student Joy Russell featured on CBC Vancouver
- Human Geography October: What is Urban Worlds?
- Ajay Minhas Receives 2024 Warren Gill Award
- Dr. Nadine Schuurman featured in SFU news article on Runnability
- GIS Month: What is Geographic Information Science (GIS)?
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Joy Russell
- Perspectives from students using ChatGPT in a large enrollment fully online GIS Course
- Motivations, Habits and Risks of using ChatGPT in the On-Campus Quantitative Geography course
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Ian McDonald
- 2025 Archives
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Negin Shooraj
- SFU Geography Alumni Sean Orr wins Vancouver council seat in byelection
- Rosemary Collard awarded 2024 SFU Excellence in Teaching Award
- SFU Students Designed and Developed a GeoApp as a Living Wage Calculator
- Undergraduate students team secures third-place in Canada-wide GeoApp competition
- SFU Geography Wins Big at 2025 CAG Annual Conference
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Alex Sodeman
- Thesis Defence - Congratulations to Tintin Yang
- In Memory of Leonard "Len" Evenden, Professor Emeritus
- Gabrielle Wong awarded 2025 Gordon M. Shrum Medal
- Dr. Bright Addae awarded 2025 Graduate Dean's Convocation Medal
- Congratulations to Alysha van Duynhoven for Teaching Assistant Excellence Award
- Wildfires to waterways: SFU Geography grad takes action to protect the environment
- Making a difference on and off-campus: student leader and changemaker, Gabrielle Wong, awarded SFU convocation medal
- 2025 Alumni Newsletter
- 2024 Archives
- Alumni
- GEOG 162 - Canada
In Memory of Leonard "Len" Evenden, Professor Emeritus
We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Len Evenden on May 22nd 2025.
Len was the first urbanist appointed at 尤物视频 and taught in the Department of Geography from 1966 until his retirement in 2002. He was a specialist in the study of housing and suburban development and a strong advocate for Canadian Studies.
Matthew, his son, shared the news, and these reflections on behalf of Len鈥檚 family:
"Len Evenden was one of the original members of the department of geography, joining SFU in 1966 when the university and department were very much 鈥渋n formation鈥 and spending his entire career at the institution. He completed a BA in geography at McMaster University in 1960, an MA at the University of Georgia two years later and his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1970.
He was a deeply committed teacher, pursued a research program related to housing and suburban development and made a number of service contributions to the department, university and discipline, including as Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies (1991-96), a member of the university senate, president of the retirees鈥 association (2009-11) and in various capacities with the western division of the CAG.
He retired in 2002 but continued to teach in the urban program at the downtown campus for several years. Len is survived by his soul-mate and wife of sixty-two years, Polly, as well as his children, Kirstin, Maya and Matthew, their spouses and four grandchildren."
Len was a supportive and thoughtful colleague whose dedication to Geography left a lasting impact. Comments from colleagues at SFU Geography describe him as a kind and gentle soul 鈥 full of insight, wisdom and generosity; caring about the department as a community, and Geography as a field.
Throughout his tenure and retirement, Len continued to offer thoughtful advice and guidance to both faculty and the department as a whole. As urban geographer Eugene McCann shares, 鈥淥ne piece of advice he shared was that a department should never neglect its undergrads. That鈥檚 a path we鈥檝e certainly followed over the years.鈥
He was not only a wonderful friend and mentor but also became one of the department鈥檚 unofficial historians upon his retirement. We appreciated his ability and willingness to refresh our memories about events and people from the department鈥檚 past. Len still had some work he wanted to finish, and we are grateful to know that his family will see it through in his place.
Our hearts go out to his beloved wife Polly, his children and their families, and all who knew and loved him. Len will be remembered not only for his scholarly contributions but for the warmth, care, and integrity he brought to everything he did.
Rest in peace, Len.
Len Evenden鈥檚 full obituary and details for the celebration of life can be found .