Who: Liyan Derman
Unit: Student Support and Advising
Position: Enrolment Services Advisor
Since: October 2018
Professional Background:
While earning my Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies at the University of Alberta, I also started working at the U of A. The first 3 years were in various university library units (I also worked part-time at Edmonton Public Libraries during much of my degree); I then transitioned into Undergraduate Student Services units in the Faculty of Arts (a 4-month summer student program); then moved to the Faculty of Education where I worked for the last 12 years. Prior to starting a career in the post-secondary world, I’ve had a lot of really varied work over the years – cutting grass at golf courses being one of my favourites!
Personal:
My three favourite things in the world are my dogs – Chihuahuas Nijah and Jyni – and television! I adore living in Vancouver where TV is being shot all the time, and watching it being filmed is a new fun pastime since moving to Vancouver. I also love to travel and often do it alone! A potentially interesting fact about me is that I legally changed the spelling of my name and changed my middle name entirely in 2009 (I would have changed my first name too – but I realized I’d have to retrain myself to respond to a whole new word and that sounded like too much work!). While not chosen because of the show, I did find my middle name, Inara, on Joss Whedon’s Firefly!