This donor profile is from the Fall-Winter 2012 issue of Nexus.
By Karen Gross and Lucianna Ciccocioppo / photography by Nigel Dickson
After Molly Naber-Sykes participated in the law school’s Convocation ceremonies last June, she had a quick tour of the Faculty of Law. She was shocked to see water-stained ceilings and peeling paint.
“There’s a real disconnect between the quality of the faculty and student body, and the quality of the physical plant.”
And as a parent of three children who may one day study at the Faculty of Law, she does have a vested interest in the future of her law school. But more importantly, Naber-Sykes stresses she grew up in a family whose ingrained culture was to give back to its educational institutions.
“My father to this day continues to support Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. He was so grateful for his education there. He made a point of letting us know each time he pulled out his cheque book to make a donation.”
Appreciative of her legal education, Naber-Sykes says it equipped her with the “flexible toolkit” that forged a varied and interesting career: she’s practiced civil litigation, taught advocacy at the University of Calgary and Notre Dame Law School, and is currently a prosecutor at the Law Society of Alberta. She also met her husband Henry Sykes, LLB 1983, at the Faculty of Law.
“Those three years are an exceedingly important part of an aspiring lawyer’s life, a time to expand horizons, and form lifelong friendships with classmates and professors,” she says. “A state-ofthe- art building can first of all let some sunshine in, and support greater collaboration and more activities, not just for faculty and students but for the legal profession as well.”
