Have you met Rajdeep, Admissions Specialist in the Office of the Registrar? Spend a few minutes getting to know him a little better.
What’s your first U of A memory?
Walking into the Business Quad. It was the first place that I came when I came to campus — I was dropped off on Saskatchewan Drive, and as soon as I walked in, that was where I landed. It was my first impression of the university, and it’s always been my favourite part of campus. I love the slopes, and that it looks over the Arts building.
Tablet or paper?
Depends what I’m doing… if I’m reading or writing: paper. There’s something about the flexibility of paper, something visceral about holding a book.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Probably my subscription to Chelsea — my favourite soccer team from the UK — to watch their games. Chelsea was the first game I saw; I was probably seven or eight years old. There was a player called Gianfranco Zola and he did a really fancy dribbling goal, and I was hooked from that point on.
If you could travel anywhere in the world (under normal circumstances), where would you go?
Japan, to get sushi — prairie seafood is nothing to shout home about.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
Neil deGrasse Tyson. There’s something about people who are incredibly intelligent, but are able to explain complex things in a way you can understand… there’d be so many things you could ask him.
If you could switch jobs with someone else at the U of A for a week, what would you do?
I’d switch with someone in astrophysics, because they have access to the cool telescope. You could spend the nights looking at random stars and moons. I was able to go there once in my first year of university — I had a friend in astrophysics, and he showed me Jupiter. It’s still the coolest thing I’ve seen, seeing another planet with your own eyes.
What does ‘uplifting the whole people’ mean to you?
For me, it’s about access. No matter who you are, where you are, you have access to the same opportunities as the next person. I feel at the U of A, we really strive towards doing that.
If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?
Probably unlimited renewable energy — I think it’s one of the things that stops us as a human civilization. I also think it’s a driver of a lot of other problems, like poverty and climate change.
What three words best describe your U of A experience?
Beautiful — I came from a concrete jungle, so to come here and see the green parks and the river valley really struck me.
Inclusivity — it’s great to see an institution striving to be as inclusive as possible.
Innovation — it’s not a university that stands still. We’re always moving, we’re always trying to progress and do new things.
Rajdeep grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the U of A for school in 2011. After graduating he worked in the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Student Services Office, and currently serves as an Admissions Specialist (Research and Curricula) in the Registrar’s office. His free-time interests are Cricket and watching Chelsea F.C.