How do you live a life of adventure?

Start with service, says Trent alumna Dr. Lucie Edwards and while serving others with impact and meaning, you’ll see the world — and yourself — differently.

Dr. Lucie Edwards ’73 enjoyed a 34-year career in the Canadian Foreign Service, serving in posts around the world, including distinguishes tenures as the Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya, South Africa, and India. While she experienced diplomatic adventures around the globe, she never lost sight of where her career began, with a Trent degree in History and Economics.

Maintaining a strong connection to the university after graduating in 1976, Dr. Edwards served on the Board of Governors for six years, and was granted the honorific title of governor emeritus, effective July 1, 2021, in recognition of her exceptional leadership and service to the university. She saw joining the board as a way of paying her good fortune forward and offering the wisdom she obtained through her prolific career.

“Trent is building for the future while protecting those qualities of the community that made it so special for me,” Dr. Edwards says, sighting her most pride-worthy projects while serving on the Board of Governors as the Trent Student Centre, the expansion of the Trent Durham campus; and the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan. She is inspired by the prospect for the expansion of Trent through more colleges and special programs.

Ambitious visions for future development and operational success served her well abroad and at home with the roles with the Canadian Foreign Service. In Ottawa, she served as director-general for Global Issues and assistant deputy minister for Corporate Services in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Her last assignment in the Canadian Foreign Service was as chief strategist, integrating the department’s policy and operations.

In her career, Dr. Edwards also received the Public Service Award of Excellence for her humanitarian work during the genocide in Rwanda; a merit award for her human rights work combatting apartheid at the Canadian Embassy in Pretoria, from 1986 to 1989; and the Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence by the Department of Foreign Affairs.