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18 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Awardâ€"winning professor saddened by the loss of his program lost cause. Struggling through high school, Ds were often the best grade he could hope for in some of his classes, and thoughts of going to univerâ€" sity couldn‘t have been farâ€" ther from his mind. "I wasn‘t focused at all," Ward said. But fastâ€"forward to 2007, and the Waterloo man not only holds an honours degree in fine arts, he‘s also known as Prof. Ward to the students he‘s taught part time over the last five years at Wilfrid Laurier University. It‘s a title that qualified him for the WLU Award for Teaching Excellence this year â€" an honour his stuâ€" dents nominated him for, and one he claimed earlier this month. From golden to gone But the recognition is bit ifteen years ago, Marâ€" shall Ward may have described himself as a By Anprea BALEY Chronicle Staff The university has decidâ€" ed to discontinue the 35â€" yearâ€"old fineâ€"arts program, essentially putting the popâ€" ular awardâ€"winning instrucâ€" tor out of a job. And suddenly he finds himself asking the same questions he was before starting out on his academic journey. tersweet for Ward. _ Though he‘s not worried about himself. Ward is concerned for young people who will miss out on a program that he says opened his eyes, as well as the eyes of thousands of other students over the last three decades. "This is a huge loss. Schools should be looking into adding more arts proâ€" grams, not taking them away." "It‘s still very, very imporâ€" tant to have an arts program in universities to create wellâ€" rounded individuals," the teacher said. Ward vividly remembers ARTS FOCUS how discovering the arts saved him from personal misery. â€" s "I was working at a horriâ€" ble job â€" cleaning ashtrays and urinals at a local nightâ€" club," Ward recalled. "I knew I didn‘t want to do that for the rest of my life." But he didn‘t have a clue what to pursue. â€" "I thought 1 wanted to go into psychology because I liked the TV show Frasier," Ward recalled with a laugh. Choosing a major was the easy part; finding a uniâ€" versity that would accept him based on his highâ€" school marks was another story. "WLU agreed to put me on academic probation," he explained. "I had to get a Bâ€" minus in two courses if I was going to continue." He aced both psychology courses he signed up for, and was officially accepted Continued on page 20 Wilfrid Laurier University‘s awardâ€"winning professor Marshall Ward stands next to the sign outside the school‘s fine arts studio on Lodge Street. The 35â€"yearâ€"old program has been dis continued. he " wiltnd