Media kit

Lucelle Prindle, SALAS Ltd. President, Biography

Lucelle was born in Leader, Saskatchewan.  Her father was a farmer in the area, and her mother was a schoolteacher.  She is the eldest of six children. Lucelle attended the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English and History majors.  She also received her Professional Designation in Teaching from the U of S.

Lucelle started teaching at Winston Churchill High School in Lethbridge and taught there and at Gilbert Paterson Junior High forsix years before going to the Lethbridge Community College in 1974.

Lucelle spent her career at LCC alternating between stints as an English instructor in the classroom and taking on various administrative challenges such as Chair and Associate Dean of Academic Studies, Faculty Professional Development Coordinator, two terms as  Faculty Association President,and finally as the Administrator in charge of the Centre for Teaching and Learning.  While at LCC she completed two degrees, Master of Arts in Administration and Curriculum and a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership both from Gonzaga University before retiring from LCC in 2001.

Background to SALAS Ltd.

In 2006, Lucelle had the opportunity to secure the Citizenship and Immigration Contribution Agreement to conduct English language assessments for Permanent Residents (formerly known as Landed Immigrants) in the Lethbridge area.  That year, she and assessor Carol Darmody obtained their training to be able to conduct three assessments: the Canadian Language Benchmarks Placement Test, the Canadian Language Benchmarks Assessment, and the Canadian Language Benchmarks Literacy Assessment.  Currently, SALAS assesses in the Lethbridge area and in Brooks.

Lucelle and Carol joined Sue Mitchell as the team of assessors who began to work together to provide a centralized and comprehensive language assessment service for Southern Alberta.  The company operated as L. Bean Consulting for the first year of operation, and in January 2007, Lucelle incorporated the business as the Southern Alberta Language Assessment Services (SALAS Ltd.).  In April 2007, the business moved into the NBS building on 7th Street South, hired Linda Flaman (aka Wonder Woman) and now occupies two office spaces in this building.  Almost all assessments are conducted in these offices, by appointment.  All seven staff work part-time, but are busy year round.

In March 2006, SALAS began the business of assessing temporary foreign workers--a new demand as Alberta was experiencing a labour shortage.  We began assessing workers from one company--Olymel in Red Deer, but soon we were assessing for many more companies.  And, to date, we have provided close to 1000 assessments to at least 10 companies from Red Deer south.  We endeavour to assist companies to benchmark their employees as they seek to fulfill the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program requirements.

In addition to providing assessments for Permanent Residents and Temporary Foreign Workers, SALAS  has a contract with Alberta Employment and Immigration to provide assessments for Canadian citizens.  This contract has lead us to provide assessments for "Mexican Menonites or Kanadier Mennonites" who are Canadian citizens, but have lower levels of literacy in reading and writing and who will be enrolled in a substantial language/training program.

Future activities for SALAS Ltd. include adding other assessment tools to our assessors' repertoires, completing a database project with Data Control Management Solutions Ltd. in Lethbridge, and expanding our regional presence through meetings and marketing efforts.