Members of the MacEwan community are doing impressive things both on and off campus. Three times a year, we celebrate the recent accomplishments and efforts of our staff, faculty, students and alumni who are winning awards, publishing work and making a difference.
Award winners
Larisa Hayduk, director of the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre, was presented with a Newcomer Champion Award – part of the Government of Alberta’s Newcomer Recognition Awards – for her work helping Ukrainian refugees to settle in and learn English upon their arrival in Edmonton.
The MacEwan University Health Centre received the 2023 Patient’s Medical Home – Outstanding Family Practice Award from the Alberta College of Family Physicians.
Kublusiak, Fine Art ’13, won the prestigious 2023 Sobey Art Award – a prize worth $100,000 – for their multi-disciplinary work with the Inuit diaspora and the effects of colonization on the Inuit people. Watch for Kublusiak’s work in the Mitchell Art Gallery on campus this winter.
Chantalle Bernier, Bachelor of Commerce ’18 was added to the CFP Exam President’s List for her outstanding performance in the Certified Professional Planner exam.
Brad Clisdell, University Transfer, Bachelor of Arts ’03 and Management Studies ’05, was named one of the 2023 Underwriters of the Year by Canadian Underwriter for his work as a commercial mid-market underwriter with Aviva insurance.
The MacEwan Model UN Club received the 2023 New World Award from the Canadian Bureau for International Education for their work with the Canada-Ukraine Model United Nations project. Read the full story here.
George Desjarlais, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper with kihêw waciston, received an Okimâw 7 Teaching Award at the organization’s second annual event in November. The award is given to those who embody the Sacred Grandfather Teachings of humility, honesty, respect, courage, wisdom, truth and love.
Visual artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande performed at the Mitchell Art Gallery’s 5th anniversary celebration in 2022.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Edmonton Arts Council gave Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Awards to 25 local artists, including a few familiar faces. Stephanie Nhan, who works in Student Affairs, received an award for her children’s music as Beppie. Several alumni were among the recipients: musician Mallory Chipman, Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music, Performance ’15; visual artist Braxton Garneau, Fine Art Diploma ’17; visual artist Cheyenne Rain LeGrande, Fine Art Diploma ’16; 5 Artists 1 Love founder Darren W Jordan, Child Care Worker Diploma ’89; and musician Jeremiah McDade, Music Diploma ’98 and 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award ’14 recipient.
Page, stage and screen
Retired Design Studies faculty member Kathy Nieman tied on an apron to compete in Season 7 of The Great Canadian Baking Show, which aired on CBC this fall. Nieman wowed the judges with her baking, earning the title of Star Baker twice during her time on the show.
Bachelor of Communications student Andi Sweet won The Moth’s 2023 GrandSLAM in Seattle, Washington for their short story.
Max Amerongen and Colin Waugh, sessional instructors in the Department of Design, received a 2023 Rosie Award from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association for their documentary, Arthur Erickson’s Dyde House.
Ann Vriend, Music ’00, is leading a six-woman folk group called AV and the Inner City. The group creates music based on their experiences in the McCauley neighborhood, and took home an Emerging Artist Award at the 2023 Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
Writing Centre Programs Specialist Liam Monaghan received the 2023 Sharon Pollock Award for the most outstanding unproduced play by an Alberta writer. His play, Strange/Familiar, is a semi-autobiographical retelling of his experience growing up queer in an adoptive Catholic family.
Deborah Willis, MacEwan’s 2017 Writer in Residence, was long-listed for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel Girlfriend on Mars.
Publications
Alexandre Caouette, Bachelor of Science Honours ’20, has had his work published in the October edition of the peer-reviewed journal Ecological Entomology. The manuscript, “Large-scale bioacoustic monitoring to elucidate the distribution of a non-native katydid,” was the result of continued work on his MacEwan honours thesis.
Dr. Trevor Hamilton published “Cannabinoid type-2 receptors modulate terpene induced anxiety-reduction in zebrafish” in the December 2023 edition of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. The piece was co-researched and co-authored by psychology students Andréa L. Johnson, Ryan Verbitsky, James Hudson and Rachel Dean.
Assistant Professors Andrea Chute, Sharon Johnston, and Brandi Pawliuk published Professional Communication Skills for Health Studies through MacEwan Open Books.
Also through MacEwan Open Books, Assistant Professor Tai Munro published her book and learning resource, Introduction to Sustainability.
Earth Common Journal released its ninth volume in November, with the theme of “Influence.”
Other honours
Former kihêw waciston Indigenous Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack has had a school in southeast Edmonton named after him. Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack School is set to open its doors in the Meadows neighbourhood in September of 2024.
Dr. Albena Pergelova, associate professor in the School of Business and Board of Governors research chair, is part of a team who received a grant from Employment and Social Development Canada for, “Building WISE (Work Integration Social Enterprises) for Black and Racialized Canadians: Evidence from British Columbia and Alberta.” With more than $500,000 in funding, the project will span four years and follow six WISE organizations and their beneficiaries.
Dr. Andrea Wagner, assistant professor of political science, concluded her term as the Jean Monnet Chair in September. During her time in the role, she completed her research project, The Future of the European Union Post-Brexit, with a grant from the European Union.
Dr. Jessica Romney, associate professor of humanities, was a guest speaker at the 2023 Annual Classical Association of Canada Lecture tour. She delivered the lecture, “Placing the Sympotic Elite: Lyric as the Centre of the Polls,” at McMaster University in September.
Dr. Matthew Ross, associate professor of physical sciences, received a MacEwan dissemination grant to present at the SETAC North America 44th Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. He discussed two research projects: “ Development of a Device for the One-pot Isolation and Digestion of Microplastics,” and “Microplastics Emissions via Stormwater Runoff.” His presentation on stormwater runoff was adapted from a paper he co-authored earlier in the year, with the help of a Scholarship Support Grant from the Office of Research Services.
Pets Assisting With Student Success (PAWSS) Director Andrea Chute appeared on CBC in September, showcasing how the program effectively reduces stress for students, staff and faculty on campus, and showing clips of some of our favourite PAWSS dogs.
Child and Youth Care (CYC) students Jennika Kuruliak, Jean Jo Galandy and Karalyn Mouly received MacEwan Undergraduate Student Research Initiative (USRI) funding to present at the Unity Conference in Dublin this November. Galandy presented, “Trauma Informed Care through an Indigenous Lens,” and Kuruliak and Mouly presented, “Expanding and Diversifying Trauma Care Starts with Enabling Students to Embrace their Unique Journeys.”
CYC Associate Professor Jenny McGrath and Assistant Professor Christine Pope also presented at the Unity Conference, speaking about their scholarship, “Activity in CYC: An Exploration of Creativity, Hope and Imagination in Practice.”
Congratulations to the 25 faculty who were awarded tenure or promotion in 2023. In celebration, recipients are asked to select a book or suitable work for the library collection that holds professional or personal meaning for them. Check out their additions to the library catalogue on the John L. Haar Library website.
If you know of someone who should be featured in our next edition of shout-outs, email communications@macewan.ca.
Read the full story.