WINNIPEG—Convocation is a time for celebrating the outstanding achievements of University of Winnipeg students. Chancellor H. Sanford Riley, President & Vice-Chancellor Lloyd Axworthy, the Board of Regents, and members of the University Senate invite family, friends, and the public to honour the graduating class of the seventy-eighth convocation.
The entire University community extends congratulations to the graduates as they join the more than 30,000 University of Winnipeg alumni around the world.
The University of Winnipeg’s Fall Convocation takes place:
Sunday, October 17 at 2:00 p.m.
Duckworth Centre (Spence at Ellice)
The public is welcome to attend.
On this day, degrees will be conferred in Theology, Education, Science, and Arts. Several outstanding University of Winnipeg professors and one exceptional alumnus will also be honoured.
Sheldon Oberman (Class of ’72) will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award posthumously.
Oberman, who passed away in March 2004, was an award-winning author, storyteller, philosopher, artist, and teacher. The Distinguished Alumni Award honours his lifetime of achievement in the creative arts and education.
Dawn Sutherland, Professor of Education, will receive the Clarence Atchison Award for Community Service.
As an education professor at The University of Winnipeg, her specialty is the teaching of science. Sutherland incorporates traditional Aboriginal knowledge into her science lessons, and participates in an international committee dedicated to exploring how culture, language, and gender influence learning. As a board member of Career Trek, Sutherland helps ensure that at-risk learners have the opportunity to explore the world of post-secondary education, helping those students see possibilities for themselves and their families.
The Clarence Atchison Award for Community Service was established by Investors Group in honour of their former President and Vice Chair Clarence E. Atchison. Together with an impressive record of business accomplishments, Dr. Atchison devoted many hours to community and social service in Winnipeg, serving on many boards and advisory councils. He was a long time member of The University of Winnipeg Board of Regents, acting as Chair from 1968 to 1970. The award is given to a University faculty or staff member to recognize the contribution given of their time and expertise to service to the community.
Parvin Ghorayshi, Professor of Sociology, and Peter Ives, Professor of Politics, will each receive the Erica and Arnold Rogers Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship.
Social justice advocate and feminist, Ghorayshi has devoted herself to research that touches a wide variety of domains: work, gender, the Middle East, feminism, and economic sociology.
Ives’ scholarly research has been devoted to Italian social theorist Antonio Gramsci-one of the seminal thinkers of 20th century Marxism (1891-1937) whose concept of power and the role language plays in political events provokes cultural, political, and philosophical discussion.
Erica and Arnold Rogers, friends of The University of Winnipeg, established the Erica and Arnold Rogers Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship. Dr. Rogers was a medical doctor who, together with his wife Erica, valued the contribution by faculty members to research and scholarship. All members of the University faculty, many of whom have received national and international recognition for excellence in the research community, are eligible.
This year, in addition to the many graduation-related activities, the Fall Convocation weekend (Oct. 15-17) will be particularly eventful: featuring a reunion of the Classes of ’76, ’77, ’78, ’79, as well the University’s first OmniTRAX/Broe Quest conference—Caught in the Crossfire: Global Citizens Making A Difference.
Open to the public and free of charge, Quest is an unprecedented opportunity to interact with individuals and organization around the world that have taken on the responsibility to find out what it means to be global citizens. Participants will meet educators, filmmakers, relief workers, students, and journalists and authors-including Ann Medina, Gwynne Dyer, Tony Burman, Patrick Martin, Nicholas Hirst, & Lloyd Axworthy. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.quest.uwinnipeg.ca
And as the formal conclusion to the University’s OmniTRAX/Broe Quest conference, the first annual University of Winnipeg Global Citizenship Award will be presented at Fall Convocation. The new award will be given to an organization known for its humanitarian work in Canada and around the world. The University of Winnipeg Global Citizenship Award will be presented annually to an individual or group embodying the spirit and drive of a passionate, committed member of society that lives out the responsibilities of a global citizen.
For more information, please contact:
Katherine Unruh, Director of Communications
The University of Winnipeg
T: 204.786.9872 C: 204.782.3279
