2011 Medal Winners, Valedictorians, and Honorary Degrees
Honorary Doctorates
Sheila Fraser was Canada’s Auditor General for the past 10 years. She focused the Office’s efforts on serving the needs of parliamentarians by ensuring transparent government spending and responsible stewardship of public funds. She also promoted the use of plain language in the Office’s performance audit reports tabled in the House of Commons. During her tenure in this position, her team exposed the $100 million dollar sponsorship scandal, overspending on health care, and weaknesses in national security. She said in a May 17th interview with CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos, “We have contributed to making government better.”
Dr. Fraser epitomizes TRU’s commitment to career success and quality of service to students. She is a leader who, in plain speech, says “we” rather than “I” whenever possible, and expresses no concern about leaving her office because she believes her success is due in large measure to a talented and committed team, though the creation of such a team is undoubtedly the work of a tremendously capable leader. It gives Thompson Rivers University great pleasure to confer the degree of Doctor of law, honoris causa, upon Dr. Sheila Fraser.
Stephen Podborski is a two-time Olympian and the first North American male to win an Olympic Medal in downhill skiing. He is a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame, among others, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Mr. Podborski has demonstrated a constant commitment to sport and community. He has been a commentator and analyst at four Winter Olympics, then was Executive Director of International Relations for the successful Vancouver 2010 Olympic Bid, and assistant Chef de Mission for the Canadian Olympic Team for the Winter Games in Vancouver. He then became Director of Community Sports at Telus. He is a Session Member of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Vice-President of the Canadian Snowsports Association, and President of the Ski Canada Foundation. He is also a founding member of AthletesCan, an Athlete Ambassador for the international charity Right to Play, and a national spokesperson for the Kelty Patrick Dennehy Foundation.
Mr. Podborski embodies TRU’s commitment to community. It gives Thompson Rivers University great pleasure to confer the degree of Doctor of laws, honoris causa, upon Stephen Podborski.
Nelofer Pazira is a Canadian filmmaker, author, human rights activist and journalist for CBC’s The National. Her documentary films include Safar e Ghandehar, based on her efforts to find a childhood friend in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 1996, and the Gemini award-winning Return to Kandahar. Her family immigrated to New Brunswick in 1990 from Kabul, Afghanistan, fleeing 10 years of Soviet occupation. Her 2005 auto-biography A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan won the Drainie-Taylor biography prize.
Dr. Pazira is a past president of PEN Canada, an organization which defends freedom of speech for persecuted writers around the world, and the founder of Dyana Afghan Women’s Fund, a charity which supports education and skills training for women in Afghanistan. She is also a UNESCO good will ambassador.
Dr. Pazira embodies Thompson Rivers University’s commitment to the values of equity, access to education and global citizenship. It gives Thompson Rivers University great pleasure to confer the degree of Doctor of letters, honoris causa, upon Dr. Nelofer Pazira.
Kenneth Ogilvie is an environmental policy consultant and senior advisor to Deloitte & Touche. He is Executive Director Emeritus of the Pollution Probe Foundation, chairs the Institute for Environmental Innovation (Tulsa), is the Vice-Chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and is Vice President of Quality Urban Energy Systems of Tomorrow.
Mr. Ogilvie’s involvement in environmental issues spans his entire career. He led environmental protection activities for Environment Canada, including the preservation of Oshawa Second Marsh and the Great Lakes Water Quality Program. As Executive Director of the Canadian Environmental Advisory Council, he published major reports including “Land Use Planning and Sustainable Development in Canada.” While Executive Director of Pollution Probe, he built a comprehensive air programme and developed a programme on environment and children’s health.
Mr. Ogilvie represents TRU’s recognition of the environmental challenges faced by current and future generations and the importance of environmental responsibility to a sustainable future. It gives Thompson Rivers University great pleasure to confer the degree of Doctor of laws, honoris causa, upon Kenneth Ogilvie.
2011 Valedictorians
Amrita Patel
For the School of Business and Economics
June 9, 10 am
Bachelor of Business Administration
Amrita grew up in Kamloops, attending South Kamloops Secondary and volunteering with the Kamloops Youth Advisory Council and the Hindu Cultural Society. At TRU, Amrita chose a double major in accounting and finance for her Bachelor of Business Administration. A highlight of her time at TRU has been volunteering with SIFE, both as VP of Finance and Administration, and as a team member at the Regional and National competitions, where her team won 1st place in the Financial Literacy Challenge and runner up in Entrepreneurship. Amrita was chosen as one of eight students to represent TRU at the Annual Forecasting Budget in 2008, and won the Dixon Memorial Bursary that same year. Her most memorable experience was the Business Field School in India under the guidance of Heather Williams, one of the professors she credits most for her success. Amrita was one of 10 Canadian students at the KPMG Fast Forward Leadership Conference in Hollywood, California in 2008; after graduation she will complete her chartered accountant designation with KPMG and hopes to travel the world with KPMG Go.
Cynthia Schaap
For the School of Tourism and the Faculty of Human, Social, and Educational Development
June 9, 2 pm
Bachelor of Tourism Management
Cynthia attended Parkland Secondary in her home town of Victoria, BC. After graduation, she joined the University of Victoria for a year of general studies before coming to TRU to earn her Events and Conventions Management Diploma, after which she decided to go further and earn her Bachelor of Tourism Management. While at TRU, she spent time volunteering as President for the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), was a Transition Mentor for first-year students coming to university, acted as Assistant Orientation Coordinator for TRU, and was also a Student Task Force member for the PCMA. She received numerous awards, including the Roy B. Evans Scholarship, the Delta Hotel Scholarship, Nels Grane Wells Entrance Scholarship, and the Doug Menzies Award. The atmosphere and community of the university, the learning opportunities outside the classroom, and her professors and classes were what made TRU special to Cynthia. She has been hired as the catering and sales manager for Aramark at the University of Alberta.
Adam Fizer
For the School of Trades and Technology and the Faculty of Arts
June 10, 10 am
Bachelor of Arts
Adam is from Red Deer, Alberta, where he attended Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School. Adam came to TRU as a mature student to study Economics. He volunteered his time and energy as an Economic Student Association founder and President, as the Humanitarian Club’s Treasurer working with the Kamloops Food Bank and United Way, and as a SIFE TRU member helping to develop a program to teach economic environmental principles to local grade 6 and 7 classes. Adam received many awards, including Best Overall Presentation at the TRU Undergraduate Research Conference, and the Joseph Bombardier Memorial Scholarship, which is the premier award in the country for an undergraduate student moving into graduate studies. Adam will use this award to pursue a Masters in Economics next fall at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he has also been awarded the Laurier Centennial Scholarship for leadership and the Laurier Dean’s Scholarship for academic excellence. Highlights of his student life were the excellent support from faculty and the personal relationships he developed with many friends that he hopes to carry with him throughout his career.
Brady Nelson
For the School of Nursing and the Faculty of Science
June 4, 2 pm
Respiratory Therapy Diploma
Brady is from Campbell River, BC. After graduating from Carihi Secondary, he attended Camosun College in Victoria, and worked as an apprentice in electroplating with the Department of National Defense. Then in 2008 he made one of the best decisions of his life, returning to school to take Respiratory Therapy at TRU. Throughout the program he made the Dean’s list each semester, and his 2009 poster project on sleep apnea won a $2000 grant for Brady and fellow students to attend the BC Society of Respiratory Therapists’ Conference in Kelowna. One of his most memorable experiences was travelling across BC with students and faculty in the inaugural year of TRU’s Mobile Centre for Respiratory Health and Sleep Science, educating communities on respiratory health. He also volunteered with several nursing programs and 3rd year medical programs, demonstrating various techniques in respiratory therapy. Brady enjoyed his clinical year at Victoria General and Royal Jubilee hospitals, as well as Vancouver General, and returned to the two Victoria hospitals in May to begin work as a respiratory therapist. He plans to further his education at TRU in a health-related field such as a Bachelor of Health Science.
2011 Medal Winners
Governor General’s Academic Medal (Silver)
Darren Bishop is from Prince George, where he graduated from Prince George Secondary with a TRU entrance scholarship. As a Chemical Biology major at TRU, he was a Supplemental Learning Leader for first year chemistry, providing students with review sessions and exam preparation, and found time to participate in both intramural soccer and hockey. He also volunteered at the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism, working with young autistic children. His awards include a SIDIT Scholarship, the CIC 2nd Year Award in Chemistry, two Grunert Scholarship nominations, the Chemical Biology Prize, and the TRU Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship in Science. He also received a CUEF grant for a research project under Dr. Kingsley Donkor, whose mentoring enabled Darren to get the most out of his undergraduate experience. Darren has just been accepted to the Masters in Physical Therapy program at the University of Alberta. He hopes to return to Kamloops to open his own physical therapy clinic.
Governor General’s Academic Medal (Collegiate Bronze)
Matthew Osborne grew up in Salmon Arm and graduated from Salmon Arm Senior Secondary. He completed a year of theatre at Langara College before entering the Human Service Diploma program at TRU. Since his first day on campus, when he set the Governor General Collegiate Bronze Medal as the bar for his achievement as a student, his family has kept him grounded and motivated. His awards include the TD Canada Trust Scholarship and the 2011 Grunert Scholarship. Matt volunteered on the Ending Youth at Risk team and organized the first “Camp Out On Campus” event, in which students and faculty slept under the stars in support of youth outreach programs. The event was the highlight of Matt’s time at TRU. He valued the connections made between being university students and members of the community, and the opportunity to aid youth at risk. He has been accepted into TRU’s Bachelor of Social Work program, and plans to continue serving youth in the community of Kamloops.
Business Administration
Drew Beesley graduated from Brocklehurst Secondary in his hometown of Kamloops. He studied professional audio engineering for six months and worked as a studio recording engineer before coming to TRU, and has been writing and performing music for the past eight years. As a Business Administration student, Drew was President of Finance for the TRU Politics Club, did extensive volunteering and event hosting with TRU World, and was an ISEP Student Ambassador for international exchange students. His most memorable experiences as a TRU student were while in the Study Abroad program. He studied international law with students from across Europe in Tartu, Estonia, and travelled to Tianjin, China to study international business. He won the Kamloops Bar Association Award and the Rotary Club Daybreak Award, was on the Dean’s List, and received a Grunert Scholarship nomination. Drew would like to earn a law degree, and work in international law, business, or diplomacy.
Adil Hosenbocus grew up in Kamloops and graduated from South Kamloops Secondary. As an Accounting major in the Bachelor of Business Administration program, he volunteered as a Supplemental Learning Leader, helping students succeed in their accounting courses. He also became a member of SIFE. Co-op then gave Adil an opportunity to learn on the job at BDO Canada for 16 months. Sharing the experience with fellow students afterward as a Campus Ambassador was a highlight of his time at TRU, and he credits his colleagues at BDO with helping him advance through the BBA program. Adil was awarded the Rotary of Kamloops Daybreak Scholarship, the Chartered Accountants Education Foundation Scholarship, and was a Grunert Scholarship nominee. He is currently working at BDO while in the Chartered Accounting School of Business Program, and hopes to obtain his CA designation while building a career at BDO.
Tourism Management
Brittany Hansum is from Kelowna. She graduated from Kelowna Christian School and obtained a Business Administration diploma before coming to TRU to complete her Events and Convention Management Diploma and ladder into the Bachelor of Tourism Management. Her many volunteer experiences include a mission trip to South Africa and Zambia. Brittany won several awards at TRU including the Alvin and Lydia Grunert Scholarship, and was on the Dean’s list from 2008 to 2010. In March 2010 she was the first Canadian student to receive the Future Leader Award from the International Association of Conference Centres (IACC) at the IACC-Americas Summit. As a member of the Professional Convention Management Association Club (PCMA-TRU), she helped organize the PCMA conference as well as a bridal fair. The hands-on aspect of her studies and involvement with the community were the highlights of her student experience. Brittany intends to become an events coordinator in Kelowna.
Social Work
Michele Claudepierre grew up in Kamloops and graduated from Kamloops Senior Secondary. She obtained a BA in Sociology prior to entering TRU’s Bachelor of Social Work program. Her most memorable experience at TRU was her 4th year Social Work practicum at the John Howard Society. Michele had the best practicum experience imaginable, working with people involved in the criminal justice system, helping a segment of society that is stigmatized and often treated unjustly. Since graduation she has been hired at the John Howard Society and finds the work very rewarding.
Education
Jamélia Easton is from Kamloops and graduated from South Kamloops Secondary. She first obtained her BA at TRU, majoring in History. She studied abroad at Nagasaki Wesleyan University in Japan for a year, and at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi for five weeks on the French Explore Program. Jamélia spent most summer throughout university working for Parks Canada in Waterton Lakes National Park in Southern Alberta. She volunteered at an elementary school, and lived and worked with foster care children at home. After her BA she entered the BEd program, winning the Bruce Roberts Bachelor of Education Award and the Alvin and Lydia Grunert Scholarship in 2010. She was inspired by Education faculty, particularly by her mentor, Dr. Diane Purvey. Jamélia will begin teaching in Kamloops starting in September, and will pursue graduate studies in the near future.
Arts
Adam Fizer is from Red Deer, Alberta, where he attended Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive. Adam came to TRU as a mature student to study Economics. He volunteered as an Economic Student Association founder and President, as the Humanitarian Club’s Treasurer working with the Kamloops Food Bank and United Way, and as a SIFE TRU member helping to teach economic environmental principles to local grade 6 and 7 classes. Adam received many awards, including Best Overall Presentation at the TRU Undergraduate Research Conference, and the Joseph Bombardier Memorial Scholarship, which is the premier award in the country for an undergraduate student moving into graduate studies. Adam will use this award to pursue a Masters in Economics next fall at Wilfrid Laurier University. Highlights of his student life were the excellent support from faculty and the personal relationships he developed with many friends that he hopes to carry with him throughout his career.
Journalism
Jenifer Norwell grew up in Kamloops. After graduating from Sa-Hali Secondary, she completed a Diploma of Broadcast and Media at BCIT in 2007. As a Bachelor of Journalism student at TRU, she won the Faculty of Journalism Award and the Yukon Newspaper Association Scholarship in 2010. A highlight of her studies was her CUEF research grant to interview the residents of three small northwestern BC towns, Granisle, Hazelton and New Hazelton, researching the physical locations of news and the effects of technology, She volunteered with ASK and The Omega, and wrote for Bridges, TRU’s alumni magazine, as well as other magazines and newspapers in the Kamloops region. Jenifer has worked in both private and public radio in Prince George, where she lives with her husband as a freelance journalist working in broadcast and print. She has been broadcast nationally on CBC Radio and hopes to one day work for the CBC.
Fine Arts
Harmony Raine was born in Montreal. She completed a Visual Arts Studio Certificate, Diploma, and BA before getting her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011. She was awarded the Harrison English Prize, the Valley First Credit Union Scholarship, and the TRU Undergraduate Conference 2nd Prize for Best Oral Presentation. A CUEF grant helped improve her writing and research skills and led to her work being published. She volunteered at the Arnica Artist-Run Centre and Little Photo Shop, and was a member of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Student Society. One of her favourite memories of TRU is a field trip to George Bures Miller and Janet Cardiff’s studio. Harmony looks forward to completing a graduate degree in interdisciplinary or integrated studies.
Science
Sarah Berkey grew up in Cache Creek and graduated from Ashcroft Secondary with a TRU entrance scholarship. Working at her family’s restaurant helped her develop the strong work ethic that carried her through her Bachelor of Science, and her parents and siblings were a great source of encouragement. In her second and third year she won the TRU Biological Science Prize, and her fourth year at TRU was enriched by a directed studies in molecular genetics with Dr. Don Nelson. She learned a great deal about lab work, and Dr. Nelson’s encouragement to experiment and discover things on her own improved Sarah’s problem-solving skills while increasing her interest in medicine and research. Sarah plans to travel and volunteer abroad for a year, and then continue on in medicine to become a surgeon. Having grown up in a small town with limited medical care, she is also considering becoming a family doctor in a rural area.
Natural Resource Science
Siobhan Crawford grew up in Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, graduated from RD Parker Collegiate Secondary, and completed two years of sciences at the University of Manitoba before transferring to TRU. She won the Jake McDonald Scholarship for Reclamation and the award as the top Natural Resource Science student. At the 2011 TRU Undergraduate Research Conference, her poster won 1st place in the Biology, Behaviour, and Modeling category, and the Botany Poster Prize from the Canadian Botany Association. The amazing group of friends Siobhan made in the program and as a member of the NRS Club – and the adventures she had as a result – were the highlights of her time at TRU. Siobhan will enrol in the BC Institute of Agrologists and the BC College of Biologists, and plans to obtain her PAg and RP Bio designations while working in the field of environmental monitoring and remediation. She also plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Land Reclamation.
Nursing
Erin MacNamara declined to provide a photo or biographical details.
Educator Emerita
Diane Wells taught Nursing since her arrival here in 1981. She served on many campus committees, served as program chair, and was the faculty Liaison for the College of Registered Nurses of BC Student Representative Program from 1999 until she retired in December 2010. Diane received a Teaching Excellence Award in 2001 and a CRNBC Award for Excellence in Nursing Education in 2007. Throughout her career at TRU, Diane not only served her campus community, but remained committed to life-long learning and research, and stayed fully engaged in the broader community by volunteering with many community organizations. The honorary title of Educator Emerita is bestowed following retirement on a faculty member who has provided service to TRU over a sufficient period that the recipient has come to be clearly identified with TRU. Designation as Educator Emerita is for life and recognizes that the individual has gone beyond the expectations of the position held while at TRU.