Dr. Sarah Plosker BSc’08, MSc’10

Outstanding Young Alumni

When she graduated from the University of Regina, Sarah’s instructors were confident that the bright, industrious and articulate student was destined for greater achievements. Her instructors were not wrong. She graduated with more than a dozen awards, including the prestigious University Prize in Science.

Beyond her academic success at the University of Regina, Sarah was involved, and often led, events across campus. She organized “Pi Day,” volunteered at the graduate student conference, was the student representative on several committees and was an active member of the Women in Science group.

She continued her successes while she was a graduate student at the University of Guelph, winning the highly competitive Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. During her doctoral studies at the University of Guelph, she was recognized with the Governor General's Gold Medal for the Most Distinguished Doctoral Graduate.

Sarah is a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in quantum information theory at Brandon University. As a CRC, she is considered among the nation’s best and brightest scholars, while at the same time she’s contributing to strengthening Canada’s research excellence and training a new generation of mathematical scientists. Her research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, yet another indicator of the excellence of her program of research.

Sarah’s impact on the quantum information theory research community is significant. Her research is constructing the mathematical foundation for some ground-breaking future developments. It is notable that her research appears not only in high-profile journals in mathematics (such as the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications) but also in physics (such as Physical Review Letters). Consequently, Sarah’s work is making an important impact in both disciplines.

Sarah is often singled out as a role model for other young women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In this regard, she has been active herself, for example, project leader and mentor at the Banff International Research Station in 2018 with the specific aim of engaging young women in the field and helping them achieve their professional and academic goals.

Questions and Answers

What drew you to math in the first place?

I was always good at math during elementary and high school. I had a number of fun hands-on math projects during grades 10-12 that really got me excited about the subject. One was to go around and measure different angles and lengths of things, to see Pythagoras’ theorem in action, and one was to use data from Statistics Canada to look at divorce rates over the last 50 years in Canada.

What was your role in Women in Science?

I have always tried to lead by example. I mentor young women in math, formally through the Association for Women in Mathematics and the Operator Algebras Mentor Network and informally as well. Many of my trainees, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, are women. I have volunteered with local science fairs, International Women’s Day events, Let’s Talk Science, the ATHENA Talaria Research Program, and other initiatives. I think it’s important to be actively involved in fostering the next generation of math enthusiasts.

Have you seen more women enter the STEM fields over the course of your career?

That’s hard to say. There is certainly more of a support network now, which is important, in particular with respect to retention.

What is the importance of role models for young women in STEM?

It is very important for young women in STEM to have role models. When I was at the University of Regina, I always noticed that the Dean of Science, who signed a lot of the official University correspondence to me, was a woman. As a young student, I thought that was really cool. Now, looking back, I realize that was really important, because it made me feel that I belong, and that there’s a path to success.

What accounts for your numerous academic awards?

Hard work and determination. I am perhaps too stubborn for my own good!

How would you describe quantum information theory to an 8 year old?

Quantum information theory can be defined by the two key resources that set it apart from classical information theory: superposition and entanglement. Superposition is a fancy way of saying something can be two things at once; for example, a coin that is both heads-up and tails-up at the same time. Entanglement is what Einstein and other scientists of his day called “spooky action at a distance”: if you and I each have a coin that are entangled with one another, and flip them at the same time, the state of yours (heads-up or tails-up) will directly influence the state of mine. Superposition and entanglement have a lot of interesting consequences, including the potential of teleportation, the need to come up with new security protocols to keep your online accounts secure against hackers, and more.

What are your fondest memories from your time at the University of Regina?

Toward the end of my Bachelor’s degree, I realized I had focused so much on my course work that I hadn’t gotten the full university experience. I made a point to become actively involved in a number of student groups, including the Math, Actuarial Science, and Statistics Student Society, the Women in Science and Engineering (UR WISE), and then the Graduate Students’ Association during my Master’s degree. These clubs were a lot of fun, and I got to know a lot of students and faculty that I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to meet.

What was the most important thing you came away with from your U of R experience?

That balance is key: on one hand, you need to work hard to achieve your goals, but at the same time you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself so you don’t get burnt out.

What role did your university experience play in shaping the person you have become?

My university experience played a vital role in shaping who I am today. Not only did I learn the foundational math that I need everyday in my job as a professor, but I became a more well-rounded person through participation in extracurriculars.

What does receiving this award mean to you?

I am so very proud of this achievement! The fact that this recognition comes from the Alumni Association makes it extra special to me.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I have travelled quite a lot, across Canada and the USA, and I have visited Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, the UK, France, China, Korea, and more. My hobbies include spinning, knitting, cooking, and baking.

How would you characterize your fellow ACAA recipients?

In a word: Inspiring. It is truly an honour to stand alongside them.

(Where do you live and who are your immediate family members)

My husband and I live just outside of Brandon, Manitoba. We have a toddler who keeps us very busy. Besides our little guy, we have a hobby farm on 10 acres, that includes pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, and our two livestock guardian dogs.

 

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 5364 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2021-11-29 09:46:59 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-11-29 15:46:59 [post_content] => It's fitting that Lorne should receive this year's Lifetime Achievement award - after all, he's devoted a lifetime to the service of others. Service is a huge part of his ethic - service to the province, Church, higher education, and, vulnerable people whose voices are seldom heard. Lorne was born and raised in Moose Jaw and educated at the Universities of Regina and Saskatchewan. In 1976 he became an ordained Minister of the United Church of Canada. He began his multi-faceted career as a minister in pastoral charges in central and southern Saskatchewan and in Moose Jaw. It was while in Moose Jaw that he decided to run for elected office, first becoming a member of the Saskatchewan legislature, and ultimately as leader of the New Democratic Party and Premier of the province. While in office, he also served as leader of the opposition and in several cabinet posts.
A career change came in 2009, when Lorne became the Principal of St. Andrew's College, a theological training centre of the United Church.

Wherever he has lived, he has contributed to the quality of life in his community, whether as a youth group leader, champion of facilities for youth such as summer camps, or as an advocate of multi-faith and ecumenical dialogue. He has been an advocate of equality and justice in the community through programs such as the Saskatoon Inner City Ministry's 10 X 10 Art project and the International Day to Eliminate Poverty's Hands Across the Bridge. He is a member of Rotary International and has been involved in many fundraising activities, notably with Tom Jackson's Holiday Train tours in support of the Food Bank, Saskatoon's Meewasin Valley and Moose Jaw's Wakamow Valley.

In retirement, Lorne continues to give back to the community through his ethic of servant leadership. Whenever he is called upon to serve, he does so cheerfully and accomplishes what he has been asked to do, and then some, in his own engaging way.

Questions and Answers

What drew you to politics in the first?

There is rarely a single answer to our life choices. In my case I was drawn to seek elected office from a desire to see change in our province and to serve the community I had grown up in. Another decisive influence was the encouragement of people whom I deeply respected.

How would you characterize the time you spent at St. Andrew's College?

 St. Andrew's College offered me the perfect return to the church after public life. Those were years of restoring a solid financial foundation for the College, of seeking to understand and define the place of a theological college within the contemporary context of a public and secular university and struggling to serve a rapidly changing Protestant denomination in Canada. Personally, the time I spent at the College gave me better understanding of post-secondary education and the unique and interesting ethos of a university.

What do you do for fun?

 Camp, fish, play piano, walk, read mystery novels, debate my Conservative friends and visit our kids and grandkids!

How would you characterize being the Premier of Saskatchewan?

 It was the most intense and defining job I've ever had. The challenges of being Premier are many: finding the correct balances in public policy; making decisions which may not be politically popular; having little time for family and friends; bearing the daily criticism and commentary from opposition and media; working with one's own caucus and Party. But the rewards are much greater than the challenges: meeting and experiencing every aspect of life in our Province and our communities; achieving goals that make life better for our neighbours and the future better for our children; celebrating the successes of our people and province; experiencing the hospitality of Saskatchewan people everywhere; leaving with a storehouse of irreplaceable memories. It is an experience like none other.

What prompted you to follow a career in the clergy?

 Music drew me into the church; an exceptional young minister drew me into the faith; faith drew me to a conviction that life involves service to others; and, as with my venture into public service, I was called to the ministry by people whom I deeply respected.

What is something that most people would be surprised to learn about you?

 That I have spent most of my adult life renovating old school buses into motorhomes for our family, and being stranded with those same buses in many, many, many Saskatchewan communities and campgrounds.

What are your fondest memories of your time at the University of Regina?

 The friendships on campus; the sense of being part of a student movement coming out of the 60's; the stimulation of the environment of the campus and the Economics department in the Faculty of Arts; playing with friends in a dance band to fund the experience; the pinball machines in the Campion Cafeteria; and the friends and families of Whitmore Park United Church.

What was the most important thing you came away with from your U of R experience?

 An understanding of the role played by economic structures and decisions in shaping the social fabric of a community and a passion that economies should serve people and not vice versa. The University of Regina gave me my political and economic foundations and they have not essentially changed.

What role did your university experience play in shaping the person you have become?

 I believe the U of R gave me both the desire to engage in social change and the confidence that change is possible. We were a generation of students who believed a better future was always possible and that we could shape that future, not just for ourselves but for our neighbours. I'd like to think these qualities are still there in the person I am today - the same guy who graduated from the U of R those many years ago.

 What does receiving this award mean to you?

 Thinking of all of those who have graduated from the University of Regina, and then from among them having been chosen to receive this award is for me firstly surprising and then humbling! It is with much appreciation that I receive this award. To be recognized by one's own school is about as good as it gets.

What do you like to do when you're not working?

 Now having reached the happy stage of retirement, not working is a daily experience. Some of my days are now filled with volunteering with our local church, working with the Moose Jaw Wakamow Rotary Club and what I hope will be a growing involvement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. And, of course, all of those fun things listed above take most available hours.

How would you characterize your fellow ACAA recipients?

 Simply an amazing group of individuals of which to be a part! If we are known by the company we keep, this is very good company!

Where do you live and who are your immediate family members?

 My wife Betty and I are now living on the north shore of Buffalo Pound Lake in the community of North Grove in the Qu'Appelle Valley. We have two children - Dave and Stephanie; two grandchildren - Levi and Haven; and a new grandchild imminent in the next few weeks.

 

[post_title] => The Honourable Reverend Dr. Lorne Calvert BA'73 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-honourable-reverend-dr-lorne-calvert [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-12-01 16:26:29 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-12-01 22:26:29 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=5364 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 5369 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2021-11-29 09:50:26 [post_date_gmt] => 2021-11-29 15:50:26 [post_content] =>

Appointed by the Government of Canada as a judge of Her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan in September 2018, Graeme previously served as Vice-Chairperson of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board, and before that as, Director of the Constitutional Law Branch of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice. In addition to his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music from the University of Regina, he holds a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and a Masters of Law from the University of Chicago Law School.

Called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1985, Graeme earned an impressive reputation as a lawyer particularly in matters relating to Canadian constitutional law. He represented the Attorney General for Saskatchewan in more than 40 appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada, many of them ground-breaking constitutional cases. Graeme practiced, wrote and published widely on subjects of administrative, constitutional, criminal, labour and human rights law. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1998.

Graeme served as an Adjunct Professor at the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, and the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. In 2009, he served as a Visiting International Advocate in Residence at Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana. He also taught the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to judges through the National Judicial Institute.

Graeme was a Bencher of the Law Society of Saskatchewan from 2000 to 2007 and was the Law Society's representative on the Council of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada from 2007 until 2012. He chaired the Federation of Law Societies of Canada's National Committee on Accreditation from 2012 to 2016 and served as Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's National Constitutional and Human Rights Law Section. In 2014, Graeme received the Distinguished Service Award from the CBA (Saskatchewan).

Graeme is also active in Saskatchewan's musical community as an accomplished flautist and singer. He won first prize in the woodwind category of the Canadian National Music Festival in 1971. He studied voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Opera Division of the University of Toronto, and his teachers include Bernard Diamant, and Léopold Simoneau.

In the community, Graeme served on the boards of the Regina Lyric Light Opera Society, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Globe Theatre, and Regina Palliative Care Inc. A proud member of the LGBTQ2S community, he was a founding member of the LGBT+ Network of the Government of Saskatchewan formed in 2016 to foster an inclusive and respectful work environment for LGBTQ2S employees in the Saskatchewan public service.

[post_title] => Honourable Graeme Michell BA'75, BMus'75 [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => honourable-graeme-michell-ba75-bmus75 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-12-01 16:25:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-12-01 22:25:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=5369 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )