Roberta McKay and Elmer Brenner are enthusiastic, longstanding supporters of the University of Regina, in particular, the well-being of the University’s historic College Avenue campus. Whether it’s by good fortune or good planning, they live and work where they can watch the current renewal of Darke Hall and the College Building taking place just up the street.
What do former Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson, actor John R. Vernon (dean Wormer in the frat house comedy Animal House), singer Buffy Sainte-Marie and hockey great Gordie Howe have in common? They have all been bestowed the highest honour the University can confer – an honorary degree. Here are the most recent recipients.
It’s been quite a journey for alumna Emily Gardner BA’13. She grew up poor in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood. While attending high school at Regina’s Sheldon-Williams Collegiate, she spent one year living at Gemma House, the Salvation Army girls’ group home.
In 2012, Jennifer Dubois BAdmin’16 was one of the prize winners in CBC’s Boom Box Indigenous business competition. Her pitch to open an Indigenous hair salon and spa landed her second place, $1,500 and three months of business mentorship. Five years later, Dubois realized her dream when she opened Miyosiwin Salon Spa. Sadly, Dubois’ dream business was decimated by a fire that started at a neighbouring business. Dubois is determinedly working to rebuild the salon. She assures her clients that Miyosiwin will open again soon. If you want to reach out to Dubois, you can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiyosiwinSalon.
Meet this year’s deserving recipients of the Alumni Crowning Achievement Awards.
Earlier this year, Robin Schlaht BFA’92 co-created the interactive documentary Convictions for Legacies150, a National Film Board series of photo-based digital projects exploring ideas of home and legacy. Convictions follows the Wiebes, a traditional Mennonite family, as they emigrate from their Old Colony community in Chihuahua, Mexico to an uncertain future in Canada, reversing the path that their forebears took almost 100 years earlier.
Dale Eisler, senior policy fellow at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, takes a candid look at climate change, the challenges it presents and the policy options being considered to address it.
In a world fraught with terrorism, a University of Regina graduate is adding to the body of knowledge about the way people, particularly women, are drawn into terrorism.
Thomas Benjoe is helping to shape one of the most important growth sectors in Saskatchewan’s economy – Indigenous business development. Benjoe was 17 when he read a magazine profile about the CEO of a successful First Nations investment company in Manitoba.
Dr. Margaret Dagenais was surprised to learn she would receive the Dr. Robert and Norman Ferguson Crowning Achievement Award from the University of Regina Alumni Association (URAA) as recognition for what she describes as “… an 11-year experiential learning opportunity.”