Each year, Associated Alumni recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves through outstanding service to their alma mater, their communities and beyond. The Proudly UNB Awards were created to honour these deserving alumni for their achievements. This year, seven alumni and one honorary alumnus were celebrated at an awards dinner held in their honour.
Alumni Award of Honour: Recognizes outstanding service and commitment to UNB and the Associated Alumni
Alumni Award of Distinction: Recognizes the significant contributions made by alumni to their local communities and beyond for which they have been recognized regionally, nationally or internationally
Young Alumni Achievement Award: Recognizes the outstanding achievements of UNB alumni aged 35 years or younger
Honorary Membership: Recognizes many years of valuable contributions to the UNB Associated Alumni or the University of New Brunswick
Dr. Lorna Butler joined UNB this year as Dean of Nursing on the Fredericton campus for a five-year term. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, a master’s degree in nursing from Dalhousie University, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Mount Saint Vincent University.
Dr. Butler comes to UNB from the University of Saskatchewan, where she was a professor at the College of Nursing, as well as senior strategist in the office of the vice-president research. She has held various administrative positions, including dean at the College of Nursing and acting director for USask’s International Centre for Northern Governance and Development.
Throughout her career, Dr. Butler has been recognized for her research and contributions to nursing and healthcare. She has presented on topics including global solutions for local healthcare, robotics in nursing, and Indigenous social determinants of health.
Dr. Kevin Englehart, professor of electrical engineering, was appointed Acting Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in Fredericton.
Dr. Englehart has had a vigorous teaching and research career at UNB with extensive graduate supervision.
He also has considerable experience integrating and administering research and graduate activities in his previous role as Director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBME).
Dr. Paul Howe, professor of political science, was appointed Acting Dean of Renaissance College for a one-year term.
Dr. Howe joined UNB Fredericton’s faculty of arts in 2001. His current teaching areas include comparative politics, Canadian politics, Quebec politics and research methods.
Dr. John Kershaw was appointed Assistant Vice-President Academic (partnerships) for a three year-term.
He is an advisor for the forestry senior management practicum and has his own active research lab.
He is the lead author of the 5th Edition of Forest Mensuration, widely used in North America. In addition to his work as a professor, Dr. Kershaw is a researcher and studies forest measurements, forest inventory, sampling and LiDAR analysis in his lab.
Dr. James Kieffer, professor of biology, was appointed to the role of Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in Saint John.
Dr. Kieffer has had an active teaching and research career at UNB that has included extensive experience in graduate supervision.
He has also had considerable administrative experience as Department Chair and as Acting Dean of the Faculty of Science and Applied Science and Engineering, as well as Acting Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.
Dr. Heidi MacDonald joined UNB as Dean of Arts on the Saint John campus on Jan. 2. She holds a PhD in Canadian history from UNB, a master’s degree from Saint Mary’s University and a bachelor’s degree from Mount Saint Vincent University.
Dr. MacDonald was an associate professor in the department of history at the University of Lethbridge and served as department chair, as well as director of the Centre for Oral History and Tradition.
Dr. MacDonald is an historian of 20th-century Canada with specializations in Atlantic Canada, the Great Depression, women’s studies, religious studies and youth.
Throughout her career, Dr. MacDonald has been recognized for her research and contributions to Canadian history. She has published on topics including the suffrage movement in Atlantic Canada, religious education, and the impact of the Great Depression on youth.
Dr. Mary McKenna was reappointed in her position as Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies with a focus on Interdisciplinary Studies.
The School of Graduate Studies is fortunate to retain her dedicated energy and support of our graduate students.
Dr. Gary Saunders was reappointed as Acting Dean of Science for a one-year term, then appointed as Dean for a five-year term.
Since 2003, Dr. Saunders has been a research professor at UNB Fredericton. As a marine biologist, his research focuses on merging fields of traditional and molecular systematics to build a comprehensive picture of algae evolution.
Dr. Sharon Wahl has joined UNB as Dean of Education on the Fredericton campus for a five-year term. She holds a PhD and an MEd, both from Simon Fraser University, and a BA from the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Wahl has a professional teacher’s certificate from the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Wahl was a professor and associate dean of education at Vancouver Island University (VIU). She has more than 30 years of teaching experience at both secondary and post-secondary levels, as well as many years of administrative experience at VIU and Simon Fraser University.
Over time, Dr. Wahl’s work has evolved from an interest in developing language acquisition techniques through dramatic technique, to exploring efficacy of teacher education pedagogies. Her research interests include educational leadership and she has written and presented on in-service teacher education, international education and arts pedagogy.
Robyn Tingley, vice-chair of UNB’s Board of Governors, was named one of Canada’s most powerful women.
The Women’s Executive Network, an international organization that creates networking, mentoring, and development opportunities for executive-minded women, released its picks for the country’s 100 most powerful women and Ms. Tingley was selected in the RBC Champions category, which recognizes women who support women.
Ms. Tingley is a Rothesay-based social entrepreneur, author and adviser to companies across North America. She is founder and president of GlassSKY, a consulting firm dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of women.
She has served on the UNB Board of Governors from 2006 to 2008 and again starting in 2015 and was named vice-chair in 2017. Ms. Tingley was keynote speaker at Oxford University’s 2015 Empowering Women Through Education event for International Women’s Day and is one of the founders of Women for 50%, an initiative to encourage more women to run for public office in New Brunswick.
Chair in Off-site Construction: OSCO Construction Group invested $2 million to establish a new Centre for Off-site Construction and to fund research led by the new OSCO Chair in Off-site Construction.
Off-site construction consists of planning, designing and fabricating building elements in a factory-controlled environment for rapid assembly in a “plug-and-play” fashion at the jobsite. Off-site building elements can incorporate a wide range of materials made into many sizes and configurations, such as individual components, flat-packed panels and volumetric room-size modules. This method of construction reduces waste, promotes sustainability, compresses time schedules and overall, results in better quality products.
The OSCO Chair in Off-site Construction will be a leading specialist in the field and build on the faculty of engineering’s current strengths in civil engineering and related pre-manufacturing technology.
UNB boasts a unique combination of strengths in research, teaching and entrepreneurship that facilitate growth in this important sector of Canada’s economy.
Atlantic salmon research chair: UNB established a research chair focused on Atlantic salmon as part of $1.3 million in funding from the Collaboration for Atlantic Salmon Tomorrow (CAST) to conduct innovative research projects aimed at curbing the alarming decline of salmon stocks.
The investment by CAST – a partnership of scientists, environmental groups and industry participants focused on saving wild Atlantic salmon – earmarks $500,000 for the creation of the research chair while the remainder is focused on four research projects.
The research projects, undertaken by scientists at UNB and the Canadian Rivers Institute (CRI), will allow for a greater understanding of how Atlantic salmon behave, what is threatening the stocks and what might be done to revive them. The work will focus on one of the great Atlantic salmon rivers of the world, New Brunswick’s Miramichi River, though the techniques developed and knowledge generated will be applicable across the species’ range.
Canadian Rivers Institute Research Associate Tommi Linnansaari is the holder of the UNB CAST Atlantic Salmon Research Chair.
Dr. Linnansaari, who in addition to his work with CRI has held various research positions at UNB since 2009, is also an associate professor of biology and forestry & environmental management.
Cannabis health research chair: The New Brunswick Health Research Foundation and Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. (CSE:TBP) (OTCQB:TBPMF) invested a combined $1 million, $500,000 each, over five years to establish a Health Research Chair in Cannabis at the University of New Brunswick.
The chair will focus on the study of biochemistry, medicinal use and pharmacology of cannabis. This research will expand UNB’s commitment to research and innovation in the field of natural product and biomedical, health and life sciences – adding to its reputation as a leader in natural products research.
Potential research areas for the chair include the analysis of existing cannabis literature, in order to understand inconsistencies and identify needs for future research; the biochemistry and medicinal chemistry analyses of cannabis; and preclinical pharmacology studies.
This research will expand the university’s capacity to train, mentor and prepare undergraduate and graduate students to work effectively in botanical product research.
Investing in next-generation clean energy infrastructure and technologies will advance Canada’s efforts to build a clean economy, meet the world’s future energy needs and help realize our climate change goals.
Thanks to an investment of more than $4.3 million from the Government of Canada and Emera Inc., UNB will build on existing smart grid expertise infrastructure and refine technology to deliver solutions for renewable energy.
The project includes designing, building, testing and demonstrating a suite of distributed energy resource solutions for commercialization by industry and implementation by utilities. Emera, a publicly traded energy and services company, will deploy and test the project results within its system network at Barbados Light and Power. After testing in a real-world environment, the results will be refined and validated through industry players, users, suppliers, regulators and others.
The Government of Canada is investing more than $2.8 million through ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund, as well as $82,100 through NSERC towards this initiative. Emera is providing $1.4 million towards this project.
Investments in clean technology are part of the Government of Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to create growing, innovative businesses with global reach, to strengthen regional economies, and lead to good jobs for all Canadians. This investment also builds on the Atlantic Growth Strategy.
