The University of Saskatchewan awarded an honorary degree to retired Supreme Court Justice ROSALIE SILBERMAN ABELLA (BA 1967 UC) in honour of her remarkable judicial career and extraordinary contribution to her community. For example, Abella was chair and author of the Ontario Study on Access to Legal Services by the Disabled in 1983 and the sole Commissioner of the 1984 federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, creating the term and concept of “employment equity.” The Royal Commission report has been implemented by the governments of Canada, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. Her accomplishments are now captured in a featurelength documentary, Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella.
DONALD ABELSON (HBA 1985 UC) was appointed the inaugural academic director of Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement at McMaster University and began his term in November 2023. Formerly, Abelson served as the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and the Steven K. Hudson Chair in Canada-U.S. Relations at St. Francis Xavier University.
The University of Alberta named DECLAN ALI, PhD (HBSc 1991 UC), as the dean of the Faculty of Science, effective July 1, 2023. Ali has an impressive record of leadership there, previously serving as associate dean of research in the Faculty of Science and as acting associate vice-president and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and professor in the Faculty of Science. Meanwhile, his internationally recognized research examines developmental neurobiology and the effects of cannabinoids and alcohol on neurodevelopment. He has more than 70 peer reviewed publications.
STAVROULA (ROULA) ANDREOPOULOS (HBSc 1992 UC), a teaching stream professor in the Department of Biochemistry at U of T, was one of 10 members of the Ontario academic community lauded by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations with a 2022-2023 award recognizing teaching, librarianship, journalism, scholarship, and service to their faculty associations. In addition to teaching biochemistry, Andreopoulos is co-director of U of T’s Amgen Scholars Program.
MICHAEL BARMAN (HBA 2003 UC) was named chief development officer of Standard Lithium Ltd., a leading nearcommercial lithium company, effective October 2023. Barman has nearly 20 years of experience advising senior executives and their boards, most recently as a managing director in investment banking at Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc.
KINGSLEY BELELE, a UC human geography major and a striker with the Varsity Blues soccer team, spent the summer of 2023 playing for Alliance United FC, a League1 Ontario men’s team, as a way to improve his skills and prepare for the University soccer season. Belele is slated to graduate in 2025.
KIERNAN BELL (BA 1989 UC) has been appointed to the board of Atlas Arteria International Ltd. as an independent nonexecutive director, effective September 2023. Bell is a retired lawyer with over 20 years of professional experience practising as a commercial litigator at leading international law firm Appleby, including 15 years as a partner. During this time, Bell held several leadership positions, including as Bermuda managing partner.
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., a global leader in pet healthcare innovation, elected IRENE CHANG BRITT (BA 1984 UC) to its board of directors, effective July 2023. Chang Britt is a former executive at Campbell Soup Company where she spent 10 years in increasingly responsible positions, including as president/divisional CEO, Pepperidge Farm Ltd.
CHUNG KOON “BENNY” CHUNG (BCom 1994 UC) was appointed as a co-chief executive officer for Arta TechFin Corporation Ltd. He will focus on business and operational development. Chung has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry and previously served as the co-chief executive officer of Quam Capital Ltd.
JANET M. CURRIE (HBA 1982 UC), an economist at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), has been awarded the prestigious Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize by the Zurich, Switzerland-based Jacobs Foundation. Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and co-director of SPIA’s Center for Health and Wellbeing, with a joint appointment to the Department of Economics, was cited for her “foundational work on the influence of context such as policy decisions, environment, or health systems on child development.” The prize comes with an endowment of $1 million Swiss francs.
DR. KAREN DAVIS (HBSc 1983 UC), a senior scientist with the University Health Network’s KITE Research Institute and a professor at the U of T Faculty of Medicine, has been named a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Acute and Chronic Pain Research, funded by the Government of Canada. Her research focuses on developing and applying tools to detect the individual differences in brain circuitry underlying pain.
Graduating student JAIVET EALOM, a former Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, has written a book, Escape from Manus Prison: One Man’s Daring Quest for Freedom, detailing his circuitous path from his home to Canada, via Indonesia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. His determination eventually brought him to U of T and UC, where he completed a double major in economics and political science.
CARY FAGAN (HBA 1980 UC) was named to the 2023 Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature shortlist for his young adult post-apocalyptic novel Water, Water. The Vine Awards, given by the Koffler Centre of the Arts, honour Canadian writers who are Jewish or who deal with Jewish subjects across four categories, including young adult/ children’s literature.
Filmmaker RIEL FLACK (HBA 2020 UC) took first place in juried competition, plus the People’s Choice Award, in the 2022-2023 TVO Today Short Doc Contest, celebrating excellence in short documentaries created by Ontario filmmakers. Flack’s film They Can’t. So I Must: The Orlando Bowen Story, is a portrait of Orlando Bowen, the former CFL player whose professional athletic career was cut short after a beating by Peel Regional Police officers in 2004. These awards come with an opportunity to air the documentary on TVO’s broadcast channel and the TVO Today Docs YouTube channel.
GRAHAM FRASER (BA 1968 UC), was recently awarded an honorary degree from Bishop's University in Quebec. A recipient of UC's 2016 Alumni of Influence Award, Fraser is a contributing editor to the Literary Review of Canada, a member of the board of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, and a Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. His latest book is The Fate of Canada: F. R. Scott's Journal of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (2021).
GARY DANIEL GOLDBERG (1972 UC) was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2023 for “his decades of philanthropic leadership and contributions to scientific, health, environmental, and educational initiatives.” Goldberg served on Governing Council from 2013 to 2020, and received an Arbor Award in 1998 in recognition of his service to the University.
ANN-BARBARA GRAFF, PhD (HBA 1990 UC), was named as provost and vice-president, academic of Nipissing University for a five-year term, beginning July 1, 2023. She previously served as the vice-president, academic and research and provost at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and concurrently held the rank of full professor, art history and contemporary culture. She is also adjunct faculty in the Graduate Department of English at Dalhousie University, and chair of the management committee of Faculty Bargaining Services. In her new role, Graff is responsible for the development and execution of NSCAD’s Academic Plan, Strategic Enrolment Management Plan, COVID-19 response, cohort faculty hiring, and the renewal of the University’s strategic research plan.
The U of T School of Continuing Studies named KERRI HUFFMAN (HBA 1993 UC) a finalist for the Janice Colbert Poetry Award. It was created by Colbert, an award-winning poet who is a graduate of the School’s Creative Writing Certificate Program. Finalists receive a $500 prize.
JOHN HUNTER (HBA 2010 UC) became a partner at the law firm of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, effective Jan. 1, 2024. He, along with 14 other new partners, reflect the diverse legal expertise within the firm. Hunter maintains a diverse practice that includes product liability, municipal and police liability, class actions, and mental health law.
To finish out her three-year term on the board of OCAD University on a high note, GAIL LEE (BCom 2005 UC) was elected first vice-chair in December 2023. Lee is an independent finance consultant and a collaborative and resultsdriven leader, with over 15 years of finance experience in the media and telecommunications sector. She most recently served as director, finance at Rogers Communications.
JOHN LORINC (HBSc 1987 UC) has won the inaugural Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award for his book Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias. The new prize celebrates books that deepen the understanding of the role cities play in addressing critical global challenges and urban policy. The prize is administered by the Center on Global Cities, a branch of the non-partisan, non-profit organization Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The award comes with a $25,000 prize. His book was also shortlisted for the 2022 Donner Prize.
The Canada Council for the Arts announced the 14 winners of the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards, including KYO MACLEAR (HBA 1992 UC) for non-fiction. Maclear’s memoir, Unearthing: The Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets, addresses her discovery that she and her late father were not biologically related. The award comes with a $25,000 prize for each winner, while each publisher receives $3,000 to promote the book.
DR. ALISON MCGEER (BSc 1974 UC), one of Canada’s most trusted policy advisors in the field of infectious disease, was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in October 2023. McGeer has received international recognition for her leadership during Canadian and global pandemic responses, including the 2003 SARS pandemic, the MERS outbreak in Saudi Arabia, the Ebola virus in West Africa, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research studies offer new insights into the epidemiology of bacterial and viral infections, the spread of antimicrobial resistance, and the causes of bacterial sepsis.
KRISHAN MEHTA, PhD (HBA 2000 UC), is the new vice-president, university advancement and alumni relations at Toronto Metropolitan University, a term that began Jan. 29, 2024. An experienced and respected leader in fundraising, stewardship, and alumni engagement, Mehta has been a member of the TMU community since 2013. Previously, he worked in the advancement field at U of T.
KATRINA MIEHLBRADT (BSc 2023 UC) was named to the 2023 U.S. Under 23 National Rowing team. She competed in the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in lightweight women's double sculls and finished sixth.
Corporate finance and investment veteran ALISON NANKIVELL (HBA 1986 UC) has been named as the next executive director of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto and joined MaRS in March 2023. Previously, Nankivell was the senior vice-president, fund investments and global scaling for Business Development Bank of Canada’s venture capital unit.
SHIMON NAUENBERG (HBSc 2023 UC) has joined the staff of the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Va. Nauenberg serves as a data science fellow in the Strategy, Forces and Resources Division.
KATHRYN PARKER, PhD (HBA 1991 UC), was named the winner of the Larry Chester Award for Leadership Excellence at U of T’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS). Established in 2009 by Larry Chester, a former long-term instructor at SCS, the award, geared to students in the Leadership Essentials Certificate, recognizes and rewards outstanding students who demonstrate the qualities of an emerging leader.
RAKESH PATEL (HBA 1993 UC) has recently been promoted to deputy bureau chief for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Patel, who oversees investigations related to illegal robocalls/scam texts, and fraud that targets FCC-administered programs, joined the Enforcement Bureau in 2014 as deputy director of the newly created Universal Service Fund Strike Force. Prior to joining the agency, Patel was chief of the Criminal Division in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
At UC’s Spring 2023 Convocation in June 2023, alumna SARA SEAGER (BSc 1994 UC) served as an honorary graduand. Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist, is currently a professor of physics and planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is known for her work on the search for exoplanets using the transit method and has been awarded numerous prizes for her contributions to the field of astronomy and planetary science.
DR. VLADISLAV SHUSTOV (HSBc 1995 UC) is among the 45 new Ontario appointees to the position of Justice of the Peace with a term effective Jan. 29, 2024. Shustov had been a dental clinical instructor at the Toronto College of Dental Hygiene and Auxiliaries since 2017 and, prior to that, was in private dental practice for 17 years. He has been assigned to Newmarket.
ERIN SILVER (BA 2001 UC) was named to the 2023 Vine Award for Canadian Jewish Literature shortlist for her children’s picture book Sitting Shiva. The Vine Awards, given by the Koffler Centre of the Arts, honour Canadian writers who are Jewish or who deal with Jewish subjects across four categories, including young adult/children’s literature.
Planetary physicist SABINE STANLEY, PhD (HBSc 1999 UC), was appointed vice-provost of graduate and professional education at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. The renowned physicist is recognized for her work on planetary magnetic fields, dynamo theory, and planetary interiors and evolution. Stanley joined the university in 2017 as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences. From 2005 to 2017, she taught at the University of Toronto.
WW International, Inc. appointed HEATHER STARK (BA 1999 UC) as chief financial officer, effective May 2023. Since joining the company in 2010, Stark had served as the company's interim principal financial officer; head of finance, North America; vicepresident finance and commercial development; vice-president finance; and director, finance. Stark received her Chartered Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant designations from CPA Ontario.
CATRIONA STEELE, PhD (HBA 1988 UC), has been named a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Swallowing and Food Oral Processing by the Government of Canada. Steele is a senior scientist with the University Health Network’s KITE Research Institute and a professor at the University of Toronto. She has received particular recognition for her work on tongue function in swallowing.
Third-year UC student GABRIELLE TAVAZZANI, who is specializing in bioethics, was the undergraduate winner of U of T’s Award for Scholarly Achievement in the Area of Gender-Based Violence, which recognizes U of T students for their exceptional commitment to issues of violence against women, girls, transgender, and non-binary people. Tavazzani was honoured for her work and research efforts on providing pro-bono dental care to survivors of gender-based violence. She was recognized at a ceremony in December 2023.
WILLIAM D. THOMAS (BCom 1975 UC) has been appointed as an independent director of Spark Energy Minerals Inc. Thomas has had an extensive career in the resource and mining sectors over four decades, including mining in Canada, Africa, and South America, and the petroleum sector in Asia.
PROFESSOR JACOB TSIMERMAN (HBSc 2006 UC) was awarded the 2023 International Ostrowski Prize in Higher Mathematics in recognition of his work at the interface of transcendence theory, analytic number theory, and arithmetic geometry, including recent breakthroughs on the AndréOort and Griffiths conjectures. The prize, which comes with an award of 100,000 Swiss francs, is named after Alexander M. Ostrowski, a professor of mathematics who taught at the University of Basel.
UC’S NORMA EPSTEIN NATIONAL AWARD, one of the College’s creative writing awards, was presented in 2023 to Zak Jones for a short story titled Love Handles. Jones, a PhD candidate in English and a former medic in the American army, researches veteran narratives in post-Second World War literature.
GEORGIANA UHLYARIK (HBA 1996 UC), the Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, along with co-author Wanda Nanibush, has won the 2023 Toronto Book Award for the book Moving the Museum, which documents the re-opening of the AGO’s J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous & Canadian Art. The jury said the book “kicks the colonial gaze to the curb, insisting instead that museums and galleries radically shift what they’ve been doing and offers page after page enacting the potential of Indigenous art to empower, inspire and create community.” The award comes with a $10,000 prize.
JÓN GUNNAR VILHELMSSON (HBA 1989 UC) was appointed by Iceland’s Minister of Finance and Economy to the position of office manager for the Office of Management and Reform, effective June 2023. In addition to holding a securities licence, Vilhelmsson has more than 20 years of experience in management and operations and comprehensive knowledge of finance and public administration. He was the deputy head of the Office of Management and Reform for more than five years.
A new historical novel by author SYLVIA MAULTASH WARSH (BA 1968 UC) is slated for publication in May 2024 by Auctus Publishing in Philadelphia. The Orphan is set in 1844 against the backdrop of slavery and an important presidential election. It stars 15-year-old Samuel whose life is saved by an experimental drug.
Coach House Books editorial director ALANA WILCOX (HBA 1993 UC) was named the 2023 recipient of the Ivy Award. The award, now in its 12th year, is given annually to someone who has made a substantial contribution to Canadian publishing. As editorial director at Coach House, Wilcox has acquired and edited such books as the Giller prize-winning novels Fifteen Dogs and The Sleeping Car Porter. She has also served on the boards of the Literary Press Group and the Ontario Publishers’ Association and is currently on the board of the Association of Canadian Publishers.
The Honourable ALICE WOOLLEY (HBA 1991 UC), a Justice of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta, was appointed a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Alberta in Calgary by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada in October 2023. Woolley was appointed to the Court of King's Bench of Alberta in 2018. Previously, she was a professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law where she became a nationally and internationally recognized scholar of lawyers' ethics and professional regulation. In 2016, she was named the City of Calgary Council's first Ethics Advisor.