News

Congrats to Rita (MLIS ’18) from everyone at SIM! More information about SIM’s awards and scholarships can be found here.

When Stephanie Downs returned to Canada from the UK to become a librarian, she chose to enter the MLIS program at Dalhousie for its sense of community, welcoming faculty and Maritime culture. Diagnosed with cervical cancer at the end of her last year at SIM, Stephanie graduated with her MLIS but lost her hard-fought battle to her illness on May 27th, 2007.

Remembered for her enthusiasm, Stephanie was a “doer” and very active in school life, serving as 2005-2006 Co-Chair of SIMSA and SIM Team Captain for the 2005 Halifax “Run for the Cure”. She was also awarded the Student-to-CLA travel award to attend the 2005 CLA Conference in Calgary. This award was established by Stephanie’s family and friends in her memory.

Rita Ibifuro Oghene Ugbebor is a full-time MLIS student, with over 18 years work experience in the banking and financial industry in various capacities including Customer Experience Manager, Relationship Manager Sales, Banking Hall Operations Head, Retail Products Manager, Consumer Loans and Portfolio Manager, and Regional Head Retails Operations. Her desire is to acquire additional competences in data, information, and records management, to better manage industry challenges in money laundering, expatriate account funding, and general customer/personnel privacy information management. Rita recently completed her practicum experience at the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services (NSDCS), where she executed a mini project on inter-departmental records transfer and records policy reviews. Rita is an international student from Nigeria, with a degree in Philosophy from the University of Port Harcourt and an MBA from Lagos State University. She is well traveled, fluent in English and a basic understanding of French language. She is widowed and blessed with 3 adorable children.