It's our special Spring Convocation edition of the Dal News Weekly, sharing the stories of just some of the thousands of new Dal graduates. Congrats to our newest alumni! Read all our grad profiles below (and also compiled here, including Truro grad stories from earlier this month).
Opening up a whole new world
Geneive (Charisma) Walker came to Canada from Jamaica six years ago hoping to find a new career beyond nursing. A combined honours degree in Social Anthropology and Psychology, plus time working as a health coach, has confirmed her gut feeling that she'll continue in a career focused on helping people through counselling or supporting marginalized groups.
Originally from Cape Breton, Brent Young comes from an Ojibway background and was the first person from his family to attend university. Inspired by his own family doctor, he has seen first-hand the impact and unique insights a family physician can provide a community.
Alison Bartlett is graduating from the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders this week, set to take on an opportunity that will empower her in her quest to provide audiological services to more rural communities.
Jacob Chaplin-Saunders put his engineering studies on hold to compete with his brother in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, an experience he says left him better prepared to excel when he returned to Dal to complete his degree.
New grad Tiger Li made the most of his time in the Bachelor of Commerce program, participating in several co-op work terms that prepared him well for the transition from student life to the workforce.
Making his move
Gerald Petrash was in his late forties and living with his family in Japan when he found himself questioning the direction of his life-long career path and taking a deeper interest in science and engineering. Now, he's graduating with an Engineering degree and three co-op work terms under his belt.
Adjusting to a new place was a bit of a challenge for Industrial Engineering student Sarah Abdoon when she transferred to Dalhousie University in 2016, but she soon found connections through her employment with the Dalhousie Libraries.
Matt Zimola and Hossein Salimian studied in two separate grad programs in Dal's Faculty of Computer Science. What brought them together was a passion for entrepreneurship that led to the development of an exciting new aquaculture start-up.
Lindsay MacCormick began her Science degree at Dal with an eye on neuroscience, but soon found herself drawn to the world of mathematics and statistics — particularly, to newly launched courses in actuarial science that have given her an edge in the rapidly growing field.
Global travel and ample studio time have been great complements to classroom learning for Jeff Walker, who graduates this week from the Faculty of Architecture and Planning with a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree with Sexton Distinction.
Finding the "Magic" in computer science
A game of cards in his first year led student Elliott Darbyshire to a different degree program and a world of opportunities in computer science. Two GPA awards and an exchange to South Korea later, he’s confident it was a wise choice.
Each year, the Canadian Armed Forces recruits a handful of students from across Canada into the Royal Canadian Dental Corps. Ryan Tilley, Emily Burke and Dan Shirvani all applied for their own pragmatic reasons, learning along the way how proud they are to serve their country.
For Sagar Sahota, every minute of his time in the Bachelor of Management program was an opportunity: for friendship, for networking, for learning and building an exciting career.
Stacy Hanninen gave up her successful 17-year career as a dietician to pursue a medical degree at Dalhousie, taking on a delicate balancing act between the responsibilities of student and family life.
For Samantha Addario, law school was as much about what happened outside the classroom as in it. She made an impact on the Weldon community — and beyond — through her activism and work with a number of student societies.
William (Liam) Clarke completed a double major in International Development Studies and Music at Dal, focussing on the representation of global poverty and development through music in NGO videos — a great example of the potential for interdisciplinarity in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Receiving her Doctor of Dentistry degree will be just another step on what is becoming a much longer journey for Katherine Curry, who is set to become the first student to embark on a new internship in Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.
Katie Russell is graduating with a Bachelor of Health Science focused on Respiratory Therapy, a program that has given her plenty of volunteer and clinical experience and set her up for success.
ALUMNI DAYS
Connect. Discover. Celebrate. This weekend is Dal Alumni Days on campus — from thought-provoking and engaging lectures to fun and inspiring celebrations, it's a weekend sure to inspire.
If there's one thing that unites the four alumni receiving Aurum Awards this week — besides their Dal connection, of course — it's their commitment to going above-and-beyond in their efforts to forge connections, improve lives and build a better tomorrow.
PhD student Martha Paynter is among a very select group of "audacious, original, and forward-thinking" scholars picked from a pool of hundreds of candidates from universities in Canada and abroad as a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar.
Dalhousie students and staff came together last week as the university hosted its first ever Ramadan Iftar, celebrating the breaking of the fast with a community-focused meal.
For Sheila Blair-Reid, building community among Dal’s 135,000 alumni is work that reflects a career that’s been all about the power of making connections.
Last week, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, was on campus to announce an investment of over $12 million to support Dal research through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Discovery Grants program.
A new agreement signed by Dalhousie University and Mitacs will establish a new research mobility program that offers students the opportunity to take part in exciting new international collaborations.
The Dal-led Ocean Frontier Institute has launched a new funding mechanism that will enable Dal faculty to participate in ocean research projects that traditional funding mechanisms wouldn’t allow.
Two Dal coaches and four athletes are travelling to Napoli, Italy for the 2019 FISU Summer Universiade this July — the 30th World University Summer Games.
All children and families are welcome at Dal this Saturday morning for a fun, inspiring Day of Active Learning, in partnership with United Way Halifax. Learn more.
Attend one of next week's open houses on Dal's ongoing reputation research project. Two Halifax sessions on Wednesday and Thursday and a Truro session on Thursday.
The Dal News Weekly is an email service of Dalhousie Communications, Marketing and Creative Services. Dal News, the Dalhousie University community's news site can be accessed on the web at https://dal.ca/news
To be unsubscribed from this list, send an email with the subject line "Stop mail Dalnews-Weekly" to dalhousie.news@dal.ca. If you are not sending the email from your Dalhousie account, you must include your NetID or Dalhousie email address in the message body. Please follow these directions exactly, or else your request will not be processed by our automated system.
