Grad offers solutions in Asia

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2011 (5413 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alas, Nicki Ferland won’t walk across the stage at the University of Winnipeg’s Duckworth Centre to pick up her degree in human rights and global studies — she’s putting her studies to work in Indonesia.

Ferland is one of 1,085 undergraduates and 21 master’s degree recipients receiving their degrees at the U of W’s spring convocation ceremonies held Thursday and concluding today. Ceremonies begin this morning at 9:30 a.m.

Ferland was appointed through the Youth Employment Network to a six-month tour with the International Labour Organization of the United Nations. “I’m going to work on youth employment issues, gender parity,” said Ferland just before going overseas.

A native of Lorette and a graduate of Collège Jeanne-Sauvé, Ferland was studying biology and psychology at the U of W when she decided to take a year off and work in England. When she returned, she was delighted to hear that the U of W was introducing a new human rights and global studies program that seemed to be right up her alley.

“What I loved about it was that it was so interdisciplinary — it covered so many areas,” Ferland said.

Her focus early on was on Africa and Asia, but as a Métis woman, her studies in transitional justice led her to research on settlers and indigenous people. “They spoke to what was happening in Canada, to the truth and reconciliation commission,” she said.

Ferland was part of a research project on what reconciliation means in Canada, which may be published soon.

She’s always planned on law school but is also considering grad school. “There’s a growing field of indigenous rights law,” Ferland said.

— — —

Diego Contador arrived in Winnipeg six years ago to visit his uncle, coming here as a 22-year-old pro basketball player whose English wasn’t the best.

“I had absolutely no plan,” Contador recalled with a laugh.

Now he is graduating with a degree in criminal justice and sociology, he plans to become a Canadian citizen and he hopes for a career in the RCMP — after grad school or a law degree.

Contador left his uncle’s place in 2005 to make some money in Norway House, then enrolled in English as an additional language at the U n0of W, where then-basketball coach Dave Crook heard he had a player on campus.

“I got recruited by coach Dave Crook,” said Contador, who went on to play some point guard for the Wesmen, though only after first doing some serious academics. “I had to do an entire year of (academic) eligibility,” he said.

He met department head Michael Weinrath, who convinced Contador to give criminal justice a look.

“I decided a long time ago that my life is in Canada. I really like policing work and how the criminal justice system works in Canada,” Contador said. “I asked myself ethical questions: Would I be a good police officer, would I be a good corrections officer?

“I would love to join the RCMP.”

— — —

We’d love to tell you what Mathias Pielahn will spend his life doing, but only a handful of people can understand his research on black holes.

They’re welcome to ask Pielahn directly. “Matter is falling in, Hawking radiation is going out. I’m looking at the strength of gravity on the outer surface. I look into the dynamical properties of black holes — I work with theories and models that others proposed,” said Pielahn.

“It is pretty cool,” said Pielahn.

This is his fourth summer of conducting research into black holes, doing the work in his office on the U of W campus. Yes, research studies as early as the end of first year and yes, an office for an undergraduate.

That’s one reason he picked the U of W, said Pielahn, who came to Canada from Germany when he was 12 and attended Transcona Collegiate. “At the U of W, everything goes to undergraduate, whereas, at the University of Manitoba, everything goes to the graduate programs,” he said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Honorary degrees

— Dr. Jonathan F. Fanton has devoted his professional life to promoting innovation in higher education, global justice and philanthropy through Canadian-led initiatives such as the Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, the creation of the International Criminal Court and the formation of the doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect.”

 

— David A. Golden is a Rhodes Scholar, a war veteran and survivor of a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Golden’s distinguished career in public service spans close to half a century.

He played a significant role in making Canada a world leader in science, advanced technology and telecommunications.

 

— William Roberts is a visionary who has demonstrated skills as a journalist, broadcaster, public-policy analyst and educator. He has consistently advanced freedom of the press and freedom of expression and has championed the cause of women and multiculturalism in Canada and abroad.

 

— Leslie Spillett has made vast contributions for more than three decades to Winnipeg’s inner city and indigenous community as an activist and advocate on a wide range of issues that include many aspects of the human spirit and dignity by bringing indigenous and non-indigenous Manitobans together.

 

TEACHING AWARDS

— The Erica and Arnold Rogers Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship: Prof. Louesa Polyzoi, who has spent more than 20 years researching healthy child development, attracting national and international funding for studies investigating adolescents at risk, the relationship between respiratory illness in children and school absenteeism rates and talent development in at-risk children in Russia and Canada.

 

— The Clifford J. Robson Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching: Sociology Prof. Parvin Ghorayshi, a social justice advocate and feminist, has devoted herself to research that touches a wide variety of domains including gender, the Middle East, feminism, economic sociology and community development.

 

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

— The Robin H. Farquhar Award for Excellence in Contributing to Self-Governance — Ingrid Truderung, who has served students, faculty, staff and the senior management team at the U of W for 35 years.

 

ALUMNI AWARD

— The University of Winnipeg Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award — Winnipeg Free Press editor Margo Goodhand (BA Hons. ’79).

 

Governor General’s medal recipients

— The Governor General’s Gold Medal for the highest standing in a master’s degree — Kristin Jonasson

— The Governor General’s Silver Medal for the highest standing in an undergraduate degree — Saskia Christine Hildebrandt

 

 

CHANCELLOR’S GOLD MEDALS:

Arts (honours) — Sarah Grace Livesey

Arts (four-year) — Leezann Freed-Lobchuk

Arts (general) — Jean-Pierre Roger Deniset

Business and Economics (four-year) — Jiamin Liu

Business and Economics (general) — Dongmei Zhang

Science (honours) — Alannah MacKenzie Hallas

Science (four-year) — Megan Lee Seddon

Science (general) — Saskia Christine Hildebrandt

Education — Carolyn Roberta Ann Huebner