Celebrating our success as a community

There is incredible work happening here at UNB, and it’s been a privilege to hear about the great success stories of our students, faculty and staff. The following are a few examples of our community’s accomplishments over the past few months. Congratulations to all.

Congratulations to Saint John business student, Ashley Vaughan, who won a pitch competition at the Startup Canada awards ceremony this summer. Ms. Vaughan created a one-minute video for the “Sell Me Your Stuff” pitch competition hosted by Startup New Brunswick.

Dr. Constantine Passaris, professor in economics in Fredericton, was awarded with the New Brunswick Multicultural Council’s Legacy Award for his decades of work on multiculturalism and immigration within our province and beyond. Dr. Passaris received his award at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton on September 5.

To coincide with Labour Day, Dr. Sue O’Donnell, an associate professor in UNB Fredericton’s faculty of nursing, was instrumental in having the first week of September declared Respectful Workplace Week by the Government of New Brunswick this year. To highlight Respectful Workplace Week, Dr. O’Donnell and her colleagues host an annual conference and workshop.

Congratulations to Dr. Ali Ghorbani, computer science professor and director of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, who received an RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award this summer for his inspiring achievements and leadership.

Two faculty members in Fredericton premiered their first feature length film at this year’s FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. Dr. Rob Gray, a professor in the English department and Dr. Matt Rogers, an associate professor in the faculty of education, screened their film, Entropic, in September.

Four faculty members have been honoured by the Nursing Association of New Brunswick (NANB) for their contributions to nursing in the province. Dr. Patricia Seaman, Kim Wilbur, Cathy O’Brien-Larivée and Dr. Tracey Rickards received recognition from the NANB in June.

Congratulations to law professor Dr. Vokhid Urinov who was presented with a 2018 Teaching Innovation Award this summer for his commitment to fostering a collaborative and innovative teaching environment.

This summer, UNB welcomed two new distinguished Canada Research Chairs to our faculty. Dr. Stijn De Baerdemacker, an associate professor in the chemistry department, has been named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Chemistry for a five-year term. Dr. Veronica Whitford, an assistant professor in psychology, has been named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingual Reading Across the Lifespan.

Dr. Ted McDonald, the director of UNB’s New Brunswick Institute for Data, Research and Training (NB-IRDT), received the Mike McCracken Award for Economic Statistics on June 1 at the National Economics Association’s 53rd annual conference in Banff, Alberta. Dr. McDonald was a co-winner of the award, which comes with a prize of $2,000. His work has helped establish New Brunswick as a leading jurisdiction for data research and evidence-based policy.

We hosted the Association of Atlantic Universities Council Meeting in September. Twenty members from our peer institutions joined us for two days of meetings on the Fredericton campus.

During the AAU Council luncheon, the AAU Teaching Awards were presented. Dr. Martin Wielemaker from our faculty of management received the 2019 Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) Distinguished Teaching Award.

Well done, all!