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The write up: 2019 recipient

The annual Distinguished Alumni Awards celebrate accomplishments in areas such as community development, lifelong learning, and business innovation. The awards honour an alum of MacEwan University (formerly Grant MacEwan College). In 2019, Dr. D. Scharie Tavcer was honored as the recipient and said a few words at the convocation ceremony in June 2019. Scharie graduated in 1992 from the Law Enforcement and Security Program, which was the springboard to a lifetime of learning.

I was honoured to accept this award as I have such fond memories of being at MacEwan as a student in 1990-92 and then as a part-time instructor in 2003-04. It was such a full-circle moment when I started teaching there and as I remembered it, the faculty and staff were supportive, welcoming, and engaging. My time at MacEwan fostered many connections – with friends and colleagues I still have today. Although my career took me to various countries and from correctional work to academia, I realized that those foundational years at MacEwan were about connecting with others and I translated that into  connecting with colleagues and clients. 

I worked and studied and then came back to Canada where I knew I didn’t want to go back to front-line work and  that I wanted to stay in school forever, so I decided to become a prof! And I got hired by MacEwan University to teach part-time in the Department of Sociology. It was joyous! Where once I was  a student here, now I was teaching another generation of students! Once again MacEwan supported my goals and nurtured my capacity. Thank you to Dr. Russ Powell for taking a chance on me back then.