Category: recognition

MacEwan award

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) who speaks at the convocation ceremony (skip to 1:57:37).

In 2019, I 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 thrilled 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.

woman in her office with documents and books in the background

MacEwan awardThe Outstanding Service Award is designed to recognize an individual (faculty or administrative staff), whose contributions to service in the previous academic year are considered exemplary, such as in terms of efficiency, impact and/or innovation.

Primarily as a result of my preparation, development, and implementation of the CRJS Field School to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut many activities and events that stem from it contributed to me being the award recipient for 2018 in recognition of my outstanding service to MRU and its students.

The CRJS Field School to Rankin Inlet was the first of its kind for the Criminal Justice Degree Program at MRU. Developing the curriculum was one aspect but creating a field school also required me to establish relationships in Rankin Inlet with various justice and community partners. I did most of this more or less on my own. 

  • With the support of the Department and Faculty, I visited Rankin Inlet the year prior for reconnaissance and to foster community connections 
  • Next, with the support of MRU’S Academic Development Centre, I revised the existing CRJS 2011 course into a new curriculum submission under the Community Service Learning designation at MRU. This involved a new curriculum and assessments and community-based learning outcomes for students with justice serving and non-justice serving agencies in Rankin Inlet.
  • I then organized a Showcase of Community Service Learning Field Schools at MRU in partnership with Professor Victoria Calvert November 2015. We received funding from various sources (Arts Innovation; Provost’s Office; Office of Research Services) to host this event, which included food, prizes, awards and a scholarship to attend the CACSL Conference in May 2016.
  • I supported the participating CRJS students to submit a vignette of their experience to the upcoming Community Service Learning Conference which took place at MRU in May 2016.
  • As a continuation of the community service my students led in Rankin Inlet, I coordinated an event with the Rankin Inlet Rock girl’s hockey team, who were in town for WickFest, and our MRU Cougars women’s hockey team. The students and teams came together on November 26, 2015 to showcase skills and accomplishments and foster connections.