On November 20, the University of Alberta community will celebrate our Fall 2020 graduates in an online ceremony — our second ever virtual convocation. The ceremony will stream on ualberta.ca at 10 a.m. MST, and we encourage you to share a message with this year’s grads!
Hundreds of inspiring graduates will cross the virtual stage tomorrow, and we invite you to explore some of their stories. Here’s just a sample of the incredible individuals who are joining the community of some 295,000 U of A alumni worldwide:
Oluwakemi Amodu, ’20 PhD (Nursing)
Passionate about women’s health since she was an RN volunteering in northern rural Nigeria, she helped Nigerian policy makers improve access to reproductive health-care services. Now, she’s set to build on her research while making life better for displaced women.
Read her story.Read her story.
Billy-Ray Belcourt, ’20 PhD (Arts)
The Cree poet and Rhodes scholar, who has won acclaim for his accounts of life as a gay Indigenous person in Western Canada, is set to begin his next chapter after earning his doctorate in just three years.
Read his story.Read his story.
Émilie Robertson, ’20 MSc (Rehabilitation Science)
Working with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, rehabilitation specialists and computer scientists, she’s giving skilled surgeons more tools to shorten surgical times and improve precision when repairing a baby’s abnormal skull.
Read her story.Read her story.
Martha Ruiz, ’20 MSc (Radiology and Diagnostic)
After nearly failing out of her program, she reframed her outlook and found her passion for research and helping sick children. She then went on to win the 3-Minute Thesis competition and a fellowship at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
Read her storyRead her story.
Maxine Myre, ’20 PhD (Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation)
As a researcher and volunteer, Maxine Myre is helping remove the burden of weight stigma that can prevent people from getting the benefits of physical fitness.
Read her story.Read her story.
Stephen Chin, ’20 LLB
The global pandemic could have ended Stephen Chin’s opportunity to study international law abroad. Instead, with support from his family and the U of A, he saw it through.
Read his storyRead his story.
Oksana Vernygora, ’20 PhD (Science)
For Oksana Vernygora, studying fish biology is a way to remember her life in a place that will never be the same.
Read her storyRead her story.
Corey Kuzik, ’20 PhD (Kinesiology)
After a bad shoulder sidelined his pro football dream, Corey Kuzik found a new purpose as a volunteer and researcher helping kids get more active.
Read his storyRead his story.
Amielle Christopherson, ’20 BMgt (Augustana)
At the U of A’s campus in Camrose, Amielle Christopherson found a place where she could apply her love of literature to help young writers get published.
Read her storyRead her story.
Nicole Zukiwsky, ’20 MSc (Animal Science)
Nicole Zukiwsky hopes to use her two U of A agricultural science degrees to help others feel the same excitement she did as a student.
Read her storyRead her story.
Read more stories about our outstanding Fall 2020 graduates.