Former Premier of Saskatchewan Roy Romanow (BA’60, LLB’64, LLD’07) was elected the 15th chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan in October. A senior policy fellow in the Department of Political Studies, Romanow’s leadership roles at the U of S go all the way back to his time as USSU president. He is one of the College of Arts & Science’s first 100 alumni of influence.
For almost 50 years, art curator Norman Zepp (BA’76) and his wife Judith Varga (BA’76) travelled the northernmost parts of Canada to research and collect art created by the Inuit people. This winter, they donated their nationally recognized collection of art and archival material to the University of Saskatchewan Library.
Actor Kim Coates (BA’81), one of the college's alumni of influence, has been honoured with the 2017 National Award of Excellence by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists. The award recognizes Coates’ career achievements, including roles in the television series Sons of Anarchy and in more than 100 films and plays.
Paintings by Grant McConnell (BFA’83, MFA’94) will be featured in a solo exhibition entitled Rogue Royal from May 25 through Aug. 27, 2017 at the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, Sask.
Birth of a Family, the latest documentary film by assistant professor of English Tasha Hubbard (BA’94, MA’06), is featured in a Canada 150 cross-country screening tour hosted by the National Film Board. The film tells the story of how one family was impacted by the Sixties Scoop, the policy of removing Aboriginal children from their homes.
Scholar of Métis history Brenda Macdougall (BA’94, PhD’05) has been named a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. The first student to graduate with a Phd in Native (Indigenous) Studies from the U of S and one of the college’s alumni of influence, Macdougall is now chair of Métis research at the University of Ottawa.
Comedian and author Dawn Dumont (BA’95)—featured in the Spring 2016 issue of Arts&Science—launched her latest book, Glass Beads, in May. The book is a collection of short stories that connect the friendships of four First Nations youths.
Percy Paul (BSc’99, MSc’10) has been recruited as a research assistant to the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. The physicist from English River First Nation in northern Saskatchewan has spoken out about his struggles with addiction and bipolar disorder on his path to working alongside some of the world’s top minds in physics.
Noodlecake Studios, the Saskatoon tech company founded by Ty Bader (BA’00) and Jordan Schidlowsky (BSc’07), was the first studio to be profiled by Apple in its Canada’s Best Game Makers series for Canada’s 150th anniversary. The small studio has worked on dozens of games for iOS and Android platforms since 2011, including Alto’s Adventure and an adaptation of realMyst.
Andrew Ford (BA’02) shared a piece of Oscar glory when Zootopia, a film he worked on as a character animator, won the 2017 Academy Award for best animated feature. Ford has worked for Disney since 2015, contributing to films including Moana and Wreck-It Ralph 2.
SkipTheDishes, a Canadian online food delivery startup, was purchased in December by U.K.-based Just Eat for $110 million. SkipTheDishes was co-founded by computer science alumni Daniel Simair (BSc’05) and Chris Simair (BSc’09).
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Two paintings by artist Adrian Stimson (MFA’06) have joined the collection of the world-famous British Museum. The museum purchased Stimson’s 2015 oil and graphite painting Event II for its Blackfoot collection. Stimson’s art agent, Calvin Redlick (BA’83), donated a second painting in the series titled Event III, first displayed at the museum in December. Stimson, also known as “Buffalo Boy,” is a Siksika Blackfoot artist whose work highlights the complexities of being First Nations in Canada. He calls the paintings in the Event series—which feature bison set against a background of industrial development—a response to the history of resource extraction and its effect on Indigenous populations. |
When they saw their colleague being dragged into the bushes by a cougar at a research camp in Grande Prairie, Alta., Myles Brown (BSc’06) and Chad Lyttle chased the animal away and provided first aid to the victim. Both men were awarded the Medal of Bravery by the Governor General of Canada.
Alumna and MFA in writing student Cassi Smith (BA’13) received the $10,000 RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award for 2017. The prize recognizes Smith as one of Canada’s most promising young writers. Smith is currently working on a collection of non-fiction short stories based on her interviews with elders of Saskatchewan First Nations.
2017 Saskatchewan Book Awards
Four College of Arts & Science alumni were among the winners of the 2017 Saskatchewan Book Awards this spring.
Dwayne Brenna (BA’77, MA’83 and professor, Department of Drama) received the Muslims for Peace and Justice Fiction Award for his book New Albion (Coteau Books).
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Bill Waiser (MA’76, PhD’83, DLitt’10), one of the college’s alumni of influence, received the University of Saskatchewan Non-Fiction Award for A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 (Fifth House Publishers). The book, which explores the early history of Saskatchewan, also won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction.
Madeleine Blais-Dahlem (BA’67, BEd’86, MA’71) won the Prix du livre français for La voix de mon père: My Father’s Voice (Éditions de la nouvelle plume).
Trevor Herriot (BA’79, Honours’81) received the City of Regina Book Award and the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport Publishing Award for his book Towards a Prairie Atonement (University of Regina Press).
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