Four college grads to receive Alumni Achievement Awards

The University of Saskatchewan has announced the names of eight influential alumni who will be recognized with Alumni Achievement Awards in 2018, including four graduates of the College of Arts and Science.

The Alumni Achievement Awards are presented annually to U of S alumni who have made an outstanding impact on their communities and professions. The award recipients will be recognized at a gala at the Delta Bessborough Hotel on Sept. 20.

See the full list of 2018 Alumni Achievement Award recipients at the alumni website.

2018 Alumni Achievement Award Winners (College of Arts and Science)

Patricia Lawson (BA’50, BEd’53)

Pat Lawson was the most distinguished female athlete in Canada during the 1950s with an unmatched athletic legacy.

As a student-athlete, she represented the university on 13 teams over four years including basketball, swimming, tennis, and track and field.

After her time as a student-athlete, Pat continued to pursue athletics, becoming a member of the Canadian women’s basketball team at the 1959 Pan American Games, a seven-time member of the Saskatchewan amateur golf team, and claimed Canadian titles in basketball, speed skating and golf.

Pat joined the Physical Education faculty at the U of S in 1956 where she was a teacher, coach and administrator until her retirement in 1990. She was a founding member of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport which aspires to enhance the presence of girls and women at all levels and in all areas of sport – as athletes, participants, leaders, officials, coaches and trainers.

It’s a good thing there is no limit to the number of Halls of Fame one can be in, because Pat would’ve exceeded that number a long time ago. She earned her inductions in the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, to name a few.

Always community-minded, Pat has sat on many board throughout her years and continues to be an active member of Saskatoon’s sports community.

Dr. Suzanne Yip (BA’58, MD’60) and Dr. Ivan Jen (BA’57, MD’60)

Drs. Ivan Jen and Suzanne Yip are an exceptional couple who have made outstanding contributions to the medical profession, the artistic community and more broadly as generous philanthropists.

As newcomers to Canada from Hong Kong, Ivan and Suzanne overcame significant obstacles to attend the University of Saskatchewan. They met while attending medical school and were the first two Chinese-born immigrants to graduate from the College of Medicine in their respective specialties of dermatology and radiology.

Following specialty training in Diagnostic Radiology and receipt of her FRCP designation, Suzanne became a tenured faculty member of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology (now Medical Imaging), practicing from 1968 until her retirement in 1996. In addition to clinical practice, a significant component of her work comprised teaching undergraduate as well as postgraduate students.

After his Internship at St. Paul’s Hospital and postgraduate study at Royal University Hospital, Ivan took further training in dermatology, and built a thriving practice focused on skin diseases. In addition to teaching medical students and residents, his significant involvement in continuing medical education saw him travel across the province presenting the latest developments in dermatological therapies and best practices to physicians, nurses and pharmacists in a number of Saskatchewan communities.

With an avid interest in art, Ivan and Suzanne recently donated their collection of western Canadian prairie art to the newly opened Remai Modern, complementing their recent financial gift to the gallery’s capital campaign. Beyond the university and the gallery, their philanthropic endeavors reach many supporters of the hospital foundations, Saskatoon Community Foundation, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Saskatchewan, Meewasin Valley Authority and others.

Kathryn J. Ford, Q.C. (BA’71)

Kathryn Ford graduated with a BA in 1971. She went on to obtain her law degree from Queen’s University in 1974. She has practiced law in Saskatoon for over 40 years and specialized in family law and mediation, helping clients find collaborative solutions long before ‘conflict resolution’ became a welcomed approach in this field. Kathryn was a founding member of the Collaborative Lawyers Association of Saskatchewan and also worked to help establish the practice of collaborative law in the local bar.

Throughout her career, Kathy participated in legal education, professional continuing legal education, public legal education and bar admission courses. She became very involved in the College of Law and in 2008, she was invited to coach the Mediation Advocacy Moot Team and went on to coach teams that competed at world-class competitions in Toronto, London, Dublin, Chicago and Paris.

Kathy is widely known for her broad-ranging commitment to community service. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was a board member and president of the YWCA during the organization’s very successful capital fundraising campaign and new building construction. Subsequently, she was a board member of the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation, Saskatoon City Hospital, the Saskatoon Health Services Authority, Saskatoon Community Foundation, Riverside Country Club and LutherCare Communities.

Most recently, Kathy served as a board member and chair of Prairie Hospice Society in Saskatoon. She served as a member of the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan for six years. She was appointed to the University of Saskatchewan Board of Governors in 2013 and served for four-and-a-half years. In 2017, Kathy was awarded the YWCA of Saskatoon Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award.

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