UVic Honours 11 At Distinguished Alumni Awards Night

Eleven leading members of the University of Victoria’s alumni community will be recognized for their professional achievements and community leadership when Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented Wednesday evening. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. in the University Club at UVic.

The awards – to be presented by university Chancellor Murray Farmer, BA ’68 and UVic Alumni Association President Glenda Wyatt, BSc ’98 – are a highlight of Alumni Week 2011, continuing through Feb. 13.

The 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are:

Elton Pereira, BCom ’98
Co-founder, ParetoLogic software
Peter B. Gustavson School of Business

The president and CEO of Victoria-based security and utility software developer ParetoLogic, Elton Pereira has led the company’s growth – from inception to its current position as a global leader in computer security with 145 employees and annual revenues exceeding $88 million (2009). He has been responsible for executing a growth strategy and creating a corporate culture based on creativity, innovation and a strong work ethic.

Barbara Wilson Kii’iljus, Dipl ’99
Cultural resource specialist
Division of Continuing Studies

With her Diploma in Cultural Resource Management, and a lifelong commitment to learning, Barbara Wilson Kii’iljus has worked for the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (Parks Canada Agency) since 1989. Through her writing and photography she strives to help her people find healing from past traumas by reawakening and regaining their identity.

Robert (Bob) Young, Victoria College ’48
Leading physician
Division of Medical Sciences

During his 38-year career as a general practitioner in Victoria, Robert (Bob) Young was an active member of the medical community, particularly at the provincial level. He was an elected member of the BC Medical Association board for 20 years – a time when the BCMA was introducing and promoting seatbelt, bicycle helmet and infant car seat legislation. He edited the BCMA News for 20 years and wrote more than 1,100 weekly medical newspaper columns.

Bronwyn Taylor, MEd ’95
Educator
Faculty of Education

Bronwyn Taylor has, to quote a friend, “immersed herself in many aspects of her profession” and her resume attests to achievement and a dedication to community involvement. Special education was the constant theme of her 35-year teaching career, combined with a long list of volunteer activities, including: athletics coach, workshop presenter, and professional advisor. Taylor is president of the Lower Vancouver Island Retired Teachers Association.

Gerry Douglas, BSc ’95
Founder, Baobab Health Trust
Faculty of Engineering

Gerry Douglas is a co-founder of Baobab Health Trust, a non-profit organization based in Malawi that is revolutionizing healthcare in lower-income countries. Baobab’s cutting-edge touch screen clinical workstation gives clinicians a robust, low-power, inexpensive clinical tool to reduce documentation errors and improve patient care, particularly those with HIV/AIDS. Douglas is a professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the university’s center for health informatics.

Paul Beauchesne, BMus ’88
Musician
Faculty of Fine Arts

Paul Beauchesne has been a member of the Victoria Symphony (principal tuba) since 2004. He is a founding member of the Beacon Hill Brass Quintet and serves on the faculty of the Victoria Conservatory of Music. He has performed across Canada and the U.S. with the Calgary-based Foothill Brass Quintet and he has performed with the Boston Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Vancouver Symphony.

Lynn Stevenson, PhD ’03
Executive Vice-President and Chief Nurse, Vancouver Island Health Authority
Faculty of Human and Social Development

Lynn Stevenson is responsible for excellence in nursing and related disciplines within VIHA where she demonstrates highly strategic thinking, the ability to deliver on commitments and a gift for inspiring colleagues at all levels. Before joining VIHA, Stevenson was the chief nursing officer with the Fraser Health Authority. As a member of the dean’s advisory council, she contributed to the Faculty of Human and Social Development’s recently established School of Public Health.

Charlayne Thornton-Joe, BA ’83
Community leader
Faculty of Humanities

Elected to Victoria City Council in 2002, Charlayne Thornton-Joe has been chair of the steering committee for the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness and is currently a member of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness. In 2004, she helped to start the first Emergency Cold Weather Shelter (known as the Extreme Weather Protocol). She led a variety of volunteer community groups and, with her husband Phil, co-chaired the Vancouver Island 24-Hour Easter Seals Relay for the Kids.

Sharon McIvor, LLB ’86
Legal scholar and activist
Faculty of Law

Sharon McIvor, a member of the Lower Nicola Indian Band, is an Indigenous activist and academic who writes and speaks on women’s rights in the context of Aboriginal self-government. In McIvor v. Canada, she successfully challenged discriminatory provisions of the Indian Act, forcing the federal government to amend the act (the “McIvor” amendments). She is an instructor of Indigenous studies at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in Merritt.

Robert Young, BSc ’67
Pharmaceutical scientist
Faculty of Science

Robert Young’s career has focused on the design and synthesis of novel drugs for asthma, inflammation, osteoporosis and related diseases while serving in various capacities with Merck Frosst Canada. Young is a member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is now Professor of Chemistry and the Merck Frosst-BC Leadership Chair in Pharmaceutical Genomics, Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery at SFU.

Chris Fibiger, BSc ’66
Neurological scientist
Faculty of Social Sciences

In 26 years at UBC’s division of neurological sciences, Chris Fibiger’s lab was the first to show that activation of dopamine-containing neurons is associated with the feeling of pleasure that sex, food, cocaine, and various other drugs can produce. The discovery became the basis for new treatment for depression. Prior to his retirement, Fibiger oversaw the product pipeline for Biovail Laboratories (now Valeant Pharmaceuticals).
 

-- 30 --