Alumni Perspectives Speaker Series
The Alumni Perspectives Speaker Series is a way to learn from and engage with alumni. The speaker discusses their journey from being a student at UWinnipeg to their current profession.
Do you have a suggestion for an interesting speaker? Please drop us a line at alumni@uwinnipeg.ca or 204.988.7118.
Alumni Perspectives Speaker Series 2023-2024
Careers in Public Service: A Discussion
November 2023
Gabriela Eggenhofer (BA 87) retired in 2015 after twenty-five years in public service, mostly in Yellowknife, working for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). She spent much of her public service career negotiating Aboriginal rights agreements, and served as Deputy Minister of Aboriginal & Intergovernmental Affairs, and later as Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment.
Beate Schiffer (BA 85, MPA 1989) retired in 2020 after a long career of public service in the Government of Canada. Starting as a Customs Officer at Halifax airport and harbor, she became a policy executive briefing Deputy Ministers and Ministers. Her last position was with Indigenous Services Canada, as Special Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic and Policy and Partnerships.
Watch: Careers in Public Service: A Discussion
The Value of a Humanities/Liberal Arts Degree
January 2024
Karen Weisman and Warren Breckman talked about their career paths as well as the rewards and challenges of academic life today.
Warren Breckman (BAH 86) is Sheldon and Lucy Hackney Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches modern European intellectual and cultural history. He is author of (among other books) Marx, the Young Hegelians & the Origins of Radical Social Theory.
Karen Weisman (BAH 85) is Professor of English at the University of Toronto, where she teaches courses in Romanticism, post-Romantic culture, and in Jewish Studies. An elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she is author, most recently of a book entitled Singing in a Foreign Land: Anglo-Jewish Poetry, 1812-1847.
Watch: The Value of a Humanities/Liberal Arts Degree
Celebrating UWinnipeg's McCall MacBain Scholars
February 2024
Inspiring stories of three recent UWinnipeg alum who have each received a full graduate scholarship to McGill University. The McCall McBain Scholarship is a prestigious honour that has been awarded to a UWinnipeg student every year since its creation in 2021. The McCall MacBain Scholarship “brings together exceptional students who strive to engage in positive change by taking on meaningful leadership roles” and “provides students with the mentorship, interdisciplinary learning, and global community they need to accelerate their impact on the world.”
Cameron Adams (2023 recipient): Cameron Adams (He/Him) is of ininiw and Anishinaabe ancestry and is a member of Berens River First Nation in Treaty 5 Territory. He is now pursuing his M.A. in Indigenous Language Revitalization at McGill University. He is passionate about language revitalization and making space for Indigenous languages.
Sidney Leggett (2022 recipient): Sydney Leggett pursued a Master of Science in Epidemiology through the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University, and is now in her MSc-Thesis of Epidemiology. She wants to help find impactful and innovative ways to empower Indigenous youth to follow their dreams. Leggett was also a student in the Pathways to Graduate Studies (P2GS) program, which offers research opportunities for Indigenous students in STEM, and was a mentor in the program too.
Josh Swain (2021 recipient): Josh Swain is Red River Métis, having grown up in and around Kinosota, Manitoba. From UWinnipeg he went on to complete his Master of Science in Public Health at McGill. He is currently the Special Projects Manager at Anishnawbe Health Toronto, as well as the Indigenous clinical research coordinator at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre where he works on the Pediatric Outcome Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks project.
Watch: Celebrating UWinnipeg's McCall MacBain Scholars