UNB Alumni
Telling our #ProudlyUNB stories

UNBeknownst #40: Host Katie Davey on her own work in public policy, social innovation and social entrepreneurship in New Brunswick

UNB Alumni

Posted: August 15, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Podcast



In this special finale Season 3 episode, we turn the tables on UNBeknownst host Katie Davey (BA’17)! In her day job, Katie is a public policy expert and social innovator, currently serving as the Pond-Deshpande Centre’s (PDC) Executive Director at the University of New Brunswick. Previously, she was the Director of Policy & Media at the Public Policy Forum, and also served as...

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Volunteers in action: Craig Haynes, Ottawa Alumni Chapter Network

UNB Alumni

Posted: June 5, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Arts, Young Alumni, UNB Saint John, Inspiring Stories



With a shared love for their alma mater, the dedicated volunteers of the Ottawa Alumni Chapter Network are committed to fostering connections and creating fun experiences for fellow alumni living ‘afar’. At the heart of this group is committee chair Craig Haynes (BA’94), along with members Werner Disselkamp (BBA'92) and Janice Wopling (MBA'13). Craig's journey as a volunteer...

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Why forecast modelling in forest management is critical for our future

Kelly Anderson

Posted: May 30, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Inspiring Stories, FOREM, UNB Fredericton



It’s early on Monday morning in Victoria, British Columbia when Xin Yuan (MScF’12), manager of Forest Carbon and Climate Services for BC Public Service, gets serious. “It’s getting real now. Climate change is affecting people’s lives, whether from wildfire evacuations, dangerous air quality from smoke, drought, floods, increasing temperatures, or forest insects...

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UNBeknownst #39: Nicole LeBlanc on sustainable communities, tech investment and women in venture capital

UNB Alumni

Posted: May 23, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Saint John, Podcast



Nicole LeBlanc (BBA’00) is a partner with Woven Capital in Tokyo, focusing on investments in mobility, energy, and sustainability that support and accelerate Toyota’s mission to build the safest mobility in the world. Prior to that she was a partner in Denmark with 2150, an urban tech & sustainability fund focused on supporting the growth of sustainable cities. She’s held...

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UNBers among Atlantic Business Magazine's 2024 Top 50 CEO Awards

UNB Alumni

Posted: May 13, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Saint John, Young Alumni, UNB Fredericton



Atlantic Business Magazine’s 2024 Top 50 CEO Awards were recently announced, and 10 UNB alumni and alumni of the UNB Wallace McCain Institute’s (WMI) Entrepreneurial Leaders Program (ELP) made the prestigious list. Established in 1999, Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO awards have grown into Atlantic Canada’s premiere celebration of corporate...

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Transforming healthcare through systems thinking and design

Kelly Anderson

Posted: May 2, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Nursing, Inspiring Stories, UNB Fredericton, UNB Saint John



Ali McGill (BN’02) recently returned to UNB as a researcher and assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing, and she’s thrilled to be working in a progressive, community-centred environment. Ali is working at the Fredericton Downtown Community Health Centre to study how immigrants are accessing healthcare in our region, and design a system that works. Ali uses a systems thinking...

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Aaloak Jaswal brings global digital transformation and humanitarian experience home to UNB

UNB Alumni

Posted: April 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Computer Science, UNB Fredericton, Inspiring Stories



When a UNB alum makes a critical societal impact in countries around the world, it’s a big deal. When an alum brings that experience home to New Brunswick to make a critical impact in our backyard, it’s huge. That’s why UNB is so excited that Aaloak Jaswal (BScCS’93, D-TME’93) has returned to Fredericton to take on the role of innovation director for the new...

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Providing a more sustainable alternative in the electric vehicle market

UNB Alumni

Posted: April 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Inspiring Stories, Engineering, UNB Fredericton, Young Alumni



Isaac Barkhouse (BScEng’19, M-TME’19) is pretty satisfied with his career to date – and he’s only 30. As co-founder and chief technology officer for Victory Advanced Technologies, he’s developing rugged, high-performance, sustainable electric motors that power the green transportation transition. Prior to that, he co-founded and was CTO at Potential Motors, helping...

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Never too late to create something new

UNB Alumni

Posted: April 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: Inspiring Stories, Arts, UNB Fredericton



At 94 years old, Virginia Bliss Bjerkelund (BA’51) has claimed the titles of storyteller and successful author. But although she’s travelled extensively throughout the world and lived in the U.K. for a good portion of her life, it’s her ancestry and home in New Brunswick that captured her creative interest. With the publishing of her second book in 2023 (her...

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UNBeknownst #38: Dr. Jen Woodland on integrated health research and the importance of knowledge translation

UNB Alumni

Posted: April 18, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Fredericton, Nursing, Science, Arts, Podcast, UNB Saint John



Dr. Jennifer Woodland (MA’09, PhD’15) is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at UNB’s Saint John campus and an Integrated Health Initiative researcher who teaches within the Bachelor of Health program at UNB. She has a PhD in experimental psychology from UNB, with a focus in multisensory perception. Jen has over 10 years of experience in health research...

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UNB grad returns to Fredericton to lead the Chalmers Foundation

UNB Alumni

Posted: March 25, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Fredericton, Inspiring Stories, Management



Charles A. Diab (BBA’83) came from Toronto to study at UNB in Fredericton in 1980 by chance. He hadn’t felt the value from his first year of college in Ontario, and while his parents were on vacation in New Brunswick, they picked up an application from UNB. “It was the summer and I figured it would be much too late to apply, but I tried it anyway and got in,” he...

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UNB Associated Alumni celebrates the UNB Saint John 2024 Graduating Student Leaders

UNB Alumni

Posted: March 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Saint John, Young Alumni, Inspiring Stories



Twenty six graduating students from the UNB Saint John campus have earned 2024 Graduating Student Leadership Awards for the remarkable initiative they’ve taken during their time at UNB. The award recognizes students in their final year of studies who have made outstanding voluntary and extracurricular contributions to the campus, their academic program, and the university...

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Q&A: Julia MacPherson, UNB Alumni Student Leadership Award

UNB Alumni

Posted: March 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Fredericton, Engineering, Young Alumni, Inspiring Stories



Recipient of a 2023-24 Alumni Student Leadership Award, Julia MacPherson is a member of the UNB REDS Field Hockey club and plays a leadership role as club vice-president, extending her leadership in sport to serve on the board of directors for Field Hockey New Brunswick. In addition to her commitment to athletics, Julia is deeply engaged in the faculty of engineering where she is...

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UNBeknownst #37: Victoria LaBillois on economic reconciliation in Canada

UNB Alumni

Posted: March 20, 2024 12:00:00 AM ADT

Category: UNB Fredericton, Management, Podcast, Arts



Mi’gmaq entrepreneur Victoria LaBillois (BA’91, MBA’04) is the owner of Wejipeg Excavation Inc. and co-owner of Wejuseg Construction Inc, and oversaw the completion of a major wind park in Gaspesie, Quebec, where the companies trained and engaged over 100 Mi’gmaq tradespeople.   Victoria has served both the First Nation and federal public service, working at...

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UNBeknownst #36: Tosin Ajibola on blending social good with technology in Canada

UNB Alumni

Posted: February 16, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Podcast, Inspiring Stories, Engineering, UNB Fredericton



Social and technology entrepreneur Tosin Ajibola (MTME’20) moved from Nigeria to Canada to earn a master of engineering degree in technology management and entrepreneurship from UNB. Out of that hands-on program, he and other newcomer classmates co-developed Welkom-U, an innovative online platform that puts newcomers, immigrants, and international students in touch with the things they...

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Business is blooming for Sophie Sharp (BA/BEd'22)

UNB alumni

Posted: January 26, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Young Alumni, UNB Saint John, Arts, Education, Inspiring Stories



From Lower Millstream straight to kitchen tables across New Brunswick, life has become a lot more colourful thanks to Sharp Brook Flower Farm. For UNB recent graduate Sophie Sharp (BA/BEd’22), agriculture has always been an important part of her life growing up on a dairy farm. This passion led Sharp and her sister, Ellen Folkins, to open their own space to the community and share their...

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The many ways this nurse practitioner is saving lives in small-town New Brunswick and around the world

UNB Alumni

Posted: January 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Nursing, Inspiring Stories



When Kelly Dunfield (MN'03, C-NP'03) graduated from UNB’s inaugural class of the nurse practitioner program in 2003, she was thrilled to be back into clinical practice once again.After years of nursing and health care experience in occupational health, surgery and emergency nursing in Saint John and her hometown of Sussex, she had moved into emergency room management and quality risk...

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Understanding current and future challenges for Canadian forests

UNB Alumni

Posted: January 22, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: UNB Fredericton, FOREM, Inspiring Stories



As Science Director, Forest Health and Biodiversity at the Atlantic Forestry Centre in Fredericton, Christy Arseneau (BScF’97) supports a team that is developing the science and technology to assess and effectively respond to threats to Canada’s forests. As Canadian lead in the development of a North American Blueprint for Wildland Fire Science collaboration, a large portion of her...

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Growing the global SABIAN brand in rural New Brunswick

UNB Alumni

Posted: January 18, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Inspiring Stories, UNB Fredericton, Management



While Meductic might not be a place that’s widely known even within the Province of New Brunswick, let alone internationally, the flagship company that calls this small village home certainly is. SABIAN is world-renowned in the music industry, and the company behind it is considered one of the largest manufacturers of cymbals globally, distributing its products to more than 80...

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UNBeknownst #35: UNB Chancellor Wade MacLauchlan on the role of universities and education in our collective future

UNB Alumni

Posted: January 18, 2024 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Podcast, UNB Fredericton, Law



H. Wade MacLauchlan (LLB’81) is a well-known Canadian legal expert, academic, university administrator, politician and community leader. As premier of Prince Edward Island from 2015-19, he led an expansion and diversification of PEI's economy and the growth and rejuvenation of the province's population, while contributing to historic, regional initiatives in immigration, infrastructure...

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How Ian Church and UNB became a world leader in ocean mapping

Kelly Anderson

Posted: February 21, 2018 12:00:00 AM AST

Category: Engineering, Inspiring Stories, UNB Fredericton



We know very little about our ocean floors; in fact, only 10-20% of the terrain is mapped to modern standards. Dr. Ian Church (BSCEng‘06, MScEng’08, PhD’14), head of UNB’s Ocean Mapping Group, says “we know more about the surface of Mars than our oceans.” Mapping the shape of the ocean floor – which includes dramatic mountains and gorges greater...

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