UNB Alumni
Telling our #ProudlyUNB stories

UNB alumnae strive to #BreakTheBias

Author: UNB Alumni

Posted on Mar 7, 2022

Category: Inspiring Stories , UNB Saint John , UNB Fredericton


On International Women's Day, March 8, 2022, we celebrate all women, including these incredible UNB alumnae who are changemakers and community builders, and who strive to #BreakTheBias. 

While this is just a small sample of the incredible work being done by alumni all over the world, we acknowledge these outstanding women and celebrate the impact they are making on their communities and our world. 

 

Honourable Jill Balser (BSc’08, C-BA’10) 

Nova Scotia MLA for Digby-Annapolis, Minister of Labor, Skills, and Immigration, as well as Minister responsible for Apprenticeship. 

 

 

Chief Patricia Bernard (LLB ’99) 

Wolastoqey woman, grandmother, lawyer, and Chief of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation in northern New Brunswick. Initiated and negotiated the historic $145M land claim settlement, the largest federal land claim settlement in Maritime history, for the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation. 

 

Amanda Cavanagh (BSc’08, PhD’16) 

Lecturer in Plant Biology, University of Essex and Affiliate Faculty, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Currently working with the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project to harness advances in photosynthesis research to facilitate yield increases of staple food crops around the world. 

 

Dr. Linda Duffett-Leger (BA'92, BN'96, MN'06, PhD'11) 

Associate professor in the faculty of nursing at the University of Calgary. Recently recognized as one of the Top 10 Women Revolutionizing Healthcare and a 2022 Proudly UNB Award recipient. 

 

Christine Eruokwu (MBA’15) 

Entrepreneur, creative director and owner of Kaima Designs, a Saint John clothing company bringing about change locally and abroad. 

 

 

Jennifer Lennox (BSc'04, MScE'05) 

Chief Nuclear Engineer with NB Power. The first female Chief Nuclear Engineer for an operating utility in Canadian nuclear industry history. 

 

 

Janet Lin (BCS’05) 

Vice President, Lending and Payments Technology at Equitable Bank, Canada’s Challenger Bank. A leader in diversity and inclusion in the technology sector and a 2021 Women’s Executive Network Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. 

 

Amanda O’Sullivan (BBA’86) 

Passionate volunteer and advocate of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and CMHA New Brunswick, using her voice and time to advocate for mental health as a universal human right. Amanda is a 2022 Proudly UNB Award recipient. 

 

Cherrill Edwina Shea (BA'69, LLB'72) 

Cherrill earned her BA at UNB in 1969 and her law degree from UNB Law School in 1972, one of five women in her class. Her lengthy law career focused on litigation, including corporate and securities matters and complex disputes involving oil transportation. Later in her career, she was a member of the senior management of an entrepreneurial telecommunications company that pioneered in the cellular telephone and the mobile data business. She is a 2022 Proudly UNB Award recipient.

 

Emily Weston (BScEng/D-TME’19)  

Medical student at Dalhousie University. Passionate volunteer and creator of a community vegetable garden to feed Moncton’s homeless population through the Humanity Project, and a 2022 Proudly UNB Award Recipient.