Nipissing honouring alumni at Homecoming

During Homecoming weekend, October 25-27, Nipissing University will celebrate the achievements of four graduates with alumni awards and recognize one individual with honorary alumni status at the annual Alumni Awards evening. The auspicious event takes place on Friday, October 25, from 7 – 9 p.m. in the Harris Learning Library.

If you’d like to attend the reception, please email alumni@nipissingu.ca to RSVP.

Nipissing University and the Nipissing University Alumni Advisory Board are pleased to announce this year’s alumni award recipients:

Jaymie Lathem

Rising Star Alumni Award Recipient

Jaymie Lathem is an emerging artist based out of Northern Ontario. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nipissing and studied drawing and painting at both the Ontario College of Art and Design and the Alberta College of Art and Design. Lathem’s Fine Art practice is an exploration of identity and individualism in an attempt to gain a better understanding of self and the many perceptions of self-identity as interpreted internally and externally. Lathem is currently participating in a micro residency program here in North Bay through Near North Arts entitled You Are Here: Visualizing Place at the "Gateway to the North". Lathem is also an Artist Educator through the Royal Conservatory and is a Learning Through The Arts member. Lathem has been working locally with the School of Success through the Children's Aid Society leading art workshops and classes.

Shannon Palmer

Rising Star Alumni Award Recipient

Shannon Palmer grew up in both Northern and Southern Ontario, living with her mother and four siblings. She attended Nipissing University where she earned a double major in Gender Equality and Social Justice Studies (thesis: Racing Emotion: Race and Emos Alternative Masculinities) and Social Welfare and Social Development Studies (thesis: Hungry for Change: The Case for the Right to Food in Canada). After completing her studies at Nipissing, she worked with an AIDS Service Organization and a women's shelter, before continuing her studies at Lakehead University. Since graduating from Lakehead, Palmer works as a clinical therapist with a community-based counselling agency.

Rob Graham

Distinguished Alumni Award

During Rob Graham’s seven years as an assistant professor in the Schulich School of Education, he has designed and taught several components of the innovative program, including technology enriched learning, classroom management, imagination creativity education, and classroom methods. As well, he has had the opportunity to teach within the field of technology enriched learning for the past three summers in the Aboriginal Teacher Certification program and the Teacher of Anishaabemwin as a Second Language. This work has added to a diverse teaching portfolio that includes teaching appointments in Japan, Hawaii, a penal institution, an intermediate public school and adult education. By rough estimate, Graham has taught over 10,000 students in his 20-year teaching career. Graham always endeavours to bring a high level of inventiveness, vision, commitment and enthusiasm to his teaching. He also plays the drums in the classic rock cover band MLC. The annual Eddie Charity Pub that Graham organizes has grown into a well-known celebration that has raised in excess of 10,000 for local charities over the past six years. As a family man with two young children and a wife who is also a well respected educator, Graham loves to spend time supporting his children in their musical and athletic endeavours.

Kristopher Stevens

Distinguished Alumni Award

Kristopher Stevens, is a frequent speaker on sustainable energy and community power. He is a transformative entrepreneur with experience on four continents in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors. He specializes in grassroots mobilization, stakeholder engagement, sustainability, energy policy, corporate communications and strategic planning. Throughout his career, Stevens has recruited executives for Fortune 500 multinationals, hosted a popular South Korean radio program, researched economic reform in Africa and studied the sensitive topic of social friction in Ontario's electricity sector. He is the executive director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, which actively champions policy and regulatory change for a more sustainable society powered, heated, cooled and transported by a portfolio of sustainable energy. Stevens served as the founding chair of the Green Energy Act Alliance, which led the successful campaign for Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act.

Honorary Alumni: Maria Cantalini-Williams

Dr. Maria Cantalini-Williams’ background includes 23 rewarding years as a school board teacher and consultant, followed by 10 very fulfilling years as an employee of Nipissing University. During her time as a professor and director at Nipissing’s Brantford campus, she has worked with many wonderful students, colleagues and members of the community. Her supportive family includes a husband and three children.  She has great respect for Nipissing graduates and is humbled to be joining their ranks as an honorary alumnae.

Homecoming Weekend is all about celebrating Nipissing University and its collective achievements with the people who make it such an exceptional place. As well as the Alumni Awards Reception, this year’s events include: The Nearly Naked Mile, the massively popular Tailgate Party and fast and exciting Lakers Hockey!

Visit the Homecoming website at: www.nipissingu.ca/homecoming for more information and to register.