2023 recipients
Join the UM community during Homecoming 2023 to celebrate the accomplishments of these remarkable UM alumni.

Lifetime Achievement
Moses (Moe) B. Levy [BComm(Hons)/73, MBA/74]
A visionary in entrepreneurship education and a force in advancing human rights, Levy helped develop innovative initiatives in education and culture throughout Israel and in Winnipeg and held a prominent role during the creation of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Professional Achievement
5468796 Architecture Inc. leadership team
- Colin Neufeld [BEnvD/00, MArch/03]
- Johanna Hurme [BEnvD/99, MArch/02]
- Sasa Radulovic [BEnvD/99, MArch/03]
The principals of 5468796 Architecture Inc. garner acclaim not only for their paradigm-shifting projects and sustainable designs, but for their bold ideas supporting urban engagement.

Academic Innovation
Tracie Afifi [BSc/99, MSc/03, PhD/09]
Named one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, this UM community health sciences professor created an innovative research program with global impact, aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect, fostering resilience, and improving mental health.

Community Service
Howard Morry [BComm(Hons)/81, LLB/84]
He’s among Canada’s most respected legal advisors, community builders and philanthropists. Morry’s decades of advocacy includes helping to establish the Arab-Jewish Dialogue, encouraging positive relations and respect.

Outstanding Young Alumni
Mihskakwan James Harper [BSc(ME)/17]
An emerging leader in clean energy, this engineering grad from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, on Treaty 8 territory, has brought his voice to the United Nations and his mentorship to Indigenous youth nationwide.
2023 University of Manitoba Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration of Excellence presented by TD Insurance
Thursday, September 21, 2023
6:00 - 10:00 p.m. CDT
Manitoba Room UMSU University Centre, 65 Chancellors Circle
Tickets - individual: $150, table of 10: $1,500
Thank you to our sponsors!
For more information about becoming a sponsor, please contact Roslyn Dally.
Distinguished Alumni Awards eligibility and award categories
Celebrate UM graduates who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in their professional and personal lives, are inspiring fellow alumni, current students and the broader community, and have made significant, transformative contributions to society.
Award categories
Distinguished Alumni Awards nominations open annually and mark an excellent opportunity to recognize UM alumni who are an inspiration to fellow alumni, current students and the community, both close to home and around the globe.
Nominations for 2024 are now open. For more information, please contact Roslyn Dally.
Lifetime Achievement
This award recognizes graduates who have shown personal and professional achievements and leadership throughout their lifetime and continue to make significant and transformative contributions to their profession, their community and the University of Manitoba.
Nominees must demonstrate a lifetime of:
- Outstanding contributions that made a transformative impact within their community
- Exemplary achievement throughout their lifetime
- Service to the University of Manitoba
Professional Achievement
This award recognizes graduates who have made exemplary contributions to their profession and have previously received recognition from within their discipline. The focus of this award is professional achievement that is non-academic in nature. (see Academic Innovation Award below)
Nominees must demonstrate:
- A standard of professional excellence throughout their career that has inspired their colleagues and peers with an emphasis on their professional achievements in the last three to five years
- Exceptional leadership in their profession
- Outstanding and transformative achievements recognized by the nominee’s professional community
Academic Innovation
This award recognizes graduates who have made exemplary contributions to their academic career and have previously received recognition for their innovation, research excellence and mentoring in academia.
Nominees must demonstrate:
- Outstanding innovation and research achievements and excellence in academia that have had a major, transformative impact on the community and society to help make for a better world, with an emphasis on their academic innovation and research achievements in the last three to five years
- Excellence in academic mentoring and publishing
- Exceptional leadership in their area of academic innovation and research
- At least 51% of their current or past employment (if retired / emeritus) in academia at a recognized post-secondary institution(s)
Community Service
This award recognizes graduates who have had a transformative impact on those in their community, either at the local, national or international level.
Nominees must demonstrate:
- Extraordinary efforts that have made a positive impact on their community
- Community service or volunteer work that has engaged and inspired others
- Community service that is clearly outside of or above and beyond their professional discipline in a voluntary, charitable and non-paid capacity
Outstanding Young Alumni
This award recognizes graduates who are under the age of 35 before the close of nominations who have demonstrated significant contributions and leadership to their field of endeavour, their community and the University of Manitoba.
Nominees must demonstrate:
- Inspiring achievements in their field
- Contributions that have had a transformative impact in their community
- Service to the University of Manitoba, both while as a student and ongoing as an alum
Eligibility Restrictions
Alumni who have received an honorary degree bestowed by the University of Manitoba have received the institution’s highest honour and therefore are not eligible for nomination.
In addition, the following alumni cannot be nominated:
- Those who currently hold political office at a local, provincial/state, national, or Indigenous government level
- Members of the Distinguished Alumni Awards Selection Panel or Award Category Pre-Selection Subcommittees
- Members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors
- Members of the University of Manitoba Board of Governors
- Members of the University of Manitoba's senior leadership team, specifically for the Academic Innovation Award, including Deans, Associate Deans, Vice-Presidents and Vice-Provosts
Past recipients
Contact us
Roslyn Dally
Alumni Outreach & Engagement Lead
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 5V6 Canada