Mamhtákosiwin, gigii-minojigem, yawashte, kischi-iteyhta-mashchohin, nezu annellassi, félicitations!  

As Chancellor of the University of Manitoba, it is my great pleasure to congratulate the remarkable Class of 2024.  You now join our alumni community– a community who shares the best of the University of Manitoba spirit wherever they go. 

You are graduating! As you reflect on what it took you to get to this moment, consider the connections you made—all the friends, mentors, advisors and family that guided and supported you.  

You have reached deep within yourselves to get to this day. You have also likely reached out to others, both to lend support and to receive it. Take some time to thank those special people who have supported you. Gratitude and connection are both transformative!       

As you move forward, look for ways to contribute, and create positive change. Serving others adds tremendous meaning to our lives. You have cultivated talents the world needs. Please share these generously.    

Be proud of yourselves. You are extraordinary students, forged during extraordinary times. Never forget this.   

Anne Mahon, BHEcol (Man.)
Chancellor 

Class of 2024, as you chase new inspirations, I have but one request: Please, think big.  

You emerge from this innovative university as the next generation of leaders and changemakers. You will shape our global society with your ideas and passions. You will redefine, reimagine, and rebuild so much.  

Although you graduate today, you remain a part of our herd. You join our remarkable alumni community that is brimming with big thinkers living around the world. And now you take your place among them, writing our collective story. It is an inspiring one because, like the bison, we move forward through whatever troubles the world delivers, determined to reach a better future.  

Be proud of graduating from this university. A joy of being your university’s president is meeting with people around the globe, all of whom praise our collective efforts to advance truth and Reconciliation, understand and mitigate climate change, and bolster health as a human right. Manitobans have much humility, but I assure you, on the global stage, UM is a giant.  

You are the remarkable Class of 2024. Continue to pursue what you love, and believe in where that can take you. The University of Manitoba is proud of you and all you have achieved. And all you are about to achieve.  

Congratulations, and here’s to all your big ideas.  

Michael Benarroch, PhD 
President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manitoba 

You did it Bisons! Congratulations on graduating and officially becoming UM alumni! Not only are you part of the ‘herd’ but you’re also now part of the UM Alumni Association, a lifelong network of over 221K+ fellow UM graduates (alumni) living in 134+ countries that you can count on for guidance, mentorship and career opportunities. As you celebrate your Convocation, know that we are all cheering you on from across the world and wishing you every success in your next chapter.

As fellow UM grads, we know what it takes to get here. We understand and applaud the hard work, dedication and drive that brought you to this point. It is our privilege to welcome you to the alumni community.  We honour your outstanding achievements through awards and recognition, and support you in the years to come with perks and alumni-exclusive benefits and services as you go out and help shape Manitoba and our world.

Stay engaged with your alma mater by connecting with other alumni and joining us on campus or online for events and activities. There’s something for everyone, like cheering on your Bisons at the annual Homecoming football game, continuing your education at Learning for Life webinars and lectures, making connections at UM Café–an online mentoring platform, or UM Career Lab–a program built for new grads like you that includes career development and financial literacy webinars. Build up your resume with volunteer opportunities open to alumni within your faculty, on the Alumni Association Board of Directors or Alumni Council, mentor a student, or be an alumni ambassador at a UM event. Stay in the know through our digital version of UM Today The Magazine and our monthly alumni e-news (make sure we have your current contact info!).

There’s no doubt that today marks one heck of a major milestone for you - a time to look back on your University of Manitoba experience. Take pride in how it has shaped you and imagine how it will bring you closer to accomplishing your goals. Today you begin your alumni journey and what we hope will be a life-long relationship with your university.

On behalf of the UM alumni community, congratulations on the tremendous achievement celebrated today. #WeAreAllBisons

Visit us at umanitoba.ca/alumni to keep in touch and to learn more about the benefits of being UM alumni.

Lasha Glennie
BA, Cert. Human Resource Mgmt (Manitoba)
Chair, Alumni Association Board of Directors

Marlene Stern
DipOT, BOT (Manitoba)
Chair, Alumni Council

Created in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation, the Governor General’s academic medals have become the most prestigious award for outstanding achievements that Canadian students can receive.

Governor General's Silver Medal

• Senden, Alexander Brian - Faculty of Science
  Awarded for outstanding achievement at the undergraduate degree level of at least four years in length

Awarded for highest standing in an undergraduate faculty, school or college.

Szutu, Jimmy
College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

Awarded for highest standing in a faculty, college or school program

College of Rehabilitation Sciences

Respiratory Therapy

• Szutu, Jimmy

Alpha Rho Chi Medal

For leadership and promise of professional merit in Architecture.

• Kropla, Janine Dawn

American Institute of Architects Medal

For highest achievement, Master of Architecture program.

• Kwon, Hyeonji

T.A. and A.S. Anderson Gold Medal

For highest standing in the Asper Master of Business Administration program.

• Gilfillan, Anna Meghan **

Manitoba Association of Architects Medal

For he best Comprehensive Design project or thesis.

• Yépez Rodríguez, Christian Javier

Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects Medal

For highest achievement.

• Gaudes, Benjamin Daniel *

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Student Medal

For the outstanding final design project/ thesis in the Master of Architecture program.

• Zhang, Dongkun

Asper MBA Convocation Prizes

For graduating students in the Asper Master of Business Administration program, who completed the program with competitive high academic standing.

• Robinson, Debbie
• Wasif, Talha *

Tania (Tye) Asper Memorial Prize

For a graduating student in the Fine Arts degree or diploma program, with exceptional work in painting.

• Iyagba, Deinma David Teinbo *

Associates Award for Study in the Asper MBA Program

For second highest standing in the Asper Master of Business Administration program.

• Wasif, Talha *

Associates Master of Finance Convocation Prize

For a graduating student who achieved the highest grade point average in the Asper Master of Finance program.

• Agwuncha, Maureen Ifunanya

Associates Master of Supply Chain Management and Logistics Convocation Prize

For a graduating student in the Stu Clark Graduate School MSCM program, who achieved the highest degree grade point average among all graduating students.

• Vasconcelos, Michael Joseph *

BOMImed Clinical Excellence Award

For demonstrated excellence in clinical work and interpersonal skills and active involvement in professional and/or community activities, Respiratory Therapy.

• Campos, Catherine Alexis

Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Student Award

For the graduating student with the highest academic standing among all graduating students in the Master of Occupational Therapy degree program.

• Rochon, Josée Annette

Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation Future Scholar Award

For the highest combined numerical grade in Research Methods for Evidence-based Practice and Independent Study.

• Lecuyer, Morgan Gray

Chartered Professional Accountants of Manitoba Foundation Award

For highest degree grade point average among students who completed the Asper Master of Business Administration program in more than one year

• Gilfillan, Anna Meghan **

CORS-SA Prizes of Excellence

For the graduating students who show strong leadership and commitment to the College of Rehabilitation Sciences and to advocate for their future profession, all while maintaining a high academic standing.

• Saltel, Taylor Jennifer Marie (Occupational Therapy)
• Kim, Na Rae (Physical Therapy)
• Campos, Catherine Alexis (Respiratory Therapy)

CSRT Prize for Student Excellence

For a graduating respiratory therapy student who has completed all academic and clinical requirements with high academic standing and demonstrated characteristics and behaviours of a professional.

• Campos, Catherine Alexis

Bruce Currie Memorial Prize

For the graduating student who best displays the qualities of leadership, generosity, and congeniality in combination with high academic achievement in the Asper MBA program.

• Mehta, Pinaz *

Canadian Institute of Planners Student Prize for Academic Excellence

For the graduating Master of City Planning student with highest standing

• Schon, Madeline Jane

Diamond Athletic Medical Supplies Convocation Prize of Excellence

For or completion of the Master of Physical Therapy program by a resident of Manitoba with high academic standing and a demonstrated history of community or sports involvement, leadership qualities, and interest in active living, health promotion, and wellness.

• Shiplack, Amanda Saphira Vanessa

Solita Egert Practice Skills Prize

For a graduating student who has demonstrated excellence in the Practice Skills section of the Master of Occupational Therapy program.

• Rochon, Josée Annette

Excellence in Communications Prize in Occupational Therapy

For a graduating student in the Master of Occupational Therapy program who has demonstrated excellent communication skills

• Elliott, Sydney Katherine

Future Leader Award in Occupational Therapy

For Future Leader Award in Occupational Therapy.

• Sagert, Karlynne Mckenna

Elenore Haywood Lung Association Manitoba Convocation Prize

For a graduating student who has demonstrated academic excellence in the College of Rehabilitation Sciences with the highest grade point average in the Clinical Assessment in Respiratory Care course

• Szutu, Jimmy

Mrs. Mary Judd Prize

For a student who has completed the final year of the Master of Occupational Therapy program with good overall standing and demonstrates an interest in working with older adults

• Sagert, Karlynne Mckenna

Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize

For a student who has demonstrated exceptional work in the completion of their thesis or practicum.

• Coverini, Jamie Lee

Lifemark Convocation Prize in Physiotherapy

For a student graduating from the Master of Physical Therapy degree who has achieved the second highest academic standing among all graduating students

• Procak, Brittany Anna

Manitoba Association of Social Workers Prize

For a high level of service in final field placement, minimum of 24 credit hours in the final year of Social Work, including Northern (Thompson) and Winnipeg Education Centre.

• McGovern, Duncan Gordon *

Manitoba Society of Occupational Therapists Prize

For a graduating student in the Master of Occupational Therapy program who has achieved the highest standing in the final year of the program amongst all graduating students.

• Rochon, Josée Annette

Master of Physician Assistant Studies Capstone Project Graduation Prize

For the graduating student with outstanding academic performance who demonstrated the best overall performance in Clinical Year Capstone Project.

• Berrington, Lauren

Master of Physician Assistant Studies Leadership Graduation Prize

For the graduating student with outstanding academic performance who has demonstrated a high level of compassion, humanism and the best patient-centered approach to care.

• Kozak, Mackenzie Dyanna

Physical Therapy Prize for Excellence in Communication and Professionalism

For a graduating student in the Master of Physical Therapy program who has demonstrated excellence in communication and professionalism.

• Gylywoychuk-Winkler, Emma Regan

Naomi Rosenberg Palansky Prize

For the graduating student who has demonstrated excellence in the pediatrics and advocacy portions of the Master of Occupational Therapy program.

• Houldsworth, Anastasia Elena

Marjorie Spence Physical Therapy Achievement Prize

For a graduating physiotherapy student who has achieved high academic standing and has demonstrated a history of community involvement and leadership qualities.

• Lam, Shelly

Steelcase Prize for Design Excellence

For a graduating student in the Master of Interior Design program, who demonstrates design excellence.

• Sutherland, Sierra Alexa

* June 2024 graduate

** February 2024 graduate 

Beginning each convocation ceremony with an Honour Song is a sign of respect and recognition of Indigenous Peoples as caretakers of this land. It recognizes our collective identities, cultures and languages, and the ongoing commitment of the university to Reconciliation. This song acknowledges the significant accomplishments of the graduates’ journeys as well as their transition into the next stages in their lives.

In the fall of 2022, in consultation with members of the Indigenous community at UM and a committee led by Catherine Cook, former Vice-President (Indigenous), new academic regalia were commissioned for the Chancellor and the President. The new robe designs honour the First Peoples of these lands, demonstrating UM’s commitment to Reconciliation and supporting a graduation experience that feels more welcoming for Indigenous students.

Jackie Traverse, a UM alum and Ojibway woman from Lake St. Martin First Nation, developed the designs in partnership with beader Shannon Denney-Edwards, a Canadian of Métis, French and Islandic descent, and robe fabricator Beverli Barnes.

The robes are constructed of black silk and employ gold piping as a nod to the design the President and Chancellor have worn to date, which were modeled after the University of Oxford’s academic dress. On these re-imagined gowns, motifs have been applied through a combination of embroidery and traditional beading using gold accents. Ms. Traverse explains how each aspect has a deeper meaning:

“The crocuses represent Manitoba and give us our sense of place. The use of white, yellow, black and red represents the four nations. The use of red and orange represent the missing Indigenous women and children. The roots symbolize our connections to this institution and to one another.”

The robes were worn for the first time at Spring Convocation 2023.

Learn more on UM Today

Guests at convocation will readily conclude that the academic dress worn by graduands and members of the academic procession is both colourful and varied.The significance of academic dress may not be so apparent. 

Academic dress includes a gown, hood (worn over the shoulders), and a cap or mortarboard. All universities have distinctive academic dress for each degree offered. This explains the variety of academic dress worn by members of the academic procession who have graduated from many different institutions. 

The University of Manitoba has patterned its academic dress after the British tradition using the Oxford gown as the model. The Oxford attire is a modified form of the garments worn by its members in medieval times, sometimes attributed to the need for warmth in their damp halls of learning. There are three types of gowns at the University of Manitoba: the Bachelor’s and Master’s gowns are black; the Doctor of Philosophy gown is black with red velvet bars on sleeves and front panels; and the Honorary Doctor’s gown is scarlet. Mortarboards are black with a black tassel and are worn by all graduands except for honorary graduands; they wear round brimmed caps of black velvet with a gold tassel. 

It is the hood which signifies the degree to be presented to the graduand. The hoods for Bachelor’s degrees all have the common characteristics of black material edged with white borg material. Hoods for each of the Bachelor’s degrees at the University have a distinctive lining ranging from no lining (black) for Arts, to green for Agriculture, to gold for Science. Similarly hoods for the various Master’s degrees have a distinctive lining but can be differentiated from Bachelor’s hoods by the absence of a borg edging. Hoods for Honorary Doctor’s degrees are scarlet with different linings: white indicates an Honorary Doctor of Laws; yellow, an Honorary Doctor of Science; and slate blue, an Honorary Doctor of Letters. See the following page for a complete listing of the colours of all hood linings.  

Senate must approve any changes in academic dress. The Senate Committee on Academic Dress, which includes the Director of the School of Art and the Head of the Department of Interior Design, makes recommendations to Senate on the academic dress of graduands, the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, the Marshalls, and other officers of Convocation. 

Honorary degrees (Scarlet exterior)

PhD degrees (black exterior with red bands and panel)

Masters degrees (black exterior)

Undergraduate degrees (black exterior with borg edging)

Certificates and diplomas

The focal point of the stage decorations at convocation ceremonies of the University of Manitoba has traditionally been a banner 8-feet wide and 13-feet long which incorporates the university crest.

The crest of the university is described in heraldic terms as: A quartered oval within bordure or inscribed as "Universitas Manitobensis 1877" sable, ensigned with the Imperial Crown.

Quarterings

Dexter Chief: Parted per fess: upper argent, cross gules surmounted by crown or, lined with the first: lower vert buffalo statant proper (being the arms of the Province of Manitoba).

Dexter Base: Argent, Saint John sejant, mantled sanguine, halo or, vested of the first, with eagle rising proper: chief, sky azure with light ray or, base vert (being the arms of St. John’s College, a charter affiliate).

Sinister Chief: Parted per fess: upper gules, book or pages argent, lower argent, two fleurs-de-lys or above a branch slipped of three maple leaves vert, stemmed proper (being the arms of St. Boniface College, a charter affiliate).

Sinister Base: Argent, a branch slipped of three grape leaves vert, stemmed proper, fructed purpure, surmounted by a barrulet or bearing motto “Floreat” of the first, edged sable (being the arms of Manitoba College, a charter affiliate).

Argent: silver coloured

Azure: blue

Barrulet: small bar or band

Base: lower part of the field of the coat of arms or shield

Bordure: a border surrounding the shield

Chief: area one-third of the width of the shield occupying the upper section of the field

Dexter: right side of the shield from the perspective of an individual holding it; left side of the shield from the perspective of the viewer

Fructed: depicted bearing fruit

Gules: bright red

Or: gold coloured

Parted per fess: partitioned by means of a horizontal line across the field

Proper: true or Natural colour

Purpure: purple

Quarterings: coats of arms combined on a shield

Sable: black

Sanguine: mulberry or dark red

Sejant: sitting

Sinister: left side of the shield from the perspective of an individual holding it; right side of the shield from the perspective of the viewer

Statant: standing on four feet, facing left

Vert: emerald green

Chancellor
Anne Mahon, B.H.Ecol.

Chair of the Board of Governors
Lynette Magnus, B.Comm (Hons.), CPA, CA

Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors
Kimberly Osiowy, BSc (CE), MSc

President and Vice-Chancellor
Michael Benarroch, PhD

Provost and Vice-President (Academic)
Diane Hiebert-Murphy, PhD

Vice-President (Administration)
Naomi Andrew BA(Advanced), LLB

Vice-President (Research and International)
B. Mario Pinto, BSc, PhD, FRSC

Vice-President (External)
Vanessa Koldingnes, MBA

Vice-President (Indigenous)
Angie Bruce, MBA

University Secretary
Jeffrey M. Leclerc, BEd, MEd, C. Dir.

Vice-Provosts

• Peter Nickerson, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS
• Lisa O’Hara, BA, MLIS
• Tracey Peter, PhD
• Laurie Schnarr, MA
• Greg Smith, PhD
• Mark Torchia, MSc, PhD
• Tina Chen, PhD

Associate Vice-Presidents

• Christine Cyr, BA
• Raman Dhaliwal, BComm (Hons.)
• Annemieke Farenhorst, PhD
• Stephanie Levene, MBA
• René Ouellette BA, BComm
• Hans-Joachim Wieden, PhD
• Susan Mainella, MAL

Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer
Mike Emslie, BComm (Hons.), CA, CPA, CIA, CISA

Chief Information Officer
Mario Lebar, BA, LLB, MBA

University Librarian
Lisa O’Hara, BA, MLIS