ALUMNI HAPPENINGS ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS
Distinguished Alumnus Michael Higgins ’70
Michael W. Higgins, a native Torontonian, is an author, scholar, Vatican affairs specialist for The Globe and Mail, Papal Commentator for the CTV Network, educator, CBC Radio documentarian, columnist, and former senior academic administrator. He has served as President and Vice-Chancellor of two Canadian Catholic universities, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo, ON, and St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB; and as Vice-President for Mission and Catholic Identity at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is currently the interim President and Vice Chancellor at Corpus Christi College-St. Mark’s College at UBC.
Young Alumna Emilie Chiasson ’02
A storyteller at heart, Emilie moved to Toronto after graduation to begin her career, but ultimately followed her heart back home to the East Coast. Before moving back, she pursued her passion for storytelling and personal connection by completing a broadcast journalism degree. She worked for several years for Origin Biomed where she crafted marketing strategies and gained exposure to healthcare, which helped her transition to her current role as the Atlantic Canadian Director for Ovarian Cancer Canada. For almost 10 years now, Emilie has invested all of her talents to advance research and care for one of the most devastating diseases impacting women.
Xaverian Spirit Award Father Stanley MacDonald ‘54
Stanley, or as he is more commonly known around the campus, Father Stan, is the winner of this year’s Xaverian Spirit Award. After retiring from the ministry in 2009, Father Stan returned to campus where he has become a well-known cheerleader for our varsity teams. His enthusiastic cheers of, “GO X GO” can be heard all throughout the sporting venues on campus regardless of the season. When not cheering on our athletic teams, he can be found connecting with students around campus or in meal hall. Father Stan provides support and guidance to students and certainly leaves a lasting impression on all that get to meet him.
Survey Thank You!
Friend of StFX The Late Helen Mattie
Chapter of the Year Ottawa Alumni Chapter
Catering Manager, Sodexo Sodexo Food Services, along with the entire campus community was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Helen Mattie. Helen was a familiar face to many staff, faculty and students on our campus. For over 36 years, she was often the first to arrive and last to leave at many events, always ensuring things ran smoothly and that every little detail was planned out and executed. She was always a calming presence at each event and we miss her dearly.
Under the direction of Kathleen Sheridan ‘15 and Zak Lewis ‘14, our Ottawa chapter has been named the 2020 Alumni Chapter of the Year. The national capital chapter hosted many successful events over the past year including the StFX Day Pub Night, StFX Day Mass, a golf tournament and a charity evening with proceeds donated to CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario). Well done Ottawa chapter!
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StFX ALUMNINEWS l DECEMBER 2020
This past spring, the Alumni Affairs Office conducted an online Alumni Engagement survey. In the new year, our team will start a deep dive into the results and the feedback provided. We plan to have a report ready for our next AlumniNews edition in the summer. All survey participants were placed in a prize draw and we are excited to announce the following winners:
$500 Pre-Paid Visa Christina Boyle ‘95 $200 StFX Store Gift Card Greg McKenna ‘09 $100 StFX Store Gift Card Thomas Levesque ‘78 Again, thank you for your feedback. It will help us better plan our programming and communication as we go forward.
