Graduates to be honoured with Alumni Awards

The McMaster Alumni Association will honour seven outstanding graduates with induction into the Alumni Gallery this month.

The award is conferred upon those who have proven themselves to be leaders, innovators, contributors and global citizens.

The celebration, scheduled for May 29, will also recognize the winners of the Albert Lager Prize for Student Initiative, the Arch Award, and the Distinguished Service Award.

This year’s Alumni Gallery Inductees:

Walter Butler, 1970, Faculty of Engineering

Walter Butler has traveled the world with the U.S. Navy, played an influential role in the emerging field of electronics over the last half century, and dedicated himself to the advancement of scientific research and discovery.  When Walter Butler graduated from McMaster in 1970, he was the University’s first student to earn a PhD in Electrical Engineering.  Walter is the co-holder of 30 patents and has published more than 30 technical papers. 

Barbara Falco Kazemi, 1989, Faculty of Health Sciences

Barbara Falco Kazemi developed and implemented a unique mentorship program, Designing Routes to Education and Mentorship (DREAM) in Dunnville in 2001. DREAM is a community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is to empower youth to reach their academic potential, discover their passions and as a result touch people’s lives in a positive way. This unique program is open to students and residents in the local community. In 2010, she developed and implemented Shared Harvest Community Farm & Educational Centre with the vision of “Together, we are creating a world where all people have access to nutritious, environmentally sustainable and fairly traded food.”

Lillian Bayne, 1987, Faculty of Social Sciences

Since graduating from McMaster, Lillian has worked as a health services planner, the Deputy Minister’s Assistant for the BC Ministry of Health, and Executive Director of policy for the Ministry of Health.  She then became Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for mental health, HIV/AIDS, Aboriginal Health, tobacco reduction, women’s health – a broad sweep of the public health portfolio.  After her work with the Romanow Commission, she started her own consulting firm, doing policy development, key informant surveys and meeting facilitation in the health sector for a spectrum of groups.

Jeffrey Remedios, 1998, Faculty of Business

A Commerce graduate, Jeffrey Remedios entered the music business as a promotions department intern for Virgin/EMI.  Almost a decade later, he left Virgin and co-founded Arts & Crafts Productions, an independent artist services company which hasgrown into one of the world’s most influential and successful independent music companies. In the past nine years, Arts and Crafts artists have won a total of 20 Juno awards. In 2009, Rolling Stone magazine cited Jeffrey as a key insider shaping the future of the music business.  Jeffrey has served as the Entertainment Lead on the Drawn to Develop committee, a charity that benefits street youth.  He has engaged music artists to participate in the “Pepsi Refresh Challenge” and “raise their voices” in support of Street Kids International.

Eddie Wasser, 1989, Faculty of Health Sciences

In 1982, as a first year undergraduate student and resident of McKay Hall, Eddie Wasser realized that there was a void in emergency medical response on the McMaster University campus. After some research and a feasibility study, he was permitted to pilot the first Canadian university based,

student volunteer emergency first response team, reducing response time to emergency calls to less than three minutes anywhere on campus.  Dr. Eddie Wasser is an Emergency Medicine Physician and continues to be a leader in emergency care as the Medical Director for the Prime Minister of Canada and Governor General.  Dr. Wasser operates Medevaq, which supports Canadians globally, ensuring that they have access to high quality care and are repatriated home should they become sick or injured while abroad.

The Hon. Mr. Justice Randall Bocock, 1982, Faculty of Humanities

An eminent and successful practitioner of the law, Randall Bocock graduated from McMaster in 1982.  He served admirably in the Alumni Association over many years, culminating in a term as President. In the field of law, he has been recognized with leadership positions locally and nationally, culminating this past year with his elevation to the Bench. He has been active in leadership roles with the Hamilton Law Association and the County and District Law Presidents’ Association, the Canadian Association of University Solicitors, and the National Council of Bar Presidents of which he is a Life Fellow. He has also contributed to the legal education of his peers and been active in community organizations.  All of this career achievement culminated last year in his appointment as Judge of the Federal Tax Court.

Donald Webster, 1979, Kinesiology

Staff Sergeant Donald Webster from the Ontario Provincial Police has dedicated his work life to finding missing persons in the Province of Ontario.  He has worked tirelessly with volunteer Search and Rescue, ground and air organizations to provide them with the knowledge and training neededto be an asset to the OPP.  His efforts in partnership building with preventative SAR programs for long term care facilities and educating Emergency Response Teams about missing persons with dementia have enhanced the OPP SAR response He also provides data and expertise to academic institutions and autistic organizations as they study these diseases and try to provide best practices for searches involving citizens from within these groups.  Staff Sergeant Webster is a guest speaker around the world providing other countries and agencies knowledge on search and rescue.  Staff Sergeant Webster has been awarded the Life Time Achievement Award by the Ontario Provincial Police and the National Search and Rescue Program Award of Excellence for Leadership.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, May 22, 2013 to the Office of Alumni Advancement to secure your seating. Tickets are $50 per person. Please visit http://alumni.os.mcmaster.ca or contact 905-525-9140 ext. 23900 for more details.