MacEwan University is proud to announce the recipients of the university's 2025 Alumni Awards.
This year, five outstanding alumni are being recognized in two categories - Distinguished Alumni and Emerging Leaders - for their dedication to making a difference in health care, theatre and within our communities and families.
The Distinguished Alumni Award honours alumni who have demonstrated exemplary service and leadership within their profession and community.
The Emerging Leader Award recognizes recent graduates who have made significant contributions to their profession and community.
Distinguished Alumni Award winners
Pauline Smale (Social Work '00 and Early Childhood Development '84) has dedicated more than 30 years to supporting and advocating for children, youth and families. As the CEO of The Family Centre of Northern Alberta, Smale works to affect change through collaboration and innovation, incorporating best practices and research to continually improve the work of the organization.
Smale understands the importance of supporting emerging professionals. The Family Centre provides practicum opportunities for 15 students each year.
Smale also readily steps up to lead and advocate for better systems. To this end, she serves on numerous committees, boards, workgroups and collaborations with diverse community members and different levels of government and agency leaders. Smale chairs ALIGN Association of Community Services, Family Services of Canada and co-chairs the United Way Workplace Cabinet.
She is well-known and respected for her quiet leadership and sought after for her creativity, allyship, dedication, mentorship and passion for her contributions to members of her community - and to the human services sector.
Smale is a registered social worker with a master's degree in business administration. She is also a proud grandmother to four children who remind her to laugh and invest time in our beautiful community.
Jennifer Wigmore (Theatre Arts '19) is an actor, educator, writer, visual artist and activist.
As an actor, Wigmore has made her mark on both the stage and screen, cultivating a successful 30-year career on stages across Canada including the Citadel Theatre and the Stratford Festival, and in television productions including Cross, Malory Towers, Designated Survivor, Anne with an E and Heartland.
She is also a passionate and tireless advocate for artists, working to bring positive change to the entertainment industry. She co-founded the Association of Acting Coaches and Educators (AACE), creating standards and community in acting education and has worked with many other organizations, including Got Your Back, the National Society of Intimacy Professionals (NSIP), and both Canadian performers unions, the Canadian Actors' Equity Association (CAEA) and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).
An accomplished visual artist, her practice spans figurative and abstract works and often explores the entanglements of art making, and pedagogy from within the disciplines of acting and visual art. In 2011, she won the hit Bravo series Star Portraits with her painting of Gordon Pinsent.
Additional accolades include narrating fellow Edmontonian Todd Babiak's book The Spirits Up, and Off the Tracks by Pamela Mulloy - for which she won a 2024 Earphones Award for Best Biography or Memoir audiobook.
Emerging Leader Award winners
Dr. Brandon Craig (Bachelor of Science Honours '17) recently completed a joint Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degree in Neuroscience at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. While his academic achievements are significant, his impact extends well beyond the classroom.
His commitment to advancing scientific knowledge earned him several national research awards, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and CIHR Doctoral Research Award. He was also a finalist for the Governor General's Gold Medal.
Dr. Craig is deeply committed to supporting individuals from all walks of life. During his term as president of the Leaders in Medicine program, he established a new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee to improve access and support for underrepresented groups at the University of Calgary.
This July, Dr. Craig will begin a five-year residency in radiation oncology at the new Arthur Child Cancer Centre in Calgary, where he will dedicate his career to treating patients with cancer. Motivated by both personal experience and professional purpose, Dr. Craig aims to improve outcomes and provide compassionate, evidence-based care to children and families navigating some of life's most difficult moments.
Keestin O'Dell (Bachelor of Arts '16) is a member of the Frog Lake First Nation and is grounded in his Indigenous identity, passionate about education and committed to building safe relationships that honour his culture and history.
As a student, he actively participated in impactful research, presentations, talks, ceremonies and events. After graduation, he took on a formal mentorship role as a student advisor and Indigenous recruiter with MacEwan's kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre.
O'Dell continues to inspire Indigenous post-secondary students as the Indigenous student engagement strategist at Iniikokaan Centre at Bow Valley College, where he is an integral part of a team that provides support services to more than 400 Indigenous students. He is a member of a number of college committees, which oversee Indigenous graduation, student engagement strategies and outcomes. He also created the Indigenous Student Leadership Program.
Often asked to speak at events, O'Dell regularly shares his own experiences and teachings and was featured in Boys Will Be Themselves, a Canadian documentary about how masculinity is changing and evolving in the 21st century. Other speaking engagements have included the MASKulinity podcast, TedXMacEwan, Think Indigenous and the National Indigenous Education Symposium.
Kelsey Swank (Bachelor of Science in Nursing '18) is a dedicated registered nurse with a strong focus on improving care for Indigenous patients. Her work reflects a commitment to health equity and culturally competent care, which has led her to make meaningful contributions in the health-care field.
While still a nursing student, Swank established a student placement opportunity at Paul First Nation - a pathway that remains a beneficial resource for both students and the community today.
After completing her studies, Swank returned to Paul First Nation and created a "band nurse" position to address the specific and unique health-care needs of the community - blending traditional ways with western practices.
While with the Indigenous Wellness Clinic at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Swank played a key role in launching a harm reduction initiative focused on addressing the growing opioid crisis. In this role, she was also able to create Suboxone and Hepatitis C programs while teaching people culturally safe harm reduction strategies.
Currently, Swank serves as an Indigenous cancer patient navigator at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.
Through every stage of her career, Kelsey Swank has shown that transformative change in health care is possible when compassion, cultural humility and advocacy lead the way.
The Alumni Awards will be presented at a reception at MacEwan University on June 13.
To learn more and to nominate an alum who is making a difference in their profession or community, visit MacEwan.ca/AlumniAwards.
