St. Francis Xavier University graduated nearly 300 students during Fall Convocation 2023 in programs of education, business, and science.
"This chapter of your lives has come to an end, but the book is not written yet," said StFX President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Andy Hakin to graduates. To all you who supported the graduates - thank you. Why do we do what we do? The answer is simple: to build a better society. Graduates of our programs are helping to set priorities and embrace their collective strength for the benefit of all."
An honorary degree was bestowed on celebrated Canadian playwright, acclaimed theatre director, and University of Toronto assistant professor Dr. Djanet Sears. Kindness is nurturing water. Not all acts of kindness are consequential," said Dr. Sears. "Kindness is sacred. I implore you to be kind," she added. "I am here because the kindness of others."
Dr. Sears accepted the honorary degree keeping in mind the people who were kind and made a significance difference in her life. She accepted the honour in their name. Her high school English teacher Mr. John MacDonald who fostered a deeper love of music in her. "He was committed, constant and deeply kind." She also mentioned her former boss Dian English who was the general manager at Factory Theater in Toronto, the first theatre company in Canada to produce Canadian only plays. Also her father Quisbert Earlington Sears who taught her how to sing and who's eyes always lit up when he saw her.
Dr. Sears has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford University, where she both taught playwriting, and directed a production for the Drama Department. She has also been awarded a Creative Fellowship at the Royal Shakespeare Company, in association with Warwick University. Dr. Sears is an award-winning playwright and director and the recipient of numerous awards including a Governor General's Literary Award, Canada's highest literary honour for dramatic writing. These are only a few of her accolades.
StFX Chancellor John Peacock '63 addressed the new graduates expressing his excitement for their achievements on this special day. He inspired the graduates to show others the power in empathy and do what you can to make this world a better place.
Outstanding Staff Teaching Award was presented to Sherry Neville-MacLean, Lab Instructor, Department of Psychology, while Pauline MacIntosh, with Coady Institute received the Outreach Award.
Honorary Degree recipient and award winner biographies are below.
Honorary Degree Recipient
Djanet Sears
Djanet Sears is a celebrated Canadian playwright, an acclaimed theatre director, and an assistant professor at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Her work has graced the stages of Mirvish Productions, Nightwood Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, Black Theatre Workshop, Centaur Theatre, National Arts Centre, the Public Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Crossroads Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Soulpepper Theatre, St. Louis Black Repertory, Canadian Stage, and Factory Theatre. Additionally, her plays have been widely published and translated. Her play The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, won six META Awards (Montreal English Theatre Award), after a successful run at the National Arts Centre and The Centaur Theatre. Harlem Duet, another of her multiple award-winning plays, is a non-chronological prequel to Shakespeare's Othello, and was featured as part of Nightwood Theatre, Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Tarragon Theatre's seasons. As well, her production of Ntozake Shange's choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto, garnered rave reviews and ran to sold-out houses. Ms. Sears has been a Visiting Professor at Stanford University, where she both taught playwriting, and directed a production for the Drama Department. She has also been awarded a Creative Fellowship at the Royal Shakespeare Company, in association with Warwick University. This fellowship included collaborating as part of the creative team on the world premiere production of Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, a co-production between the RSC in the UK and the National Arts Centre in Canada. Ms. Sears is the recipient of a Governor General's Literary Award (Canada's highest literary honour for dramatic writing), a Canadian Screenwriting Award, the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award, a Gold Prize at the International Radio Festival of New York, the William Kilbourne Toronto Arts Council Award, a Reel Black Award, and a Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Cultural Industries. She has been the artistic director of the AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival. Ms. Sears is a founding member of the Obsidian Theatre Company, and the editor of two anthologies: Testifyin': Contemporary African Canadian Drama, Vols. I & II (firsts of their kind in Canada). She is currently working on two new works for the stage.
Outstanding Staff Teaching Award
Sherry Neville-MacLean, Lab Instructor, Department of Psychology
Sherry Neville-MacLean has been a lab instructor in the Department of Psychology since August 2018. She is described as a flexible, collaborative, highly competent, and trusted colleague who is exceptionally committed to student learning and is always willing to try something new that might benefit students. Her master's degree in education is reflected in her approach to every lab, her grading, and all interactions with students. Nominators say it is evident that she knows how to teach and that she is confident and comfortable in the classroom. Over the years, she has taken it upon herself to develop new course materials (lectures, assignments, peer assessment tools) that can be used in lab. Many of these served her well when it became necessary to move to online course instruction. She is adept in using Moodle and other programs and has become a go-to person for questions on educational technology. She is an enthusiastic educator. She regularly participates in webinars and reading groups, and she keeps up to date in education literature. Recently, she demonstrated significant leadership in the Brain and Behaviour labs, in which she and Dr. Erin Mazerolle collaboratively introduced a service learning component through which students had opportunity to put their neuroscience skills into practice by planning and running the first-ever Antigonish Brain Bee, a neuroscience competition for high school students.
Outreach Award
Pauline MacIntosh, Coady Institute
Pauline MacIntosh worked with the StFX Extension Department from 1997 until its merger with the Coady International Institute in 2021, at which time Coady Institute was formed. An experienced adult educator and facilitator, she is passionate about working with groups engaged in asset-based community development, capacity strengthening and education, and leadership for learning and change. Ms. MacIntosh grew up in a family that believed in community and cooperation and this influenced her from an early age. Her service to community has taken many forms, including volunteer canvasser with the Canadian Cancer Society, Tree of Lights volunteer with the Antigonish Guysborough Early Childhood Intervention Program, 4-H leader, speaker and process facilitator, and Lower South River Pre-School board director, among others. Ms. MacIntosh has had immeasurable impact on her community, dedicating countless volunteer hours in numerous capacities over many years. She currently volunteers as Vice Chair of the St. Andrews Community Partnership Board of Directors, an organization comprised of 12 non-profit community-based organizations; Vice Chair of the Antigonish Affordable Housing Society Board of Directors, a non-profit housing organization that owns and operates 28 homes in Antigonish; and Vice Chair of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council Board of Directors, which serves as the voice of the co-operative movement in Nova Scotia. Ms. MacIntosh truly embodies the spirit of the Antigonish Movement and its emphasis on transformation through community outreach, adult education and collective action.
