Cathy Gladwin is actively dedicated to health promotion. She is chair of SHAPE (Safe, Healthy, Active People Everywhere), a volunteer for the Coalition for Active Living and Alberta Healthy Living Network and worked to make her son’s school a member of the Ever Active Schools program. She has truly embraced the spirit of health promotion through her dedicated leadership and community involvement.

These are just some of the reasons that Cathy Gladwin became the third recipient of the Dawn Bucharski Graduate Award in Health Promotion. This award is granted on the basis of academic excellence and demonstrated commitment, spirit, leadership, and initiative at the University of Alberta and in the health promotion community.

Cathy is currently completing her MSc in Health Promotion with her thesis research focusing on public policy and increasing physical activity in Alberta’s urban schools. Her commitment and passion in the area of health promotion reaches beyond her studies to her workplace, family, and community. Cathy has future plans to extend her work abroad to increase her understanding of health issues and to also share her knowledge with others.

Upon receiving the award, Cathy expressed that she was, “exceptionally honoured to be selected as this year’s recipient for the Dawn Bucharski Graduate Award.” The $1,000 scholarship was created by staff at the Centre for Health Promotion Studies along with friends and family of Dawn Bucharski in order to recognize her significant contribution and leadership in the area of health promotion.

Despite an ongoing battle with breast cancer, Dawn Bucharski graduated in June 2002 with an MSc in health promotion. She died six months later. Dawn was the first graduate student in Centre for Health Promotion Studies to receive national funding for her thesis research.

The Centre is proud to announce that this year the Dawn Bucharski Graduate Award has become fully endowed and will be awarded annually to a student in Health Promotion Studies at the University of Alberta.

The Dawn Bucharski Award was presented to Cathy during the Centre for Health Promotion Studies spring convocation celebration, where nine new graduates from the MSc program in Health Promotion commemorated completion of their studies. We would like to send warm congratulations to Jennifer Barrett, Rhonda Christensen, Martha Coderre, Jane Cunningham, Ghislaine Goudreau, Crystal Janvier, Donna Jepsen, Marcia Alvares de Oliveria, and Shandy Reed on all of their accomplishments.