The Extraordinary Dr. Joana Cook

Young Alumni Award

When it comes to expertise about women in conflict, Dr. Joana Cook is extraordinarily knowledgeable. Her expertise began when she was a curious political science student at the University of Regina seeking to understand womens’ agency in political violence. Cook is a Teaching Fellow and Senior Research Fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. Both positions are based out of King's College, London, where Cook received her PhD. She is also an affiliate with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS).

Her PhD research examined women in relation to post-9/11 U.S. counterterrorism responses in Yemen and the wider MENA region. Her research more broadly focuses on women in violent extremism, countering violent extremism, and counter-terrorism practices in Yemen and the wider MENA region.

Dr. Joana Cook BAHons'10 holds Thor's hammer

At a young age, Joana often read stories of young women in conflicts including the Second World War and the former Yugoslavia, and observed that women were often more adversely affected whenever violence was perpetuated.

This realization was continuously apparent to her in topics ranging from gender-based and intimate partner violence, to the many incidences of missing and murdered Indigenous women within Canada. It bothered Joana that while women were the most impacted by conflict and violence, they weren’t always part of the solution.

Dr. Cook’s work focuses on women, extremism, security, and counterterrorism. She is the former editor-in-chief for Strife, an international journal and blog focusing on conflict with over 1.3 million followers. She has provided policy expertise and research to international governments and has been featured on TV and in print in Time, BBC, Washington Post, CBC, National Post, and Telegraph.

During her time at the University of Regina, Dr. Cook wrote for the student newspaper The Carillon and taught English at Regina's Open Door Society. In her young life, she has travelled to over 30 countries and is well on her way to speaking four languages, and she’s just getting started.

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Humanitarian and Community Service Award
Jacqueline Tisher CCE Professional Leadership Certificate’16 has dedicated her life to extraordinarily compassionate care of some of society’s most vulnerable individuals – children with complex medical needs. She is the founder of Hope’s Home, a medical daycare and respite for children with complex medical needs and their families. Jacqueline’s journey really began with the birth of her daughter Acacia. When she was just 18 weeks, an ultra sound revealed that Acacia had spina bifida myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus and Jacqueline’s life changed forever. Acacia spent the first year of her life in the hospital enduring 13 neurosurgical procedures. (She died in 2011 at the age of 18.) At the time of Acacia's birth, Jacqueline, who was studying to become a registered nurse, was inspired by her daughter and changed her focus to study pediatric and neonatal intensive care. For 13 years, Jacqueline worked in the field and saw many children facing life-threatening diagnosis never leave the hospital. She also discovered that community support was lacking for those who were discharged. One of those children living in the hospital was little Hope Dawn Marie, an infant who was placed in foster care because her mother was unable to meet her complex medical needs. Like Acacia, she had been born with spina bifida. Jacqueline willingly became her foster mother. Sadly though, Hope passed away at 10 months of age, having spent nearly all of her life in the hospital. Once again, Jacqueline recognized the gaps in community support but she was about to change that. Jacqueline Tisher holds superhero mask Hope’s Home began in 2005, when Jacqueline took a leave of absence to care for a friend’s child who had complex medical needs. She planned to do that for a year and then return to work. What she didn’t know at the time was that she had established the first medical daycare in Canada. Under Jacqueline’s leadership, after 12 years, Hope’s Home has grown from a small home-based business to a multimillion dollar not-for-profit charitable organization that has provided community care to more than 1,000 children with the highest medical needs in the province. The care at Hope’s Home focuses on enriching each child’s life – seeing them as capable learners and contributors to society, no matter what their diagnosis. With the help and dedication from an amazing complement of staff at Hope’s Home, it’s ultimately a place for special children to just be kids. [post_title] => The Extraordinary Jacqueline Tisher [post_excerpt] => This year marks the 14th anniversary of the University of Regina’s flagship alumni award program – The Alumni Crowning Achievement Awards. The awards were established to celebrate the accomplishments of University of Regina alumni who have realized outstanding achievement in their field. Meet one of this fall’s deserving recipients. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-extraordinary-jacqueline-tisher [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-11-21 10:13:05 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-11-21 16:13:05 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=2332 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2358 [post_author] => 6 [post_date] => 2018-11-02 11:06:11 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-11-02 17:06:11 [post_content] =>  
Lifetime Achievement Award
Ken Ottenbreit BAdmin’80 is described by his friends and colleagues in various ways. Some call him a devoted family man, others, an august attorney and founding partner of the New York office of international law firm, Stikeman Elliott. Still others call him a compassionate humanitarian. Many know him as the Canadian to call in the U.S. when something needs doing. Regardless, anyone who knows, works or volunteers with Ken Ottenbreit acknowledges that he is an extraordinarily worthy recipient of the Alumni Crowning Achievement Award Lifetime Achievement Award. Ken began his career as a corporate lawyer in Toronto at Stikeman Elliott in 1983 and was sent down to assist the New York office on a temporary basis for three months in 1988. He never went back. For 30 years, Ken has been a distinguished leader within the firm and a fixture in the New York legal and business community. Ken’s skillful leadership also led to the creation of the Canadian Association of New York (CANY) – no easy task.  While CANY’s two founding organizations both had a history of good charitable work dating back to the 1860s, they didn’t always see eye-to-eye. Ken Ottenbreit BAdmin'80 holds a Superman cape Ken’s hard work and genuine decency brought the organizations and everyone together. Ken was not only CANY’s first president, but still serves on its board of directors. Remarkably, he also finds time to serve as a director for Achilles International and the not-for-profit “Ice Hockey in Harlem,” a group dedicated to help children achieve academic success using skills learned playing Canada’s national obsession. As a philanthropist, Ken's efforts were acknowledged as he was a recipient of The Queen's Jubilee Medal. One of Ken’s greatest legacy is as founder and organizer of New York City’s annual Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research. Seeing that no such run existed when he arrived in New York, Ken got it started in 1994 with only a few dozen participants. Today, the run attracts thousands to Central Park every October and the fundraising has been impressive. In the past 23 years nearly $3 million dollars has been raised for cancer research. The funds have directly financed the research of Dr. Renier Brentjens at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and led to a significant breakthrough for those people battling Leukemia. [post_title] => The Extraordinary Ken Ottenbreit [post_excerpt] => This year marks the 14th anniversary of the University of Regina’s flagship alumni award program – The Alumni Crowning Achievement Awards. The awards were established to celebrate the accomplishments of University of Regina alumni who have realized outstanding achievement in their field. Meet one of this fall’s deserving recipients. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => the-extraordinary-ken-ottenbreit [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-11-21 10:17:43 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-11-21 16:17:43 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=2358 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )