The Extraordinary Jacqueline Tisher

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.

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Dr. Robert and Norma Ferguson Award for Outstanding Service

When the University of Regina was awarded the honour of hosting the 2018 USports Women's Basketball Championship, it became apparent that coordinating volunteer activities and event logistics would require extraordinary leadership. To use the basketball vernacular, it was a “slam dunk” when Amy Moroz BEd’98 and Andrea Ward BEd’00, MEd’10 were named co-chairs of the prestigious event that the University has hosted three times since 2009. Just as they had done two decades earlier when they led the Cougars women’s basketball team to the cusp of a national championship, the duo, proved they were formidable all-stars.

Amy (Mickleborough) Moroz BEd'98 & Andrea (Gottselig) Ward BEd'00, MEd'10 posed as superheroes

The Dr. Robert and Norma Ferguson Award for Outstanding Service is presented to a graduate (or graduates) to recognize outstanding volunteer leadership and service to the University’s Alumni Association. Both Amy and Andrea graduated with Education degrees and now work in Regina schools as teachers and coaches – ensuring the next generation of basketball players is as skilled as those of the past.

In cooperation with the University and USports, the pair oversaw an outstanding committee that consisted of alumni and committee members from past years’ championships. Amy and Andrea’s inclusive and collaborative leadership style ensured that all committee members were empowered and brought their best to the table.

The pair’s vision was to provide all participating teams and fans with an extraordinary experience during their time in Regina. Alumni activities were plentiful during the weekend, drawing graduates from across western Canada, as well as from the U.S. Although the Cougars fell short in their bid to win the national championship, alumni and the packed Kinesiology Centre gym, enjoyed cheering them on to a bronze medal win.

In every aspect, the tournament was a success and brought a lot of positive exposure to the University of Regina because of Amy and Andrea’s leadership.

As former University of Regina Athletics director, Dick White commented, “Their approach of engaging former members of the Cougars Women's Basketball program to provide the leadership foundation for committees and operation of the tournament was unique and undoubtedly will have a long-term impact for those women and their connection to our University. The event was memorable for all who participated whether as an athlete or fan and this was due in no small part to the vision and leadership of Amy and Andrea."

[post_title] => The Extraordinary Amy Moroz and Andrea Ward [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 two of this fall’s deserving recipients. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => amy-moroz-and-andrea-ward [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-11-16 11:11:51 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-11-16 17:11:51 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=2305 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2346 [post_author] => 6 [post_date] => 2018-11-02 11:00:25 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-11-02 17:00:25 [post_content] =>

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.

[post_title] => The Extraordinary Dr. Joana Cook [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-dr-joana-cook [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2018-11-22 13:43:47 [post_modified_gmt] => 2018-11-22 19:43:47 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.degreesmagazine.ca/?p=2346 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )