Alumni Relations
Alumni Achievement Awards
The Alumni Achievement Awards honour Ryerson graduates who have not only excelled in their respective careers, but have made a significant contribution to their profession, their community, and their country.
Launched in 1998, in conjunction with the University’s 50 th Anniversary, the Alumni Achievement Awards recognize outstanding graduates from each faculty, as well as the recent graduates, who are honoured with the Isadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.
- The photo gallery is now available!
Nominations for Alumni Achievement Award recipients may be submitted to the Alumni Relations Office.
Award Recipients
- Tish Cohen, Ted Rogers School of Business Management ‘88
- Dave Devall, Radio and Television Arts ‘58
- Hughes Eng, Printing Management ‘59
- Murray Koebel, Architectural Science ‘78
- Wendy Mesley, Journalism ‘90
- Francy Pillo-Blocka, Food and Nutrition ‘86
- Agata Jaworska, Interior Design ‘02
- Matt Butko, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management ’88
Alumni Achievement Award Recipients
Tish Cohen
Ted Rogers School of Business Management ‘88
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Tish Cohen achieved a feat few writers can boast about – selling to Hollywood the rights to a book she hadn’t published yet. In September 2005, she sold her first novel, Town House, to Fox 2000, before even securing a publisher for her manuscript. At the time of her induction in the Alumni Wall of Achievement, the film was being produced with Thelma & Louise director Ridley Scott at the helm. A frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail and the National Post, Ms. Cohen is also the author of two novels for the middle-grade set, The Invisible Rules of Zoe Lama, a Canadian bestseller, and its sequel, The One and Only Zoe Lama. She most recently released her second novel for adults, Inside Out Girl. |
Top Dave Devall
Radio and Television Arts ‘58
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In April 2009, two days before his retirement, Dave Devall set the Guinness World Record for the longest career as a weather forecaster. While studying at Ryerson, Mr. Devall served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, where part of his training centered on meteorology. After working at CFPL-TV in London, CFRB Radio in Toronto and CHEX-TV in Peterborough, he auditioned, with 2,000 other hopefuls, for CTV Toronto at its launch in 1961. One of six people hired as a broadcaster, he worked for CTV for close to 50 years. Mr. Devall earned a loyal following with his warm personality and such on-screen antics as drawing symbols on a plexiglass screen. In 2007, he was made an honorary colonel of the Canadian Forces Squadron 436 at CFB Trenton. |
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Hughes Eng
Printing Management ‘59
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Since his retirement in 1987 from the University of Toronto Press, where he worked for 28 years, Hughes Eng has been an active leader in the Chinese community of Toronto. Among his many hats, he has served as Vice-Chair of the Board of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto and Co-Chair of the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. He was also Vice-Chair of the Canadian Liver Foundation from 1989 to 1995, Chair of the Confederation of the Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations from 1994 to 1998, and, since 2008, a member of the Chinese-Canadian Advisory Committee under the Community Historical Recognition Program. In 2007, Mr. Eng was appointed to the Order of Ontario in recognition of his dedicated service to the community. |
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Murray Koebel
Architectural Science ‘78
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Murray Koebel began his career with Victoria Wood Development Corp, eventually attaining the role of Vice-President of Operations. In 1985 Mr. Koebel created Vista Homes and he now operates the Vista Homes Group of Companies. Vista has produced more than 1,000 homes and properties around the Greater Toronto Area, and in Canmore, Alberta. In 1993, Mr. Koebel was named President of the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association and in 1999, became President of the Ontario Home Builders Association. He also served as a Director of the Ontario New Home Warranty Program, and was elected to the Executive and Board of Directors of the Canadian Home Builders Association in 2002. Mr. Koebel also renovated a historic mill condominium, and renewable energy hydro station in Fergus, Ontario. |
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Renowned for her uncompromising interviewing style, Wendy Mesley is among the most recognized personalities in Canadian broadcasting. She has dedicated her distinguished broadcasting career to the CBC, beginning as a local news reporter, a parliamentary correspondent for The National, and a frequent contributor to Sunday Report, a program she later anchored. Ms. Mesley also helped create, and hosted, the Gemini Award-winning Undercurrents, which examined the media and marketing world. More recently, she hosted the popular program Test the Nation, a series of interactive quiz shows that attracted 1.5 million viewers, and has helmed the award-winning investigative consumer program Marketplace. Ms. Mesley was honoured with three Gemini Awards for Best Host in a News or Talk Program or Series. |
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Francy Pillo-Blocka
Food and Nutrition ‘86
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As President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition, Francy Pillo-Blocka combines her expertise in science and nutrition with her experience in the corporate world. The Council is a national, non-profit organization which acts as a catalyst in advancing the nutritional health and well-being of all Canadians. It is perhaps best known for its Tracking Nutrition Trends Survey which examines adult consumers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours concerning food and nutrition. Previously, Ms. Pillo-Blocka worked at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital – combining 10 years in patient care with practice-based research, followed by six years in corporate development. Ms. Pillo-Blocka, a registered dietitian, has received a number of awards including, in 2007, the honorable designation of Fellow of Dietitians of Canada. |
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Isadore Sharp Outstanding Recent Graduate Award Recipient
Agata Jaworska
Interior Design ‘02
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As a student, Agata Jaworska won the design competition for the official Ryerson Chair, which serves as a gift to benefactors of the University. Her design went on to win Canadian Interiors magazine’s Best of Canada Design Competition in 2003. A few years later, as part of her Masters studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, she produced a thesis project she called ‘Made in Transit’ - a packaging prototype allowing vegetables to grow during shipping and be harvested by the consumer just before eating. Her creation was named among TIME magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2008, and was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Now based in Amsterdam, Ms. Jaworska works for the conceptual design company Droog. |
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Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award Recipient
Matt Butko
Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management ’88
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