The past couple of weeks have been a time of recognition for Fanshawe's outstanding alumni.

Law and security graduate Debra Bodkin was recently named as one of the recipients of the 2010 Premier's Awards for Ontario College Graduates and received her award at the Higher Education Summit on November 22.

Besides being the first woman in the Waterloo Regional Police Service's Intelligence Unit and Homicide Unit, she also has been involved in intense overseas work such as investigating crimes against humanity in Kosovo, Darfur and Rwanda. For her work in Kosovo, she received the NATO Medal of Service.

On November 18, six alumni were celebrated for their notable work in the community and professionally.

The ceremony celebrated Danielle Aziz, Bruce Bonner, Ian Campbell, Jane Gershon, Lucky Heeley and Randy Zupanski. The winners covered all areas from social work to restaurants.

Aziz was recognized for her program, Onward Social Skills, based in London. The program helps children and young people become stronger, happier individuals by having them participate in weekly games and role-playing that help strengthen their social skills.

Fanshawe gave Bonner a great jumping-off point into his 20-year career as a civil engineer. He moved from municipal department manager and vice-president of Wills Associates Limited within five years of joining the firm and now has the title of president. Besides the firm's high-profile projects, Bonner is also an active participant in the Scouts, having been one since 1972.

Campbell demonstrated entrepreneurial drive in his creation of a multi-million dollar business specializing in electronic data management called iConect Development. It focuses on customized software products that assist legal firms and companies in reducing their paper files as the products allow them to scan millions of document pages to the web. On a smaller but no less important scale, Campbell has also been involved in one of the largest minor soccer associations and is a major stakeholder in bringing a Premier Development League franchise of the United Soccer League to London.

Gershon holds the position of strategic sourcing intelligence lead at Rogers Communications Inc. in Toronto. She said she owes her current success to her program at Fanshawe. She became the youngest woman in Canada to earn her professional designation in Certified Professional Purchaser in 2008. Her position involves using market research and market intelligence to develop vendor profiles as well as establish progress benchmarks.

Talk about breathing easy — Heeley has become a leader in the field of respiratory therapy. She is currently the vice-president of sales and marketing for eVent Medical where she is in charge of worldwide sales. She is also a supporter of the International Children's Heart Foundation, which provides children with lifesaving cardiac surgeries in Third World countries.

Finally, Zupanski has worked around the world as a general manager who has revamped old properties and supervised the developments of new hotels — an ideal career path for a hotel and restaurant management graduate. He has led 15 properties with six of them being complete transformations. His seventh achievement is the Fairmont Pacific Rim, a 377-room luxury hotel in Vancouver and currently in fourth place in a list of 61 Fairmont hotels internationally for its superior customer service.