Alumni

News Stories

Chris Gill in an alleyway

VIU Media Highlights: February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

VIU in the news this week 📃 The Spring Semester is ramping up at Vancouver Island University. Next week, the campus will be packed with events as part of Global Citizens Week, which features a wide variety of speakers, events and panel discussions. As always, please reach out to us if you need experts for your stories.  Top stories Lecture series kicks off with story of endangered marmot Learn... Read more


Man holding camera

VIU Media Highlights: November 15-29, 2021

November 29, 2021

A roundup of VIU students and employees in the news. Top-performing Broadcast Story VIU alumnus Wawmeesh Hamilton was the featured guest on the November 23 edition of the Our Native Land podcast on CHEK News. Reach: 42,000 people.  Top 10 News Stories Toronto Star (through local journalism initiative): Indigenous journalists essential in amplifying the stories of Indigenous people. See VIU... Read more


portrait of Sandipan Debnath on a city street

Alum of the Month: Sandipan Debnath

October 25, 2021

Completing school and job hunting during a global pandemic didn’t slow Sandipan Debnath (Master of Business Administration ’21) down one bit. He’s now a Business Development Representative at Wrapbook, a US-based tech startup that is digitizing the entertainment payroll industry. Originally from Bangladesh, Debnath is now based out of Toronto at his current position. He shares more about his... Read more


Joe Lyons in front of the mural project

WorldVIU Days Returns with Official Unveiling of Campus Community Mural

October 25, 2021

More than 300 people participated in creating the mural. A campus community mural project first envisioned in 2019 will officially be unveiled at Vancouver Island University (VIU) as part of the kickoff to this year’s annual, multi-day event known as WorldVIU Days. Taking place from from November 1 to 5, WorldVIU Days explores how culture influences the way people make sense of the world. It is... Read more


Beyond 2020

Island Institutions Team Up to Host Virtual Career Fair

November 4, 2020

Beyond 2020 seeks to match employers with qualified students in an all-day event on November 19, 2020. ­­ Registration is now open for the first-ever multi-institutional virtual career fair on Vancouver Island. Beyond 2020 – Vancouver Island Career and Connections Fair aims to bridge the gap between employers and students at a time when student talent is needed more than ever to help with... Read more


VIU Alumna Hannah McSorley shares her enthusiasm about being a researcher in the field of environmental science.

Alum of the Month: Hannah McSorley

January 14, 2020

It’s been a few years since Hannah McSorley graduated from Vancouver Island University, but her connections to the institution remain strong. Thanks to a research background in environmental analytical chemistry which she gained while still a student at VIU, as well as significant field experience in hydrology, McSorley is working for the university’s Coastal Hydrology Research Lab as an analyst... Read more


Ay Lelum - The Good House of Design

Design Duo Preserves Culture Through Fashion

September 17, 2019

As owners of the second-generation Coast Salish fashion design house Ay Lelum – the Good House of Design, sisters Aunalee Boyd-Good (Bachelor of Arts, Major in English ’15) and Sophia Seward-Good, who studied at VIU between 2008 and 2013, are playing an important role in the preservation of their culture, one garment at a time. Growing up around art – their parents are both artists who also owned... Read more


Lainy Nowak, Master of Community Planning

The Class of 2019

September 17, 2019

The future is full of infinite possibilities for the more than 1,200 Vancouver Island University graduates who crossed the stage this year. Fuelled by their passions and equipped to excel in their fields thanks to hands-on learning opportunities and the support they received during their time at VIU, grads are ready to take on new challenges and opportunities in their chosen career paths. Three... Read more


Cloudhead Games, VIU Alumni staff

A Career in the Clouds

September 17, 2019

For most people, the prospect of spending days immersed in virtual reality worlds is a pipe dream made possible only by winning the lottery or some other turn of good fortune. For the folks at Qualicum-based Cloudhead Games, five of whom are VIU alumni, this is their everyday. Up against heavy competition from AAA studios for games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim, the virtual reality game development... Read more


Zoey Poulsen

Alumni News: VIU Magazine 2019 Edition

September 17, 2019

#VIUAlumni tell their stories of where they are now.  1980s VIU is a special place for Tom Osborne (Recreation Administration Diploma ’88), General Manager of Recreation and Parks for the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN). It’s where he met his wife Darcie, and both his son and daughter are now students here. Highlights of his career with the RDN include the construction of Oceanside Place... Read more