The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Provincial Executive Council has announced the winners of the 2016/17 ATA fellowships and scholarships.

Doctoral Fellowship in Education

Each year, the Alberta Teachers’ Association awards two fellowships, valued at $15,000 each, to ATA members who have been accepted into, or who have already embarked upon, full-time study in a doctoral program in education at a recognized Alberta public university. The fellowship program is intended to recognize academic excellence and to help defray the financial costs of university study.

Douglas Checkley

Doug Checkley has been a teacher in Lethbridge for the past 12 years. He began his career teaching science and math at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, where he taught for five years. During that time, he earned his MEd with a focus on physics education. Checkley then moved to Chinook High School where he taught science, before moving into administration. He is now pursuing his doctorate at the University of Lethbridge, with a focus on supporting refugee students in high school science classrooms.

Sarah Novosel

Sarah Novosel has been teaching French immersion for the past six years. Sarah is an active member of Edmonton Catholic Teachers Local 54, supporting communications and public relations as well as supporting the planning of social and political events for the local. 

Sarah is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary in the Leading Languages & Literacy program. Her thesis is on the dialectic of semiotic and neuroscience studies in second-language classrooms. Sarah wishes to further second-language acquisition in immersion classrooms through the development of new theories and tools.

John Mazurek Memorial—Morgex Insurance Scholarship

The John Mazurek Memorial—Morgex Insurance Scholarship is sponsored by Morgex Insurance. The $2,500 scholarship is to be used for an approved professional development course or part of an organized program of study in the field of business education and/or the use of computer technology in education from a recognized Canadian public institution.

Lara Ripkens

Lara Ripkens has taught at the secondary level for nine years with Northern Lights Public Schools. She is passionate about making education accessible and joyful for children of diverse backgrounds and learning needs. Her graduate studies pertaining to distance education were inspired by her love of technology and position as an outreach educator. Lara currently lives in Cold Lake with her husband and two children. ❚