Class notes

Darlene (Koskie) Macartney

BSc '76 (Kinesiology)

Darlene and her partner Rick (BA '74, Economics) are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2025. They are retired and live in Blue Mountain, where they golf in the summer and ski in the winter. When they aren't doing these activities, they are travelling. Their most recent trip was to the Balkans, which they thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Their next journey is a ski trip to Italy and Switzerland in March 2025.  Darlene says they are "Living the Life!"

Ian Webster

BA '76 (Recreation and Leisure Studies)

Karen Pawelko

BSc '76 (Kinesiology)

Ian and Karen celebrated their 47th anniversary this past August. After one year in Prince Rupert, B.C., the couple took up residence in Merritt in the warm southern interior of the province. Ian taught elementary school for 33 years, followed by 10 years of journalism for his local paper. He has been an official in six different sports. Karen enjoyed a rewarding 39-year career as a dental clinic office manager/receptionist. Ian and Karen raised two wonderful children, Robyn and Megan, on a 57-acre ranch property outside of Merritt. This past January, the two said goodbye to their beloved acreage and moved into town to finally slow down, relax, enjoy retirement and be closer to services and amenities. 

Eric Celentano

BSc '79 (Kinesiology)

This fall, Eric wrapped up five years as the Faculty of Health representative on the Alumni Council and engagement with the global alumni community. He continues to volunteer in retirement as a patient advocate for organ donation, lung transplantation and lung diseases stemming from his receiving a successful double lung transplant in 2018 and long career as a respiratory medical equipment sales specialist. Eric lives in Toronto.

C. Jody ("CJ") Frederick

BA '91 (Recreation and Leisure Studies), MA '93 (Recreation and Leisure Studies)

CJ has worked in the high-tech industry since 1997, using her writing skills honed at Waterloo to create software product documentation. At the start of the pandemic, she decided to dip into the creative well and ended up publishing her first novel, a historical fiction tale based on a true story. The saga began because she wanted to discover the story about a memorial plaque nailed to a buttonwood tree dedicated to a WWI soldier. Her novel, "Rooted and Remembered," is now available for sale. CJ didn't write a book to make money, and so far, that's going precisely according to plan.

Uzma Bhutto

MPH '09 (Public Health)

Uzma graduated from Waterloo's Master of Public Health program in 2009 and is currently the Director of Development and Training for the Coalition of Muslim Women of KW. Throughout her career, she has worked as a doctor in Pakistan (prior to pursuing her master's degree), while also being recognized for her impactful contributions while working with marginalized groups. Recently, Uzma received the Rogers Woman of the Year Community Service Award for her dedications to community building and women's empowerment, as well as the Windmill Microlending Empowerment Award for her empowerment and support of immigrants and refugees coming to Canada.

Dr. Jennifer Gillies

BA '02 (Recreation and Leisure Studies), MA '04 (Recreation and Leisure Studies), PhD '10 (Recreation and Leisure Studies)

Jennifer was recently named the University of Waterloo’s inaugural Associate Provost for Campus Support and Accessibility, following nearly a decade as the Director of AccessAbility Services. Having experienced the campus as a student, instructor, researcher and staff member, Jennifer proudly considers herself a lifelong member of the University of Waterloo community. Jennifer’s diverse experience at the University of Waterloo has given her a unique and comprehensive understanding of the supports needed to foster an inclusive and accessible campus. Jennifer looks forward to collaborating with students, faculty, and staff to build a more accessible and inclusive future for the University of Waterloo.

Jonathan Hutton

BSc '08 (Kinesiology)

Since graduating, Jon has worked as a personal trainer, a strength and conditioning coach for high performance athletes, and as a senior sales manager for a large health supplement company managing stores all across southern Ontario. He then pivoted into lending as a mortgage agent with Dominion Lending Centres before being dragged to the ‘dark side’ by his wife and now business partner, finding his true passion as a realtor on one of the top Re/Max teams in Canada. Outside of work, Jon enjoys running, obstacle course racing, endurance events such as GoRuck, Spartans, Tough Mudder, and sharing his passion for health and fitness with clients, friends, family and his wife and two daughters.

Alicia Brubacher

BSc '11 (Health Studies)

Several years after graduating from Waterloo, Alicia went on to complete her Master of Public Health and for the last decade, has been living and working in the central Okanagan of B.C.. Surrounded by beautiful lakes and mountains, Alicia enjoys the outdoor lifestyle that the Okanagan offers, while working as a director of strategic initiatives for Clinical Operations with Interior Health Authority. Her job focuses on strategic planning, budget and project management for hospital services in the interior region of B.C. She is also recently engaged with plans to wed in summer 2025.   

Rebecca Correia

BSc '19 (Health Studies)

Rebecca recently completed her PhD in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University and began a postdoctoral research fellowship at Dalhousie University. Rebecca was supervised by Dr. Andrew Costa (who is also a University of Waterloo Health Studies alum), whom she began working with during her final undergraduate co-op term. Rebecca is a health services researcher with interests in primary care (family medicine), aging, health human resources and medical education. During her postdoc, Rebecca will lead mixed-methods, multi-provincial studies to understand the impacts of population aging on primary care needs and capacity.