UCalgary’s Janaka Ruwanpura wins Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award

One of the University of Calgary's vice-provosts has been recognized by a prestigious people’s choice awards program that honours inspirational immigrants who have made a positive impact on their communities since arriving in Canada.

Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President Research (International) Dr. Janaka Ruwanpura has been selected for this year’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.

Ruwanpura, PhD, is the only recipient from Calgary this year.

“I would like to express my gratitude to many including the UCalgary broader community (Senior Leadership Team members, academic staff, staff, students, the Students’ Union and Graduate Students’ Association, community members) for promoting me through social media, websites, emails and word of mouth," says Ruwanpura, who came to Canada from Sri Lanka as an international student in 1997 and received citizenship in 2002. "I am also humbled, fortunate and genuinely privileged to be among the many outstanding top Canadian Immigrants recognized over the years. This award further motivates me to give back to our Canadian community by helping immigrants succeed in their career paths.”

Other members of the UCalgary community who were nominated for this year's Canadian Immigrant Awards include:

• Doctoral candidate Pam Farrell of the Werklund School of Education
• Schulich School of Engineering professor Dr. Wael Badawy, PhD
• Schulich alumna and cybersecurity expert Monika Tamber, BSc (Eng)’04

See Ruwanpura’s full profile and the complete list of 2022 award winners here.