Going the extra mile: Carolyn Sparrey

As Graduate Program Chair of SFU’s School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering (MSE), Carolyn noticed that her department was one of a few without a dedicated graduate student award. In 2024, she supported a new MSE graduate student award with a personal donation, hoping that it might inspire others to do the same.

Why do you support SFU?

Our graduate students are the heart of our institutional research activities. If we want to attract the best students, we need to be able to make competitive offers, including strong financial support.

What impact of your support have you seen at the university? What would you like to see?

I hope that seeing an award funded primarily by MSE faculty and staff helps our students feel valued and supported, and that this award will motivate others to make a donation as well. I also hope that over time, we can build the capacity to provide more support so that our graduate students can fully focus on their research and scholarly work instead of worrying about part-time jobs and piling on teaching assistantships just to make ends meet in Metro Vancouver.

Why do you believe it is important to support SFU? And more broadly—why support higher education in Canada?

SFU is a unique place where we are highly focused on research that can translate to impact, whether it’s through commercialization, saving patient lives, or addressing issues of climate change and sustainability. We need to value and support this work—it’s essential for all of us. I have seen how building philanthropic support and engineering endowments can positively affect students by providing sustained support for activities that enhance their experiences and professional development opportunities. If we are truly committed to equitable and inclusive education in Canada, then we need to build the supports that eliminate financial barriers for all students.