New award to honour the memory of Cecelia Suragh

A new award honouring the memory of a greatly-admired Management of Technology MBA student will provide financial support for graduate students at SFU’s Beedie School of Business.

The Cecelia Suragh Memorial Graduate Award in Business will provide support to individuals with an undergraduate degree in life sciences who are pursuing graduate degrees at the Beedie School of Business.

The award has been established in the memory of Cecelia Suragh, a Management of Technology (Biotechnology) MBA candidate, who passed away suddenly on June 16 2010.

The Beedie School of Business, along with the 2009 Management of Technology MBA cohort, set up the Cecelia Suragh Memorial Endowment Fund in Suragh’s honour after her untimely passing. The endowment fund will now be used to support the award.  

The annual award is intended to support individuals with life sciences degrees who may otherwise avoid pursuing graduate studies for economic reasons. The inaugural award is set to be distributed to the first recipient in fall 2012.

Suragh gained her Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology from SFU before going on to work in a project management position at the BC Cancer Agency. She returned to SFU to pursue her Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and then further strengthened her links with SFU when she returned again to join the Management of Technology (Biotechnology) MBA program in 2009.

“We are all pleased and excited to see this award come to fruition,” says Suragh’s partner, Norm Singhavon. “Cecelia was the most generous and giving person I have ever known and this award is a great way to honor her life and what she represented. With this award, Cecelia’s spirit and memory will be kept alive as it continues to help others and encourage the pursuit of higher education.”

“Special thanks to her classmates Andrew Armour, Dina Shafey and Tom Tucker. Without their dedicated efforts and patience with me, this award would never have become a reality.”

For more information about the Cecelia Suragh Memorial Graduate Award in Business, or to donate to the fund, click here.