Making a Difference

Dr. Hafizah Yahya knows firsthand the difference scholarships can make.

"My children attended the University of Alberta and they were fortunate to win some scholarships", she says. "I realise that any amount of money is helpful to a student and it gives me pleasure to be able to help and recognize students the way my children were."

Endowed by the family in memory of her husband, the Dr. Hafizah Yahya Scholarship in Mathematics is awarded to a student with superior academic achievement entering the fourth year of study for a BSc with Honors in Mathematics.

Mathematics has always been an integral part of the Yahya family.

Hafizah is a mathematics lecturer at the U of A. Her husband, Dr. S.M. Yahya, graduated with a PfD in Mathematics from the University of Birmingham, England, and taught for years in his home country of Pakistan before making his way to the U of A in 1993. He passed away in 2005 after battling cancer.

"I started this scholarship to recognize the achievements of students dedicated to studying mathematics and to motivate students to do well in their studies."

Hafizah recognized that students today are faced with far more distractions than they were a couple of decades ago.

"My husband would probably advise students to remember that studying hard for four years towards a degree is a small sacrifice to ensure a good future."