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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Success Stories

Alumni

  • Samantha Stahlke

                                                                     Samantha Stahlke

    Samantha learned of Ontario Tech University through a pamphlet left on the coffee table by her mom. An artist, lover of all things design and avid gamer, the FBIT Undergraduate Game Development and Entrepreneurship program seemed like the perfect fit. When she began the program, Samantha believed she would graduate and immediately begin her career in the gaming field. However, after a few years at Ontario Tech, the school began to feel like a second home, and not ready to leave, she decided to pursue her Master’s in Computer Science, a shared program across Science, Business and IT and Engineering.

    Supervised by Dr. Pejman Mirza-Babaei, who had been her mentor since second-year undergrad, Samantha completed her research on games user, human-computer interaction and AI. She published 12 articles during her time in the program and won multiple awards for her research, including the 2020 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award and 2020 Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, the most prestigious honour granted at the graduate level at Ontario Tech University. In 2019 Samantha began as a sessional instructor for the Faculty of Business and IT and we are lucky to have her.

    As for future goals? Samantha is unsure what the future holds, but she is sure she will continue to pursue her passions in gaming, her love of teaching and staying an active part of the Ontario Tech U community.


Level Up

  • 2018

    Level Up Technical Innovation Award

    Game: PrimeOps

    Team: Product of Primes, second-year team. From left to right: Jacky Yang, Danny Luk, Tom Tsiliopoulos, Connor Smiley, and Joss Moo-Young


    LEVEL UP WEBSITE

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  • 2017

    Level Up Technical Innovation Award

    Team: Ominous Games.From left to right: Josh Bellyk, Samantha Stahlke, and Owen Meier

    LEVEL UP WEBSITE

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