Deanna Burgart
When she was named the 2019 SAIT Distinguished Alumni award winner, Deanna Burgart was at a loss.
“I can’t even think of a word that adequately expresses what it meant to me,” said Burgart, who graduated from the institution in 2000 in chemical engineering technology. “Looking over the past 20 years since I went to SAIT and the evolution that my personal and professional life has taken, and to be recognized for the work I do now, means a lot.”
Today, Burgart, who runs Indigenous Engineering Inclusion Inc., is a contract instructor and develops curriculum.
“It’s a relationship I’ve maintained on and off for 13 years,” she said. “SAIT really afforded me the first opportunity to teach. It’s remained a part of my growth.” She relishes her guidance role. “I was blessed to meet so many incredible mentors throughout my career and it has always been really important to me to reciprocate that energy,” she said. “All the students and people I’ve mentored I’ve considered mentors to me as well.”
Burgart, mother of three and grandmother of one, was born in Edmonton and is a member of the Fond du Lac First Nation in Saskatchewan. Moving to Calgary at five months old, she spent her formative years in Singapore as her father worked in the oil and gas industry.
A couple of months ago, Burgart added another section to her resume. She joined the University of Calgary faculty of engineering — after a year-and-a-half of working for them as a consultant — and has been appointed teaching chair focused on integrating Indigenous knowledge and perspective into engineering.
“Teaching, looking at ways we can enhance curricula, incorporate and take action on the reconciliation calls to action,” she said, listing her duties. “At this time in Canada, engineering curricula has very little content in the way of Indigenous rights and consult, which I think every engineer should graduate with.”
Burgart is also a keynote speaker with the International Indigenous Speakers Bureau.
“I see my role as raising awareness, introducing different perspectives and lifting the voices of other Indigenous peoples,” Burgart said.