The Brock University community is mourning the death of PhD student Aimée Nezavdal.

Nezavdal (MEd ’17), who was in the first year of the Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD program, passed away from cancer on Monday, Jan. 30. She is survived by her two children and husband.

In addition to working as a registered nurse for 25 years, spending much of that time in the intensive-care unit (ICU) at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Nezavdal completed a Master of Education at Brock in 2017. Her thesis work, completed under the supervision of Professor Lissa Paul, focused on liminality in the ICU.

“Besides being a wife, mother and ICU nurse, Aimée was also — even as a student — a scholar whose work we admired,” says Paul, Director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD program. “Although Aimée had been diagnosed with untreatable cancer when admitted to the program, she was stable, happy, delighted to be with us and had hoped to remain well enough to complete her studies.”

Associate Professor Trevor Norris, who also taught Nezavdal and worked with her on her master’s thesis, says it’s “remarkable” that she was motivated to begin a new degree with great enthusiasm, despite her terminal diagnosis.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to an education fund created for Nezavdal’s children.

The flags at Brock University will be lowered to half-mast Thursday, Feb. 9 in Nezavdal’s honour.