Wilma Shim, BSc’07, JD’10, LLM, KC

"If you don't show up, you can't even make an impact." 

It's a simple idea, but one that has quietly guided nearly two decades of Wilma Shim's relationship with the University of Calgary. 

For Shim, BSc’07, JD’10, the University of Calgary has never simply been the place where she earned two degrees. It is where she found mentors, built lifelong friendships and discovered the value of community. It remains a place she continues to invest in, helping create opportunities for alumni and students to connect in ways that extend well beyond the classroom. 

It is that commitment to building community that has earned Shim the 2026 Alumni Service Award, which recognizes graduates whose volunteerism and philanthropy have strengthened the university and its alumni community. 

Over the years, Shim has founded and led three major alumni affinity networks, bringing together Chancellor's Club Scholars and graduates from the faculties of Kinesiology and Law. She has also served on the UCalgary Alumni Association Board of Directors and the university's Senate, helping create opportunities for graduates to reconnect with one another and with today's students. 

For Shim, that sense of belonging is deeply personal. 

Originally from Edmonton, she came to UCalgary after receiving a Chancellor's Club Scholarship. She lived in residence, completed her kinesiology degree and then remained in Calgary to earn her law degree, spending seven years at the university during some of the most formative years of her life. 

"I feel like I really grew up and became who I am in Calgary," she says. "I spent seven full years at the University of Calgary. It really did shape me in terms of who I am." 

While the scholarship made attending UCalgary possible, it was the community surrounding it that left the greatest impression. As a Chancellor's Scholar, Shim attended informal pizza gatherings hosted by the chancellor, where students met university leaders, alumni and fellow scholars in a setting that encouraged conversation.  

Those evenings weren't networking events in the traditional sense. They were opportunities for students to sit down with university leaders, ask questions, hear their stories and begin building relationships that often continued well beyond graduation. Looking back, Shim says those informal conversations helped shape her understanding of what a university community could be. Those experiences stayed with her long after graduation. 

Years later, Shim found herself recreating those same kinds of gatherings through the Chancellor's Club Scholars Alumni Network. Today, she brings together current scholars, alumni, and past and present chancellors, hoping today's students experience the same sense of encouragement and connection she remembers from her own time at UCalgary. Along the way, former chancellor and 2024 Arch Award recipient, Joanne Cuthbertson, BEd'73, Hon. LLD'11, became not only a university leader she admired, but a friend and mentor whose guidance continues today. 

"If I were able to connect them in a certain way that allows for something to grow, why not?" she says. Her interest in building communities, however, reaches back even further. 

Growing up in Edmonton, Shim often accompanied her mother to the University of Alberta while her mom completed her PhD. She remembers spending time in the library, attending Pandas volleyball games and seeing an alumni community that remained engaged with the university long after graduation. Looking back, Shim says those early experiences helped shape her appreciation for what a university’s alumni community could become. 

When she arrived at UCalgary, she found many of those same qualities and eventually began asking how she could help strengthen them for future generations of students and alumni. 

That question led to a series of initiatives that have helped reshape alumni engagement across the university. In addition to launching affinity networks for Chancellor's Club Scholars and graduates of Kinesiology and Law, Shim has worked with faculty leaders and Alumni Engagement to create events that encourage graduates to return to campus, reconnect with former classmates and build relationships with current students. 

She credits much of that success to the support she received from university leaders who encouraged new ideas. 

"There was just this openness," Shim says. "If you want to make the effort and initiative to start something, I had so much support." 

Professionally, Shim has continued to build a distinguished career in law, education and sport. She serves as a commissioner with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, teaches sports law in both UCalgary faculties of Law and Kinesiology, recently completed a Master of Law in sports law, and now serves as one of Alberta's sports arbitrators through the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, helping resolve disputes within Canada's national sport system.  

Her volunteer work at UCalgary exists alongside an equally active commitment to the broader community, serving on numerous legal and sport organizations while continuing to mentor students and young professionals. 

Some of the moments Shim values most are the simplest ones: Seeing alumni return to campus after years away, watching graduates introduce their families to the university, or seeing current students meet people who were once in their shoes. 

Today, those experiences have become personal in a different way. Shim often brings her parents, husband and three sons to Dinos games and around campus, introducing them to a place that has played such an important role in her own life. She hopes that, whatever path her sons choose, they will understand the value of belonging to a community. 

"I would really love that when students come into a program, they know that they are joining a community," she says. "They are now a part of the University of Calgary community." 

For Shim, that sense of community doesn't end at convocation. She continues to keep in touch with former chancellors and mentors like Cuthbertson and Dr. Robert Thirsk, BSc (Eng)’76, Hon. LLD’09, MDCM, DEng; Deborah Yedlin, Hon. LLD’26; along with former Faculty of Law Dean, Dr. Ian Holloway, PhD; and former Dean of Kinesiology and UCalgary Provost, Dr. Penny Werthner, PhD. Those relationships, she says, demonstrate how a university community can continue to shape lives long after graduation.  

When asked what brings her the greatest satisfaction, Shim’s answer isn't about the many awards or professional accomplishments. 

"It makes me happy when I see other people enjoying themselves," she says. "When I see people bringing their families and seeing their families come together ... if I can be a part of it, that's so special." 

It's a fitting reflection for someone whose volunteer work has focused less on creating programs than on creating opportunities for people to find one another. For nearly 20 years, Shim has worked tirelessly to create exactly those kinds of moments for the UCalgary community. 

Alumni Service Award

The UCalgary Arch Award for Alumni Service recognizes graduates whose philanthropy and/or volunteer commitment has served to advance the University of Calgary and its alumni. The award honours those who have improved the lives of fellow graduates and future alumni.