Exceptional faculty and staff honoured at special ceremony
President Gary Kachanoski has announced Memorial University’s outstanding educators, researchers and staff members for 2015.
The President’s Awards recognize excellence in public engagement, teaching, research, service and community service. The awards are announced annually and will be formally presented at a ceremony Dec. 7.
“The tradition of the President’s Awards goes back more than 30 years,” said Dr. Kachanoski. “And while they are called the President’s Awards, they are truly a reflection of the high esteem in which our Memorial University community holds the recipients, because all of them have been nominated and recommended for these honours by their peers or their students. Our award winners serve as role models for the entire Memorial community.”
For the first time, President’s Awards for Public Engagement Partnerships have been awarded. These awards celebrate exemplary community-university collaborations that are in keeping with the goals of Memorial’s Public Engagement Framework. Up to two awards are offered annually for partnerships between one or more students, staff and/or faculty members and an organization or group from outside Memorial.
This year, awards have been presented to the Shea Heights Community Alliance and the NunatuKavut Research Ethics Project.
Dr. David Behm, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, and Dr. Paul Snelgrove, Department of Ocean Sciences and the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, have been named University Research Professors. The title University Research Professor is a designation above the rank of professor and goes to a faculty member who has demonstrated a consistently high level of scholarship and whose research is of a truly international stature.
The President’s Award for Exceptional Community Service has been awarded to Dr. April Manuel, School of Nursing. This award is presented in recognition of employees (faculty or staff) who have demonstrated outstanding community service.
The President’s Award for Outstanding Research has been awarded to Dr. Octavia Dobre, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Dr. Stephen Piercey, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, and Dr. Yvan Rose, Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts. The President’s Award for Outstanding Research recognizes young researchers who have made significant contributions to their scholarly disciplines.
Dr. Alistair Bath, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, has been awarded the President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate and Post-graduate Supervision. This award recognizes exemplary efforts to foster success in the research and scholarship of their graduate or post-graduate students and to advance their students’ success in their profession.
The President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, recognizing teaching excellence in the university community, was presented to Dr. Ken Barter, School of Social Work.
Other teaching awards—for outstanding teaching—recognize remarkable efforts in the classroom by faculty members with 5-10 years of service to the university, and lecturers and instructional staff with a minimum of five course sections taught.
The President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching (Faculty) has been awarded to Dr. Delores Mullings, School of Social Work.
The President’s Award for Outstanding Teaching (Lecturers and Instructional Staff) has been awarded to Dr. Matthew LeRiche, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts.
The President’s Awards for Exemplary Service have been awarded to five remarkable Memorial community members. They are Thomas Mallard, Facilities Management; Derrick Kelloway, Offshore Safety and Survival Centre, Marine Institute; Constance Fudge, Campus Enforcement and Patrol; Patricia Barker, Animal Care Services, Faculty of Medicine; and Dallas Collins, Information and Technology Services,
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The President’s Award for Exemplary Service is presented to employees who have demonstrated outstanding service and/or who have made significant contributions to the university community beyond that normally expected for their positions.
The awards ceremony will take place in the Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation on the St. John’s campus.