The Awards and Scholarships Committee oversees awards and scholarships that are sponsored and co-sponsored by the Faculty Association, as well as the events celebrating FA award recipients. As Chair, I was capably assisted this year by committee members Cora Gilroy, Barry Linkletter, Shafiqul Islam, Raquel Hoersting, Nadja Bressen and Armin Bodaghkhani.
Despite all the disruptions of this past year, activities to recognize the efforts of our members continued. We were pleased to assume responsibility for adjudication of the Janet Pottie Murray Award for Educational Leadership in the fall and issued a call for nominations for this award during the winter semester along with our other Faculty awards. At the time of writing this report, nominations were about to close with files being turned over to the four adjudication sub-committees. We may have some results to share during the AGM. Another change that you’ll see starting in the summer semester is a call for nominations for Hessian Merit Awards for Excellence in Teaching for Sessional and Full-time members will be issued every semester. This is in recognition that colleagues in some programs (e.g., Education) are teaching year-round.
During a virtual FA Time on March 19th, we celebrated the 2020 Faculty Association entrance scholarship recipients and medalists. Thanks to the support of the Social committee, many members picked up delicious appetizers earlier in the afternoon to enjoy during the event. Our Entrance Scholarship recipients were Briana Creed and Hannah Lawlor. Recipients of the Undergraduate Medals were Bronze Medal – Mengyu Zang; Silver Medal – Logan Anderson; and Gold Medal – William Taylor-Melanson. The Graduate Medals were awarded to Joyce Ferguson – Masters Medal and Matthew J. Dunlop – Doctoral Medal. Many of the student recipients were present and spoke to those in attendance, sharing their appreciation for the support and recognition provided through the FA. The entrance scholarships and medal awards are funded entirely by the Faculty Association, including through individual contributions by members. If you are interested in supporting our awards, go to the UPEIFA website https://upeifa.ca/get-involved/donate/ for details on how to set up a donation through payroll deduction.
We would not be able to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and colleagues without the service of quite a few people. The four subcommittees that adjudicate nominations for our FA awards are highly valued for the careful consideration they give to these nominations and we really appreciate their contributions. This year the Merit Award for Scholarly Achievement Subcommittee was chaired by Edward Chung. Gloria McInnis-Perry, Aitazaz Faroque, Caroline Ritter, Carolyn Thorne, Esther Wohlgemut, Mike MacLellan, Yolanda Hood and Blake Jelley are the other members of this sub-committee. Henrik Stryhn is chairing the Hessian Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching Subcommittee, joined by Kathy Snow, Andrew Carrothers, Charlie Pye, Grant McSorley, Kate Scarth, Chris Vessey, and Patrice Drake. Our third subcommittee for the Merit Award for Outstanding Service is chaired by Shannon Murray, joined by Zain Esseghaier, Gail Macartney, Stevan Springer, Kerri McCaffery and Xiao Chen. Finally, our fourth sub-committee for the Janet Pottie Murray Award for Educational Leadership was adjudicated by Sue Dawson as chair and Jason Pearson, Cora Gilroy, Libby Osgoode, Philip Smith, Ann Braithwaite, Rosie LeFaive, and Don Wagner. We are grateful for the time and care each of you dedicated to the adjudication of awards and we are looking forward to celebrating this year’s recipients.
Finally, we have scheduled a date for a virtual Faculty Recognition Celebration on Wednesday, May 5, 2021. We will be celebrating our award recipients from 2020 and 2021 as well as recognizing retirees from both years. If you haven’t ordered tickets yet, we recommend doing this ASAP. It promises to be an exceptional event.
By Charlene VanLeeuwen (Chair)
