Dedication, hard work rewarded

Faculty of Arts and Science Dean Brian Lewis (centre) stands with the winners of his Awards for Outstanding Achievements, Oct. 15. | Photo by Ryan Blau – PBL Photography

For the fifth time, Arts and Science welcomed more than 100 people from across the Faculty to celebrate teachers and staff at the ceremony for the Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement.

“I would like to thank each of our award recipients for your hard work and your dedication to Concordia University,” said Dean Brian Lewis during his opening address. “You are to be commended.”

On Oct. 15 in the Hall Building Faculty Lounge, Lewis handed out awards to 12 individuals in four different categories.
 

Arts and Science Dean Brian Lewis and Psychology Professor Dolores Pushkar (right), who won an Award for Distinguished Scholarship.

Given to researchers whose body of published scholarly work has brought greater recognition for the Faculty, the Awards for Distinguished Scholarship were awarded to psychology’s Dolores Pushkar, philosophy’s Justin Erik Halldór Smith, and theological studies’ Lucian Turcescu.

The New Scholar Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement by a tenure-track faculty member, were awarded to theological studies’ André Gagné, geography, planning and environment’s Jochen Jaeger, politicial science’s Stephanie Paterson (see related story), journalism’s David Secko, and classics, modern languages and linguistics’ Roberto Viereck-Salinas.
 

Geography, Planning and Environment Professor Jochen Jaeger (right) won a New Scholar Award.

Recognizing an exceptional record of academic service inside and outside the Faculty, the Awards for Outstanding Academic Service were handed to chemistry and biochemistry’s Peter Bird and Études françaises’ Lucie Lequin.

The Award for Teaching Excellence, for superior performance in teaching, went to English’s Stephanie Bolster and communication studies’ Sandra Jeppesen.

Since 2006, the annual Dean’s Awards ceremony has honoured 45 Concordians.

Each academic year, the dean invites nominations with an early spring deadline. With the exception of the Dean, Associate Deans, Chairs and Principals, all faculty members are eligible to be nominated for one or more awards. For staff members, all are eligible except those reporting directly to the Dean. Faculty and staff in areas other than Arts and Science are eligible as well, based on their exceptional services rendered to the Faculty.
 

English Professor Stephanie Bolster (right) took home an Award for Teaching Excellence.

The Faculty of Arts and Science’s Awards Committee perform evaluations of the nominations, which is followed by discussions at the appropriate sectoral meeting of chairs and principals. The dean makes the final decision.

Last year’s ceremony welcomed more than 50 gathered in the Hall Building Faculty Lounge to honour six individuals for their contribution to the university. (See Journal, Nov. 26, 2009.)

The annual awards ceremony supports the effort to establish initiatives to internally recognize remarkable Concordians, such as the Provost’s Circle of Distinction (See Journal, June 10, 2010).
 

Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Peter Bird (right) won an awards for Outstanding Academic Service.

The Faculty of Arts and Science also celebrated its finest students of 2009-10 on Oct. 20 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. Last academic year, 1 100 students earned a spot on the Dean’s list with a GPA of 3.75 or higher. The 149 students honoured at the ceremony were in the top 1% of their individual programs.