The many success stories found within the Faculty of Social Sciences over the past year were celebrated during a special event held Thursday, Jan. 25.

Held at Alphie’s Trough, the annual Celebration of Excellence is an opportunity to acknowledge and take pride in the exceptional research and teaching taking place within Social Sciences. A full list of honorees is available on the Faculty website.

Interim Dean of Social Sciences Ingrid Makus was proud to recognize the award recipients, as well as the Faculty’s “everyday excellence” in teaching and research.

In addition to celebrating faculty achievements — from the Faculty’s newest Canada Research Chair, Julia Baird, to the latest Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence, Kendra Coulter — the event also acknowledged the outstanding work of graduate students.

Four writing awards were presented by Acting Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Dawn Zinga, highlighting the diverse and timely research being carried out by graduate students.

Psychology students Xiaomei Zhou and Megan Earle received awards for the best PhD and MA theses. Zhou’s dissertation was entitled, “Recognizing Own- and Other-race Faces: Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Other-Race Effect.” Earle’s research focused on “Shaping Responses to Terrorism, Muslims, and Syrian Refugees: The Role of Right-Wing Adherence and News Media Exposure.”

Connor Dingle of Geography received an award for his major research paper, “Mobile Technology and Reconstituting Place at the Matheson Learning Commons,” while Devon Coutts was recognized for submitting the best course paper, “Accelerating Deceleration: Slow Violence and Time-Lapse Cinematography,” for his Ecocinema class in the Interdisciplinary MA in Popular Culture.

Celebration attendees also had the opportunity to pay tribute to two colleagues lost in 2017, Steven Renzetti of the Department of Economics and Zopito Marini of the Department of Child and Youth Studies.

Tony Ward spoke of Steven Renzetti’s many research contributions in the field of water and economics, and reflected on Renzetti as a wonderful friend and person.

Drew Dane and Tony Volk remembered Zopito Marini as a generous colleague and research partner whose most recent work on civility continues to resonate deeply with people in many fields.

“The Celebration of Excellence recognizes the awards and grants earned by students and faculty, while also reminding all of us of the hard work and dedication that goes into our everyday activities,” Zinga said after the event. “Collectively, we accomplish great things and make Brock an exciting place to study and work.”