Three members of the Brock Graduate Studies community were recently honoured for their outstanding leadership and mentorship efforts.

Snezana Ratkovic, Tek Thongpapanl and Jennifer Rowsell were recognized on Thursday, April 12 during the Faculty of Graduate Studies’ Mapping the New Knowledges Conference awards ceremony.

Ratkovic, a research officer and instructor with the Faculty of Education, was awarded the 2018 Marilyn Rose Graduate Leadership Award for contributing vision and leadership to the Graduate Studies community.

Mike Plyley presents the Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award to Tek Thongpapanl.

Ratkovic has mentored more than 30 graduate students during her time with the University. She is a research fellow with the Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education, and facilitates a research education program in the Faculty of Education that includes academic writing retreats, research-skills workshops and assistance with research ethics applications.

“This award is precious and inspirational,” Ratkovic says. “It honours 12 years of graduate student research education, support and mentoring. It acknowledges the pivotal role of research, mentorship, experiential learning and student professional development in lives of our graduate students, and in life of our University. It also confirms that our Brock research community values research education and student researchers’ contribution to scholarship, academe and society.”

Thongpapanl, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the Goodman School of Business, and Rowsell, Professor and Director of the Centre for Multiliteracies, were awarded the Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award after being nominated by their students. The award recognizes outstanding support and encouragement received during a student’s development as a graduate researcher.

“As faculty members, we are blessed with opportunities to contribute to students’ intellectual growth and development, bringing out the very best in each and every one of them through our mentorship activities,” says Thongpapanl. “While I am grateful for being recognized as this year’s winner, particularly, in the presence of so many great mentors being nominated, this award does not actually mark my success but rather the successes of my past and current students as they live their meaningful and flourishing personal and professional lives.

“There is nothing more rewarding to us than seeing a positive return on the investment we make in our future generations.”

Also presented at the ceremony were the 2018 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards, given to research-based graduate students who are working on innovative projects.

This year’s recipients include:

Faculty of Applied Health Sciences

Stephanie Beni, MA Applied Health, studying “Implementing a pedagogical approach that prioritizes meaningful physical education”

Lara Green, PhD Applied Health, studying “The Examination of Potential Mechanisms Underlying the Cross Education Phenomenon”

Faculty of Education

Julianne Burgess, PhD Educational Studies, studying “Lifelines: Building ELL resilience through literacy practices in a trauma-informed classroom”

Faculty of Humanities

Rickie Castle, MA Classics, studying “The Positioned Parasite: Philip in Xenophon’s Symposium”

Terrance Herbert McDonald, PhD Interdisciplinary Humanities, “Mediated Masculinities: the Expression and Alteration of Masculinity in American Genre Films 1990-2010”

Faculty of Mathematics and Science

Alyssa Davis, MSc Earth Science, studying “Paleoatmospheric and paleoenvironmental interpretations of the Early Paleozoic”

Guan Wang, PhD Chemistry, studying, “Analytical devides and assays for point-of-care disease diagnosis”

Faculty of Social Sciences

Shannon Kitchings, MA Social Justice and Equity Studies, studying “Inside Voices: Witnessing Oral Disclosures of Trauma”

Ann Farrell, PhD Psychology, studying “Filtering the environment through personality for adolescent bullying perpetration”

Goodman School of Business

Ali Anwar, MSc Management, studying “The Personalization-Privacy Paradox in M-Commerce Loyalty Outcomes Explained Through Customers’ Flow Experience and Regulatory Foci”

Recipients of the 2017-18 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards were honoured during the Mapping the New Knowledges Conference on Thursday, April 12. From left are Diane Dupont, Interim Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Lara Green, MA Applied Health, Stephanie Beni, PhD Applied Health, Julianne Burgess, PhD Educational Studies, Alyssa Davis, MSc Earth Sciences, Guan Wang, PhD Chemistry, Shannon Kitchings, MA Social Justice and Equity Studies and Ali Anwar, MSc Management