Students, staff, and faculty members across the Social Sciences frequently devote themselves to serving their colleagues and their community. We are thrilled to celebrate their efforts and impact.
Alison Braley-Rattai in the Department of Labour Studies was appointed to the Federal Judicial Advisory Committee for Ontario – West & South. This committee vets and ultimately makes recommendations to the federal Justice Minister regarding the appointment of judges.
At an event in honour of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, current and former graduate students in the Department of Child and Youth Studies were presented with Accessibility and Inclusion Recognition Awards. Ben Johnson (BA ’22) is a master’s student and graduate Anne Readhead (PhD ’22) now works as an Educational Developer in the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation. Read more.
Ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Sunday, Dec. 3, Applied Disabilities Studies graduate Amanda Bailey (MA ’23) and supervisor Laura Mullins in the Department of Applied Disabilities Studies invited members of the Brock community to join a new community of practice on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines. The initiative builds on Bailey’s thesis research, “Perception of Universal Design for Learning in Online Higher Education,” which she completed after conducting focus groups with Brock instructors and students with disabilities about UDL and online learning. Read more.
The Board of Trustees Spirit of Brock medal, which recognizes leadership, courage, and inspiration, was awarded at Fall Convocation to Raadhiyah Zowmi (BSc ’21, MA ’23), a graduate of the MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies. The undergraduate recipient, Ashley Giroux (BRLS ’23), is currently an MA student in the Applied Disability Studies program. Read more.
The Spirit of Brock
At Spring Convocation in June, two outstanding graduates were recognized for embodying the Spirit of Brock. Annilea Purser (BA ’23) of the Department of Political Science and Haley Myatt (MA ’23) of the Department of Child and Youth Studies shared their stories. Read more.
In May, MA in Political Science student Jordan Isnor (BA ’22) was recognized as Bethesda’s Volunteer of the Year for developing a safety app for the organization. The project grew out of her experiential education placement with Bethesda, a local not-for-profit organization supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Read more.
This spring, Robyn Bourgeois, Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement and Associate Professor in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, was appointed to the province’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee. The committee reports review findings on deaths due to intimate partner violence to the Chief Coroner of Ontario. Read more.
In April of 2023 at the annual Mapping the New Knowledges conference, Assistant Professor Alison Cox of the Department of Applied Disability Studies received a Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award for outstanding and professional mentorship of graduate students. Read more.
Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Service Award
The Faculty of Social Sciences was pleased to announce the recipients of the inaugural Distinguished Service Award for faculty members in early 2023. Congratulations to Assistant Professor Paul Gray in the Department of Labour Studies for receiving the junior faculty award, and to our two senior faculty award winners, Associate Professor and Chair Heather Chalmers in the Department of Child and Youth Studies and Professor Michelle Webber in the Department of Sociology, who is also the Director of the BA in Social Sciences. We are grateful to all of the recipients for their outstanding service.
President’s Distinguished Staff Service Award for Outstanding Contributions
At the President’s Celebration in December, Debbie Ouellette, Administrative Coordinator and Graduate Advisor in the Department of Sociology, received the President’s Distinguished Staff Service Award for Outstanding Contributions. Read more.
At Fall Convocation, Cassandra Campanella in the Department of Psychology and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies received the Board of Trustees’ Spirit of Brock Medal, which is awarded for outstanding leadership, courage, and dedication to improving the Brock community. Read more.
In October, Larry Savage in the Department of Labour Studies was recognized by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) with the 2021-2022 OCUFA Lorimer Collective Bargaining Award. Read more.
At Spring Convocation, two outstanding students were recognized with the Board of Trustees’ Spirit of Brock Medal. PhD graduate Caitlyn Gallant (left) and BA graduate Ben Johnson (right), both from the Department of Psychology, were honoured for their leadership, courage, and dedication to improving the Brock community. Read more.
In late April, Larry Savage in the Department of Labour Studies was elected to the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Executive Committee as Chair of the Collective Bargaining and Economic Benefits Committee.
In March, Kendra Thomson in the Department of Applied Disability Studies received the Association of Professional Behaviour Analysts’ 2022 Jerry Shook Award, which recognizes an individual who has made notable, concrete contributions to professional credentialing in behaviour analysis that help perpetuate the legacy of the founder and first CEO of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), Jerry Shook. Read more.
In March, Professor Karen Campbell in the Department of Psychology was recognized with an Outstanding Co-op Supervisor award for the Spring/Summer 2021 term after being nominated by her student, Kiran Randhawa. Read more.
Gary Libben in the Department of Applied Linguistics recently began a two-year tenure as the Secretary of the Royal Society of Canada. He also joined the Board of Directors following a meeting of members at the RSC’s Celebration of Excellence and Engagement in November of 2021.
The Faculty of Social Sciences was pleased to announce that Amanda Smits in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) was our Staff Student Experience Award winner for 2021. Amanda was recognized for her extraordinary contributions to graduate and undergraduate student experience in the ESRC, and in particular her significant contributions to and focus on student engagement in the development of Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Plan. Read more.
Psychology Students connect with seniors
Brock University students volunteered for the Music and Memory program last winter, building playlists to connect with senior citizens who had been isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Veena Dwivedi in the Department of Psychology wanted to prioritize “putting the human back into human neuropsychology” by looking at not only the diagnosis, but also the person who receives it with her third-year class in Human Neuropsychology. Read more about their experiences.
Professor Cathy Mondloch in the Department of Psychology received the Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award from the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the end of May, 2021. Read more.
Ingrid Makus, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, received the Angela Hildyard Recognition Award for Influential Leaders given annually by Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC). The award recognizes continual demonstration of innovative leadership in advancing the mission of, and achieving outstanding contributions to, the recipient’s home institution.
In the spring of 2021, Diane Dupont of the Department of Economics was named a mentor in the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Scholars Program. The program represents an effort to increase diversity in environmental and natural resource economics, help the newest members of the community succeed and create an inclusive culture that encourages members to give back to the organization and field.
In December of 2020, Professor and Chair Rosemary Condillac of the Department of Applied Disability Studies received the Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) President’s Award for Service Excellence in recognition of her extensive work and leadership on committees and projects.
Diane Leon, Academic Advisor in the Departments of Political Science and Labour Studies was recognized with the Brock University President’s Distinguished Staff Service Award in December 2020. Read more.
The Faculty of Social Sciences mourns the loss of Carol Penner, who worked at Brock for two decades and spent fourteen years as Academic Co-ordinator for the Department of Child and Youth Studies. Carol’s many contributions to her department, to the Faculty, and to the Brock community over the years will not be forgotten. Read more.