Nicole Otieno (right) received the Dalton Kehoe Award from Professor Emeritus Dalton Kehoe
With a room full of family, friends, staff and faculty in attendance, a group of outstanding students in the departments of social science and communication studies received a total of 40 awards at a Nov. 19 ceremony at the Underground Restaurant.
Associate Dean of Students Gary Spraakman, speaking on behalf of Dean Martin Singer, congratulated the students and their families, and stressed how important it is to publically honour the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies’ best students by holding events like this. JJ McMurtry, chair of the Department of Social Science, and Kevin Dowler, chair of the Department of Communication Studies, welcomed everyone and jointly introduced the award presenters.
As with past celebrations, retired faculty members – Eric Koch and Dalton Kehoe – presented awards in their names. As well, family members presented awards in the names of deceased social science and communication studies faculty members. These included the Arthur Siegel Award, the Jerry Durlak Award, the Ellen Baar Award and the Gina Feldberg Award. The Yasay family presented an award to honour their son, Joshua Yasay. Jun Chen, an employee of the Alterna Credit Union, presented the Alterna Social Scholarship in honour of Haswell Iron. Other awards were presented by the program coordinators or members of the departments. These included Professors Judy Hellman, Amanda Glasbeck, Deniele Elliot, Mark Peacock, Anne MacLennan, Pablo Idahosa, Peggy Keall, Stephanie Ross, Teresa Abbruzzese, Dena Demos, Ricardo Grinspun, Susan Henry and Alicia Turner.
Aashish Oberoi received the International Development Studies Honours Award from Professor Ricardo Grinspun
While most of the awards are specific to the different programs within the departments, three awards were available to all students in the Department of Social Science. The Ellen Baar Award was presented to Matthew Wilks, the Gordon Lowther Award to Aleksandra Avramovic, the Department of Social Science Award to Tenzin Jamyangling, the Lillian Lerman Book Prize to Camila Acosta Varela and the Otto Friedman Memorial Scholarship to Rut Lau.
Shelby Kennedy and Anthony Soscia received the Marion Miller Urban Studies Awards from Professor Teresa Abbruzzese (centre)
The awards in the Department of Communication Studies were given to the following students: the Eric Koch Award to Elizabeth Vrantsidis, the Jerry Durlak Award to Esteban Sabbatasso, the Dalton Kehoe Award to Nicole Otieno, the Riva Orlicky Award to Olivia Chandler, the Arthur Siegel Award to Sage Smith and the Penny Joliffe Award to Hassam Munir.
The Social and Political Thought Program’s Undergraduate Student Award was presented to Matthew Cone, while Aashish Oberoi received the International Development Studies Program Honours Award.
The Urban Studies Program in the Department of Social Science presented a number of awards. Two students received the Marion Miller Urban Studies Awards – Shelby Kennedy and Anthony Soscia. The Francis Frisken Award went to Andrew Genner, the Social Science 3700 Urban Studies prize to Ryan Adamson, the Lynn M. Bell Urban Studies Achievement Award to Nayel Halim and the Sgro Academic Leadership Award to Saleha Iqbal.
Professor Pablo Idahosa (back) presented the African studies awards to Jessica Kim, Heather Kirchze and Nayo Sasaki-Picou (left to right)
The coordinator of the African Studies Program, Professor Pablo Idahosa, awarded the Esiri Dafiewhare Scholarship to Heather Dirckze and the two Stevenson Scholarships in African Studies to Nayo Sasaki-Picou and Jessica Kim.
Michelle Glasenberg and David Mba both received the Law and Society Program Honours Prizes, while the Jane Banfield Prize was awarded to Alina Dyatlova; the other two Law and Society Prizes were presented to Jia Chen and Daniel Fridmar. In honour of Professor David L. J. Sealey, the Law and Society Department created an award in his name; this year it went to Timothy Bryan, a graduate student.
Michelle Glasenberg (front right) and David Mba received the Law and Society Honours Prize from Professor David Szablowski (back)
The Health and Society Program gave out two awards: the Gina Feldberg Prize to Aleeza Freedman and the Health and Society Book Prize to Mayuri Mahentharan.
The Latin American & Caribbean Studies Honours Award and the Lydia Covenay Burnett Bursary went to Veronica Wojnas, a student in the Latin American & Caribbean Studies Program. The Best Essay Prize in the South Asian Studies Program was presented to Michael Hyunh.
The Alterna Social Economy Scholarship, presented to a student in the Business and Society Program, went to Sokunpisey Hong, while the Business and Society Honours Award was presented to Luigi Rulli.
A new award in the Criminology Program, the Joshua Yasay Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Carina Bastidas, while the Criminology 1650 Book Prize went to Amanda Dias and the Criminology Honours Scholarship to Ilija Dimeski.
Professor Stephanie Ross (right) presented the Neil Reimer Award to Marissa Verhelst
Marissa Verheist received the Neil Reimer Scholarship and Sunera Ali received the Labour Studies Student Achievement Award; these two awards were presented by the Work & Labour Studies Program.
Everyone in attendance agreed that it was the right time to recognize the outstanding academic achievements of our students.