More than 100 U of T Scarborough staff, faculty, students, and their friends and family, braved the rain to celebrate the many accomplishments and milestones reached this academic year.
“It may be raining outside, but you certainly lift our spirits,” said U of T Scarborough Principal Bruce Kidd.
Among the award recipients was campus photographer Ken Jones, who received the Principal’s Long Service Award for his 36 years of contribution to the community. Kidd noted Jones has amassed an archive of more than two million photographs.
“His work is a living memory of the growth and success of not only the campus but the hundreds of thousands of people that have been a part of U of T Scarborough,” Principal Kidd said.
The award ceremony presented five award types: Retiree Recognition, 25 Years of Service, Principal’s Award, Research and Teaching Awards. During the presentation of the Teaching Awards, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean, William Gough, awarded part-time lecturer Snejina Sonina. Professor Gough mentioned during his speech that Sonina was, in fact, making history at UTSC, being the first part-time lecturer to ever receive the award.
Sonina teaches in the French department, and in 2016 created a course called the History of the French Language, that combines history, culture, literature, art and music to teach linguistics.
Sonya Dhillon, a master’s student in the Department of Psychological Clinical Science, received the D.R. Campbell Merit Award, and was also the winner of the Graduate Student Research Award. Dhillon founded the Women in Science Group at UTSC, which promotes discussions about research culture in academic institutions. She is currently doing research on how neuropsychological impairments secondary to depressive disorders lead to disability. In his presentation of the award Principal Kidd thanked Dhillon for her “invaluable contributions to the UTSC community.”
Below is a complete list of all the awards and their recipients.
Retirees: Sabir Jafri, Nancy Bradshaw, Shelly Ungar, Ian Parker (In Memoriam), Jim Derenzis, Anthony Ngimat, Kitty Chan, Ulex Lyte, Eleanor Irwin
25 Years of Service: Sabir Jafri, Paul Kingston, Andrew Stark
Principal’s Awards D.R. Campbell Award: Sonya Dhillon; Patrick Phillips: Kathy Fellowes; Principal’s Accomplished Leader: Shelby Verboven; Principal's Emerging Leader: Bill Chau; Principal's Long Service: Ken Jones, Tracy Rockbrune; UTSC Green Ribbon Award: Jen Skinner
Research Awards Principal's Research Award: Prof. James Donaldson; Research Recognition Award: Prof. Li Chen; Research Excellence Faculty Scholar: Prof. Jennifer Chun; Research Excellence Faculty Scholar: Prof. Jeffrey Pilcher; Research Excellence Faculty Scholar: Prof. Myrna Simpson; Graduate Student Research Award- Doctoral: David McLagan; Graduate Student Research Award- Masters: Sonya Dhillon; UTSC Library Undergraduate Research Prize: Garima Shah; UTSC Library Undergraduate Research Prize: Monica Shah; UTSC Library Undergraduate Research Prize: Abdulwahab Sidiqi; UTSC Library Undergraduate Research Prize: Janessa Tam
Teaching Awards Faculty Teaching Award: Anya Tafliovich; Assistant Professor/Lecturer Teaching Award: Susannah Bunce; Assistant Professor/Lecturer Teaching Award: Snejina Sonina; Graduate Student TA Award: Maryam Abdinejad; Undergraduate TA Award: Kishon Thaveswaran