2001 winners of the Distinguished Academics Awards

Mark Winston, a biologist at Simon Fraser University, is well known and respected in academic circles for his study of bees. He also has a keen interest in applying his academic work to “real world” problems, and in 1997 received the Manning Award for Distinction in Innovation jointly with SFU chemist Keith Slessor for their creation of pheromone-based products to increase honey production. On top of all this, Winston is passionate about explaining science, research and the university to the public and has become a regular contributor to the Vancouver Sun on such topics as the ethics of genetic engineering, over-use of chemical pesticides, the public value of scientific innovation, and the need for arts and humanities in science curricula. Professor Winston received the Academic of the Year Award for developing applications of his academic work and for his efforts in promoting understanding of scientific research and universities.

William New, an English professor at the University of British Columbia, may be little known outside academic circles, but he has had an immeasurable effect on Canadian cultural life. It was Professor New who, in his 1972 book Articulating West, transformed Victorian ideas about literature into a uniquely Canadian perspective on how frontier societies find their own forms of cultural expression. In his 1989 follow-up, The History of Canadian Literature, Professor New tackled the totality of Canadian literature, linking Canadian writing to the country’s history and to other developments in Canadian cultural life-a task that American academics are only now attempting. Professor New has also published two volumes of poetry, including the 1998 book Vanilla Gorilla, a witty collection of children’s verse with distinctly Canadian settings and themes. Professor New received the Career Achievement Award for his pioneering work in the study of Canadian literature and his lifetime of helping Canadians understand themselves through their literature.