Registration for the Distinguished Academics Awards gala is now open. Click here to access the link to the registration. Registration deadline is April 1, 2023.
- Dr. Katya Rhodes
- Dr. Catherine Nolin
- Dr. Jonathan Moore
Announcing the 2023 Distinguished Academics Awards Recipients
The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards:
- Early in Career Award: Katya Rhodes (University of Victoria)
- Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award: Catherine Nolin (University of Northern British Columbia)
- Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award: Jonathan Moore (Simon Fraser University)
Every year since 1995, the CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards series has honoured faculty whose ideas contribute to the community beyond the university and whose scholarship demonstrates the necessity and vitality of university-based research in the public interest. Research universities play a crucial role in the social, intellectual, and economic innovation of British Columbians.
“Faculty engage in outstanding scholarship that contributes to new discoveries and creates new understandings of our experiences in the world,” says President Dr. Ken Christie. “The Distinguished Academics Awards give us the opportunity to recognize how much faculty research contributes to our communities.”
Congratulations to the winners and all the nominees for these awards. The awards will be presented at a gala reception on May 1, 2023 at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, BC.
Learn more about the 2023 Distinguished Academics
Early in Career Award – Dr. Kayta Rhodes, University of Victoria
Dr. Katya Rhodes is the recipient of the Early in Career Award. Dr. Rhodes is Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration and a researcher with the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems at the University of Victoria. Drawing on knowledge from economics, political science, social psychology, and engineering, she investigates how different policy tools can contribute to successful climate change mitigation. She seeks to improve climate policies to achieve climate targes in an economically efficient, politically acceptable, and equitable manner. Dr. Rhodes’s work is informed by evidence-based policies that will help make communities sustainable and healthy over the long-term.
Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award – Dr. Catherine Nolin, University of Northern British Columbia
Dr. Catherine Nolin is the recipient of the Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award. Dr. Nolin is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. As a social geographer, Dr. Nolin’s research explores the gendered, political, and social aspects of state-sponsored violence, forced migration, and life in exile. Her work has explored these interests in the Guatemala-Canada transnational context and more broadly in examinations of the connections/disconnections between the Global North and South. Dr. Nolin’s co-authored book “Testimonio: Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala” with her long-time research partner Grahame Russell of Rights Action draws on over thirty years of community-based research and Rights Action’s direct community support work in Guatemala to expose the ruthless state machinery that benefits the Canadian mining industry.
Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award – Dr. Jonathan Moore, Simon Fraser University
Dr. Jonathan Moore is the recipient of the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award. Dr. Moore is Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and School of Resource of Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University. He is an international leader in the ecology and conservation of aquatic ecosystems, and a champion for salmon, rivers, and estuaries. His work advances the science underpinning key environmental laws and policies. His activities have contributed to significant legislative reform and public policy outcomes with tangible impacts for the conservation of wild salmon and their ecosystems, including on contentious energy development that affect aquatic environments. Dr. Moore fosters an exceptional approach to connecting management and policy-relevant science with collaboration, communication, and engagement.
Recognizing the Nominees
The Awards Selection Committee had the extremely difficult task of selecting award recipients from the many outstanding nominees, whose excellence is indicative of the high quality of British Columbia’s faculty and of their many contributions to the life in British Columbia. From one year to another, the nominees hail from different institutions and disciplines, and conduct research in very different domains. However different their work may be, they are united by their passion for rigorous and meaningful scholarship – and for research that contributes to the public good. We congratulate all of the nominees who have clearly earned the deep respect of their colleagues, both inside and outside of the academy.
The following faculty members were nominated for the 2023 CUFA BC Early In Career Award: |
Dr. Sean Irwin |
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Dr. Mahmudur Fatmi |
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Dr. Hany Fahmy |
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The following faculty members were nominated for the 2023 CUFA BC Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award: |
Dr. Madjid Mohseni |
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Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross |
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Dr. Mary Jung |
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Dr. Jianbing Li |
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Professor Hannah McGregor |
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The following faculty members were nominated for the 2023 CUFA BC Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award:
Professor Grace Iarocci
Professor Grace Iarocci is a Professor at the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University. Professor Iarocci was nominated for her research in typical and atypical development of selective attention and its relationship to social competence, mental health, and family and societal well-being. Co-editor of three books with
Oxford University Press and 80 journal articles, Professor Iarocci is recognized as one of BC’s key researchers on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and has improved access to diagnostic and treatment services for BC immigrant and Indigenous communities.
Dr. Lee Gunderson |
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Dr. Faisal Khosa |
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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS AND NOMINEES!
ABOUT THE AWARDS SERIES
Each year since 1995, CUFA BC honours the outstanding scholarship and public policy contributions of the distinguished academics at five research universities across the province. They are Simon Fraser University,
University of British Columbia, University of Northern British Columbia, University of Victoria, and Royal Roads University.
At CUFA BC, we believe that the ideas that flow out of our universities are the lifeblood of our citizenry and democratic landscape, our intellectual life, and our economy. The CUFA BC Distinguished Academics Awards celebrate the ideas that contribute to the non-academic community and demonstrate the necessity and vitality of public university-based research and scholarly activity.
Each year, the nominees hail from different institutions and disciplines, and conduct research in very different domains. However different their work, they are united by their passion for rigorous and meaningful scholarship – and for research that contributes to the public good.
The awards bring with it the admiration of one’s colleagues across the institution, disciplines, geographic borders and beyond, and is recognized with a commemorative plaque and cash award.
Learn more about the Distinguished Academics Awards:
2023 Call for Nominations (Closed)
2022 Award Winner Videography Profiles
2021 Award Winner Videography Profiles