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In 2012, eight distinguished McGill scholars from the Faculties of Arts, Science and Law, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the School of Computer Science were named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. The following individuals joined more than 100 other McGill-affiliated members of Canada’s senior national body of distinguished scholars:
- Robert Lecker – Dept. of English
- John A. Hall – Dept. of Sociology
- François Crépeau – Faculty of Law
- Vijaya Raghavan – Dept. of Bioresource Engineering
- Timothy Moore – Dept. of Geography
- Laurie Hendren – School of Computer Science
- Bruce Lennox – Dept. of Chemistry
- Chao-Jun Li – Dept. of Chemistry
- The Flavelle Medal: Siegfried Hekimi – Dept. of Biology
- The Rutherford Memorial Medal: Guy Moore – Dept. of Physics
- The Alice Wilson Award: Roxanne Pelletier – Dept. of Clinical Epidemiology
- The Miroslaw Romanowski Medal: Catherine Potvin – Dept. of Biology
Graham Bell, professor and Chair in the Dept. of Biology, was named President Elect of the Royal Society of Canada.
Brenda Milner, the Dorothy J. Killam Professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the MUHC, was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame for her pioneering work in the field of cognitive neuroscience.
Michael Meaney, Depts. of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery and Associate Director of the Douglas Institute Research Centre was appointed as Member to the Order of Canada for his contributions to neuroscience, notably through his research on the effect of early adversity on neural development.
In celebration of an outstanding 40-year career as a volunteer in the health-care sector, The Ordre du Québec bestowed its highest civilian honours to McGill Chancellor Arnold H. Steinberg in naming him Officer of the Order.
McGill Law professor Roderick Macdonald heads the most recent list of McGillians honoured with Order of Canada appointments. Macdonald was one of 33 Canadians named Officers of the Order on December 30, 2012.
The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) recognized six leaders in the health sciences from McGill as elected CAHS Fellows. The newly elected Fellows from McGill are: Dr. Eduardo Franco, Depts. of Oncology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, and Division of Cancer Epidemiology; Dr. Rebecca Fuhrer, Dept. of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health; Dr. Jody Heymann, Founding Director, McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy; Dr. Constantin Polychronakos, Depts. of Pediatrics and Human Genetics, and Division of Endocrinology/MUHC ; Dr. Christos Tsoukas, McGill AIDS Centre, Dept. of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology/MUHC; and Dr. Brian J. Ward, McGill Centre for the Study of Host Resistance/MUHC.
David Brown, School of Urban Planning, was named a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners and Membre émérite de l’ordre des urbanistes du Québec – two lifetime achievement awards bestowed for his exceptional contributions to urban planning in the fields of research, teaching and practice.
Nancy Adler, Desautels Faculty of Management, was elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Management for her outstanding contribution to the science and art of management.
In a special ceremony at Rideau Hall in September 2012, McGill’s Faculty of Law presented the F.R. Scott Award for Distinguished Service to His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill. The F.R. Scott Award is given to members of the McGill community who have made a significant contribution to law, as well as to the life of the Faculty of Law, and provided exceptional service and leadership to society.
McGill Childcare Centre Director Lisa Gallagher received a Certificate of Excellence as part of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence and Excellence in Early Childhood Education, which honour “exceptional early-childhood educators who help build the foundation that young children need to make the best start in life.”
Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Philosophy, received the Benjamin E. Lippincott Award from the American Political Science Association. The award honours a work of exceptional quality by a living political theorist that is still considered significant after at least 15 years since the original publication.
James Archibald, Associate Dean (Academic) of McGill’s School of Continuing Studies, was appointed to Quebec’s Conseil supérieur de la langue française, a council that advises the province’s government with regard to language policy.
The Health Research Foundation jointly awarded its 2012 Medal of Honour to Dr. Charles Scriver, Professor Emeritus of Human Genetics and Arnold H. Steinberg, Chancellor of McGill University, for their outstanding contributions to health sciences and public health innovation. Together, Scriver and Steinberg successfully worked to ensure the addition of vitamin D to milk in Quebec starting in the early 1970s, reducing the occurrence of nutritional rickets in children from over 1,000 per year to almost none.
Designer Steven McClenaghan of McGill Graphic Design has captured an Award of Excellence for his outstanding work on McGill’s 190 Anniversary series (branded street banners, postcards and Convocation cap tassel) in the University & College Designers Association (UCDA) design competition.
Three nurses from McGill’s Ingram School of Nursing were honoured with the 2012 Prix Florence by the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec. They are: Associate Professor Carmen Loiselle - 2012 Prix Florence in Research; Assistant Professor Michelle Nadon - 2012 Prix Florence in Leadership; Faculty Lecturer Esther Dajczman - 2012 Prix Florence in Sickness Prevention.
C.J. Li, Dept. of Chemistry, and Nahum Sonenberg, Dept. of Biochemistry, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Li was honoured for distinguished contributions to the field of green chemistry and Sonenberg was cited for major contributions in the field of protein synthesis.
Steven Shaw, Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology, received the 2012 President’s Award from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) for his innovative research-to-practice efforts.
Nancy Adler, the S. Bronfman Chair in Management in the Desautels Faculty of Management, was named one of the 2013 Legends of Diversity Award honorees by the International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals (ISDIP). She was honoured for her work’s impact on the diversity and inclusion movement across the globe.
McGill communicators came away from the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Prix d’Excellence 2013 awards with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals. The Prix d’Excellence recognize outstanding achievements in alumni affairs, public affairs, communications, marketing, development, advancement services, stewardship, student recruitment and overall institutional advancement.
James C. Martin, Senior Communications Officer in the Office of Communications and External Relations won silver at the National Magazine Awards for his travel piece: “On the Road…With Children.”
The Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching, in recognition of teachers and their importance to the academic experience of students at McGill were awarded to the following individuals:
- Rhonda Amsel, Dept. of Psychology – Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Learning.
- Jeffrey Bergthorson, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering – Assistant Professor category.
- Laura Nilson – Dept. of Biology - Associate Professor category
- Paul Clarke – Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutics - Full Professor
The Principal’s Awards for Administrative and Support Staff acknowledge the exceptional efforts of McGill employees. This year five individual awards were handed out along with a Team Projects award. Recipients were:
- Allan Oliver, Energy Control Technician – Trades and Services category
- Anthony Howell, Curatorial Technician, Redpath Museum – Technical category
- Donna Wilkinson, Program Assistant, Centre for Educational Leadership – Clerical category
- Tony Vaccaro, Sector Supervisor, Building Operations – Managers and Professionals category
- Geneviève Leroux, Senior Disability Management Advisor, HR - Managers and Professionals category
- Office for Students with Disabilities – Team category
Derek Gray, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Chemistry, was named the winner of the 2013 Marcus Wallenberg Prize, awarded by Sweden’s Marcus Wallenberg Foundation for scientific achievements that contribute to knowledge in fields of importance to the forest industry.
Anita Nowak, Integrating Director, Social Economy Initiative (SEI), and Jeff Baikowitz, Chairman, SEI Leadership Council, both from the Desautels Faculty of Management, were winners of the inaugural Quebec Notable Awards in the Education and Social Good categories, respectively. The awards recognize Quebec’s most notable young professionals.
Charmaine Nelson, Dept. of Art History and Communication Studies was awarded a 2012 Woman of Distinction Award from the Montreal’s Women’s YWCA in the Arts and Culture category. In 2013, the YWCA honoured Marianna Newkirk, associate professor of Medicine, in the Science and Technology category and Lynne McVey, Executive Director of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, in the Health category.
Three members of the Faculty of Medicine were recognized by the Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME) in 2013 for their exceptional commitment to medical education. They are: Dr. Terry Hébert, Dept. of Pharmacology & Therapeutics; Dr. Leonora Lalla, Dept. of Family Medicine; and Dr. Kevin Waschke, Dept. of Medicine.
Dr. Peter McLeod, Depts. of Medicine and Pharmacology, received the 2013 Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada’s (AFMC) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Faculty Development in Canada.
Daniel Wise, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics was awarded the 2013 American Mathematical Society’s Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry in recognition of notable research in geometry or topology.
Schulich School of Music professor Richard King won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non Classical, for The Goat Rodeo Sessions and adjunct prof Steven Epstein was also a Grammy winner in the Best Musical Theater category for his work as the producer of Once: A New Musical.
Christine Ross, Chair in Contemporary Art History and Director of Media@McGill, has been awarded the inaugural Artexte prize for research in contemporary art in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the study of visual art and media.
2012 closed with a string of honours for head coach of McGill’s swim team Peter Carpenter. The Club de la médaille d’or presented him with an award for coaching excellence as did Petro Canada. He was also named Coach of the Month in September by the Institut national du sport du Québec. The accolades were all related to his recent work with McGill swimmer Valérie Grand’Maison who captured several medals at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Ryan MacDowell, a recent graduate currently working in McGill’s Student Service Dept., won the World University Rankings’ video competition for his 10-second video about why McGill is a world-class university.
Tewodros Eguale, Clinical and Health Infomatics Research Group/Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, was named one of two winners of the 2012-2013 CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research CIHR-IHSPR Article of the Year Award. Eguale’s article, “Drug, Patient, and Physician Characteristics Associated with Off-label Prescribing in Primary Care,” was written while he was at McGill.
The Society for Mathematical Biology awarded its 2013 Arthur T. Winfree prize to Leon Glass, Dept. of Physiology in recognition of his experiments that launched “the study of chaos in biology” and has inspired researchers ranging from applied mathematicians to medical researchers.
Two Adjunct Professors in the School of Architecture were part of the winning team in an urban design competition for the Smith Promenade in Griffintown. Sinisha Brdar contributed to architecture and urban design, and Conor Sampson to lighting.
The Marketing and Communications team at the School of Continuing Studies won two marketing awards from the University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) for its transit poster and newsletter.
The Government of Québec appointed Céline Le Bourdais, Dept. of Sociology, to a newly formed expert committee to examine the status of the province’s existing family law.
Dr. Robert J. Zatorre, The Neuro, was awarded the 2013 Hugh Knowles Prize for Distinguished Achievement for revolutionizing the field of the neuroscience of music and making key contributions to the hearing sciences.
Daniel Zamorano, lecturer in the School of Continuing Studies Translation Program and Graduate Diploma student, Victoria Robertson, won the Germán Rozenmacher Prize (Buenos Aires, Argentina) for their English translations of Madrijo, Toda la Tristeza del Mundo by Mariano Saba and Eduardo, La Pelopincho by Magdalena de Santo.
Allan Greer, Dept. of History and Classical Studies, was awarded a Killam Research Fellowship to continue his work in exploring how European and native property systems collided, overlapped and affected one another over time, in the contrasting settings of New Spain, New England and New France, from 1600 to 1800.
David Plant, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering also won a Killam Research Fellowship. The goal of Plant’s work is to build tomorrow’s Internet, by improving the fibre optics networks that are its backbone.