Harriet Kuhnlein named Unsung Hero
As part of the Bicentennial Celebrations, faculties, central units, associations, and unions were asked to nominate the Unsung Heroes in their department – the less-recognized faculty and staff who have walked the halls of McGill through the ages and who have greatly helped shape the community.
Nominated by colleagues at FAES, Professor Harriet Kuhnlein is the Founding Director of the McGill Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE), an organization unique in that Canada’s Indigenous Peoples were actively engaged in the conceptualization of the Centre. Within this organization Kuhnlein formed a Board that provided ongoing liaison opportunities to ensure that priority activities remained aligned with an Indigenous perspective.
As McGill professor, Kuhnlein also helped to rebuild the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition (now the School of Human Nutrition), by recruiting many new faculty members.
Following her retirement from McGill in 2009 as Emerita Professor, she continued to work with Indigenous Peoples’ research with FAO and with CINE. In 2017, Ms. Kuhnlein was a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand. She has significant international stature and is actively engaged with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and around the world.
Her dedication to her research and work with Indigenous communities has earned her the title of an Unsung Hero of McGill.
Originally published on the Bicentennial website.