Award Winners
Excellence in Administrative Support – Support Staff
Brian Baillie, Lab technician at the department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Excellence in Administrative Support – Senior Admin
Dr. Gopal Achari, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Schulich School of Engineering
Excellence in Research – Graduate Students
Chantal Rytz, PhD student in Medical Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine
Excellence in Research – Research Affiliate
Barbara Waddell, Department of Microbiology
Excellence in Supervision
Dr. W. Brent Edwards, Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology
Excellence in Teaching – Graduate Student
Amanda Seyler, Masters student in Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
Excellence in Teaching – Senior Instructor
Dr. Raafat El-Hacha, Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering
Leadership Award
Colin MacKenzie, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences and Chair of the Mental Health and Wellness Subcommittee
Emerging Leader Award
Garima Mehta, from the Haskayne School of Business and Chair of the Newcomers and International Students Subcommittee
GSA Champion Award
Taruneesh Sachdeva, GSA Executive Coordinator
Lifetime Achievement Award
Allan Lyons, Chair of the Governance Committee
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award
Kristaps Balodis, GRC Speaker
Volunteer Excellence Awards
- Lauren Bowron, Chair of the GSA Awards Committee
- Samantha McIntosh, Vice Chair of the Awards Committee
- Parth Pandya, Member of the Finance Standing and Health and Dental Search Committees
- Jessica Revington, abGPAC 3rd Director
- Caroline Luszawski, Vice-chair of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Sub-committee
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
Holly Basiuk
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- STEM Together Project : Leonie O’Sullivan
- Calgary Persian Library Project: Nazanin Mousavi
- Anthropology and Archaelogy Community Pantry Project: Pamela Narvaez,
Excellence in Administrative Support (Support Staff)
- Lori Somner, Graduate Program Advisor, Department of History
Excellence in Research (Graduate Students)
- Joel Burma, PhD student in the Department of Kinesiology
Excellence in Supervision
- Dr. Andrew Szeto, Department of Psychology and Director of the University of Calgary Campus Mental Health Strategy
Excellence in Research (Senior Research Affiliates)
- Shahina Wiehler, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Students)
- Tanisha Henry, PhD student in Biological Sciences
Excellence in Teaching (Senior Instructors)
- Dr. Kim Koh, Professor at the Werklund School of Education
Leadership Award
- Keira Gunn and Ariel Kim
Emerging Leader Award
- Imran Basha Soudagar Abdul Khadar, Haskayne School of Business
GSA Champion Award
- Thao Nguyen, GSA Marketing & Communication Manager
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Alex Paquette, former GSA Vice President Academic
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award
- Brett Nelson, PhD student, Department of Linguistics
Volunteer Excellence Awards
- Pamela Farrell, Chair of the Food Housing Working Group
- Leah Mercier, Chair of the Awards Committee
- Nneka Jk-Onyeka, Vice-Chair the Governance Committee
- Colin McKenzie, Chair of the GSA Mental Health and Wellness Subcommittee
- Pavana Bollu, Chair of the Finance Standing Committee
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
- Micky (Sangwook) Ahn (Honourable Mentions: Kulsum Fatima, Milanpreet Kuar)
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- Meg Monisit and Daniel Adebesin
- Hanna Thai
- Navid Maddahi
- Miao Wang
Excellence in Administrative Support (Support Staff)
- Crystal Ellis, GSA Governance and Services Manager
Excellence in Administrative Support (Senior Administration)
- Joel May, Office of the Registrar
Excellence in Research (Graduate Students)
- Chantal Rytz, PhD Student, Department of Medical Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine
Excellence in Supervision
- Dr. Raafat El–Hacha, Department of Civil Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering
Excellence in Research (Senior Research Affiliates)
- Dr. Stefan Lenz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Students)
- Christine Daly, PhD Student, School of Architecture, Landscape and Planning
Excellence in Teaching (Senior Instructors)
- Dr. Adam McCrimmon, Werklund School of Education
Leadership Award
- Sangwook Ahn, PhD Student, Veterinary Medical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Emerging Leader Award
- John Gabriel Cabayao, Master’s student, Department of Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts
GSA Champion Award
- Dr. Mary Grantham O’Brien, Associate Dean (Policy and Program Development), Faculty of Graduate Studies
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Suzie Lee, Master’s student, Department of Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award
- Anastasiia Gushchina, PhD student, Department of Communication, Media, and Film, Faculty of Arts
Volunteer Excellence Awards
- Danica Chang, Chair of the GSA Gender and Sexuality Alliance Subcommittee or GSA^2
- Ainsley Smith, Chair of the GSA Mental Health and Wellness Subcommittee
- Ali Ebrahimi Emamieh, Vice Chair of the GSA Governance Committee
- Saaka Sulemana, Chair of the GSA Governance Committee
- Kristina Miller, Chief Returning Officer
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
- Pamela Farrell, Werklund School of Education
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- Knowledge Translation Club by Daniel Sadler, Zoya Punjwani, Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine
Excellence in Administrative Support (Support Staff)
- Monica Freeman, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Excellence in Administrative Support (Senior Administration)
- Dr. Mary Grantham O’Brien (Professor, Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Culture; Associate Dean, Policy of Faculty of Graduate Studies)
Excellence in Research (Graduate Students)
- Sina Rezvani, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Excellence in Supervision
- Dr. Nancy Moules, Department of Nursing
Excellence in Research (Senior Research Affiliates)
- Dr. Elodie Labit, Department of Veterinary Medicine
Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Students)
- Dinu Attalage, Department of Civil Engineering
Excellence in Teaching (Senior Instructors)
- Dr. Jeff Pieper, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Leadership Award
- Robyn Paul, Department of Engineering
- Honourable mentions: Julia Duan, Faculty of Kinesiology; Anthonia Anowai, Cumming School of Medicine
Emerging Leader Award
- Chelsea Klinke, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
- Honourable mentions: Kayla Dias, Department of Biological Sciences; Keshia Holloman-Dawson, Faculty of Law
GSA Champion Award
- Dr. Leslie Reid, Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning
Lifetime Achievement Award
- Harrison Campbell, Werklund School of Education
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award
- Kayla Dias, Department of Biological Sciences
Volunteer Excellence Awards
- Andrew Kemle, Department of Political Science
- Anthonia Anowai, Cumming School of Medicine
- Breni Sharma, Cumming School of Medicine
- Robyn Paul, Schulich School of Engineering
- Feyisetan Adebayo, Schulich School of Engineering
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
- Bita Malekian, Schulich School of Engineering
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- 1st Annual Food Studies Symposium (Chelsea Klinke, Gertrude Korkor Samar, and Simon Koots)
- The PHAS Graduate Assistant Workshop (Pamela Freeman, Becky Booth, Kyle Reiter, Omid Khajehdehi, Davor Curic, Carlton-James Osakwe, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Hadi Zadeh Haghighi, Mahsa Faryadras, Kaitlyn Stenhouse, Pooja Woosaree, Omid Aligholamioskooee, and Anustup Das)
- The Foothills Financial Literacy Workshop Series (Megha Murali, Rachita Panda, and Lucia Otero Varela)
- Encouraging Black and Racialized Applicants Through Admission Reforms (Keshia Holloman-Dawson)
- Software Training (Hector Bonilla and Antonio Garcia Vila)
Excellence in Research Award (Graduate Student): Negin Saheb Javaher, Department of Sociology
- Honourable Mentions: Marwa Atwa, Department of Chemistry and Isabel Fandino, Department of Sociology
Excellence in Teaching Award (Graduate Student): Janet Aucoin, Department of Community Health Sciences
- Honourable Mentions: Chelsea Klinke, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology and Mohammad Noaeen, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Excellence in Supervision Award: Dr. Darren Derksen, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry
- Honourable Mentions: Dr. Pallavi Banerjee, Department of Sociology and Dr. Barrie Nault, School of Haskayne
Leadership Award: Rachel Kratofil, Department of Immunology
- Honourable Mentions: Dion Kelly, Department of Neuroscience and Julia Teresa Daun, Department of Exercise & Health Psychology
Emerging Leader Award: Kelsey Pennanen, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
- Honourable Mentions: Anthonia Anowai, Department of Chemistry and Dana Louise Cramer, Department of Communication, Media and Film
GSA Champion Award:
- Dr. Robin Yates, UCalgary’s Dean and Vice Provost (Graduate Studies)
Lifetime Achievement Award:
- Claudia Ladisa, Department of Biological Sciences
Volunteer Excellence Awards:
- Ali Mohammadi, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
- Dinu Attalage, Department of Civil Engineering
- Jacob Lamb, Department of Civil Engineering
- Kaylee Rich, Department of Ecosystem & Public Health
- Michelle Elizabeth Love, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award:
- Andrew Kemle, Department of Political Science
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- Spanish Classes Initiative by Chelsea Klinke
- Candidacy Workshops 2019 by Megha Murali, Christopher McCoy, Dustin Pearson, Jasper Greysson-Wong
- Mental Health Workshop Series by Leah Chadwick, Nisha Vashi, Alex Choy, Jessy Cooke, Lorraine Reggin, Danielle Lefebvre
- Coding Workshop for Engineers by Maithree Kurukulasuriya, Hasini Rathnayake
- PHAS Graduate Assistant Orientation by Pamela Freeman, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Ordog, Ayush Mandwal, Davor Curic, Omid Khajehdehi, Carlton Osakwe
- Sustainable Fashion: Clothing Swap Shop by Nouran Habib, Kiana Hampton, Eryl David, Alexa Alleyne
GSA Champion Awards
- Shane Royal, UCalgary’s Director of Ancillary Services
- Linda Dalgetty, UCalgary Vice President Finance and Services
Lifetime Achievement Award: Alejandra Enriquez Garcia, Department of Chemistry
Leadership Award: Haley Vecchiarelli, Department of Neuroscience
Emerging Leader Award: Sicheng Lee, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Excellence in Administrative Support Award (Support Staff): Leda Stawnychko, Department of Nursing
Excellence in Research Award (Graduate Students): Robert Mayall, Department of Chemistry
Research Excellence Award (Senior Research Affiliates): Thomas Barchyn, Department of Geography
Excellence in Teaching Award (Graduate Student)
- Jessalyn Holodinsky, Department of Community Health Sciences
- Marissa Clapson, Department of Chemistry (Honourable Mention)
Excellence in Supervision Award
- Dr. Ryan Burns, Department of Geography
- Dr. Adam Kirton, Department of Pediatrics and Clinical Neuroscience
- Dr. Jean Addington, Department of Psychiatry (Honourable Mention)
- Dr. Kunal Karan, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (Honourable Mention)
Volunteer Excellence Award
- Jaclyn Carter, Department of English
- Hormoz Izadi, Department of Geoscience
- Suzanne Chew, Department of Geography
- Basem Halawa, Department of Civil Engineering
- Jen Sidorova, Department of Political Science
Graduate Representative Council Distinguished Service Award: Shawn Brackett, Department of History
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
- Asha Hollis, Department of Neuroscience
- Suzanne Chew, Department of Geography (Honourable Mention)
- Ehsan Hosseini, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (Honourable Mention)
Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- Rapid Initiative: Faizan Malik, Aaron Lanz, Govind Peringod, Brooke Belanger, Pauline de Jesus, Trevor Low, Douglas Kondro, Sascha Gill, Joel Glover, Sam Dorosz, and Thomas Lijnse
- Zen Den: Catherine Greene, Rachel Kratofil, and Nancy Adam
- Method’s Day: Charlene Watterston, Rasha Sabouny, and Sophie Briggs
- Workshop Fridays: Hiva Jalilzadeh, Lauretta Pearse, and Mohamadmahdi Ershad
- GSA Champion Award – Gareth McVicar, Manager – Leadership Program, Student Services
- GSA Lifetime Achievement Award – Aida Nciri, Department of Geography
- Mentorship Award – Dr. Barry Bennett
- GSA Sustainability Award – Patrick Duke, Department of Geography – Students on Sustainability and Dylan McLernon, Department of Art – Creating Sustainable Habitats for Bees
- Volunteer Excellence – Myra Chen, Department of Medical Sciences; Alejandra Enriquez Garcia, Department of Chemistry; Runze Yang, Department of Medicine, Neuroscience; Haley Vecchiarelli, Department of Graduate Sciences Education; and Leanne Dawson, Department of Electrical Engineering
- GRC Distinguished Service Award – Kyle McCallum, Faculty of Kinesiology
- Leadership Award – Tushar Sharma, Department of Electrical Engineering
- Emerging Leader Award – Sophie Hu, Department of Biomedical Sciences
- Excellence in Administrative Support (Support Staff) – Federica Gowen, School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures; Suha Abusalim, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Administrative Support (Senior Administrator) – Elizabeth Paolucci, Department of Community Health Sciences
- Excellence in Supervision – Jennifer Lock, Division of Learning Sciences; and Dave Hansen, Department of Biological Sciences (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Students) – Zahra Shakeri, Department of Computer Science; Allison Bajt, School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures; Sibapriya Chaudhuri, Department of Biological Sciences (honourable mention); and Lauretta Pearse, Department of Civil Engineering (honourable mention)
- Research Assistants Excellence Awards (Graduate Students) – Richard Slipp, School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures
- Research Assistants Excellence Awards (Senior Assistants) – Ajitha Thanabalasuriar, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology; Scott Paulson, Department of Chemistry (honourable mention); and Brandy Pilapil, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (honourable mention)
- Graduate Representative Council Initiative Awards
- Communication Workshop – Acting Your Science – Rachel Kratofil, Ania Zuba, Somshukla Chaudhuri, Alya Heirali, Department of Medicine, Immunology, and Nicole Mancini, Department of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Sciences
- Innovation 4 Health: Danielle Whittier, Kathryn Simone, Abdullah Al-Ani, Andres Kroker, Jacob George, Riley Booth, Douglas Kondro, Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program
- Health and Wellness Initiatives – Environmental Design Students’ Association: Erica Hansen, and Janessa Lasaleta, Faculty of Environmental Design
- Methods Day – Foothills Campus: Rhiannon Campden, Christina Sandall, Rujuta Deshpande, Nancy Adam, and Catherine Greene, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Innovation, Development, and Entrepreneurship Awards – First place: Nanoparticles for Wastewater Treatment; Second place: Concussion Detection; Third place: Model Medical Innovations; and People’s Choice Award: Pressed for Change.
Read about the GSA 2017 – 2018 Awards Gala on UToday here.
- Excellence in Administrative Support (Support Staff) – Nathan Tremblay, Faculty of Environmental Design; Marion Mildenberger, Cumming School of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Administrative Support (Senior Administration) – Tara Beattie, Cumming School of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Program
- Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Student) – Teeratorn Kadeethum, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering; Khobaib Zaamout, Department of Computer Science (honourable mention); Ramya Singh, Department of Biological Sciences (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Teaching (Senior Instructor) – Morteza Dejam, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
- Excellence in Supervision – Amanda Melin, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology; Deborah Kurrasch, Department of Medical Genetics (honourable mention); Paul Kubes, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology (honourable mention); Joshua Bourdage, Department of Psychology (honourable mention)
- Research Assistant Excellence Award (Graduate Student) – Etienne LaPierre, Department of Chemistry
- Research Excellence Award (Senior Researcher) – Gerardo Vitale, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
- Mentorship Award – Les Stehmeier, Senior Scientist at Nova Chemicals
- Sustainability Awards – Luis Welbanks, Composting in Crowsnest Hall; Taylor Woo, Seniors’ Connect; Juan Pheiffer, Analysis of Alberta Indigenous Solar Program application within Peavine Metis (honourable mention); Kristin Skelton, Online Crowdfunding Platform for Renewable Energy Sector (honourable mention)
- GSA Champion Award – Debbie Bruckner, Senior Director of the Wellness Centre
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Veronika Kiryanova, Department of Psychology
- Newcomer Award – Rod Vafaei, Cumming School of Medicine, Biomedical Technology Program
- Leadership Award – Veronika Kiryanova, Department of Psychology
- Innovation and Development Award – First place: Enable; Second place: rEHABLE; Third place: BClean; and People’s Choice Award: Nanoparticles for Wastewater Treatment.
- Excellence in Administrative Support – Lina Girgis, Student Services Administrator of the GSA; Tracy Korsgaard, Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Physics and Astronomy (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Administrative Support (Senior Administration) – Dru Marshall, Provost and Vice-President (Academic); Lisa Hughes, Associate Dean (Policy) of the Faculty of Graduate Studies (honourable mention)
- Graduate Assistant Excellence – Victor Bedoya, Department of French, Italian and Spanish; Tiffany Dohorty, Ana Litviniuc, Miranda MacCallum, Department of Sociology
- Excellence in Graduate Mentorship – Stephanie Coward, Department of Community Health Sciences; Dennis Storoshenko, Department of Linguistics, Languages and Culture (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Supervision – Nigel Shrive, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Heather Jamnicsky, Cumming School of Medicine (honourable mention); Aritha van Herk, Department of English (honourable mention)
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Haley Vecchiarelli, Department of Neuroscience
- Leadership Award – Fartoon Siad, Department of Community Health Sciences
- Excellence in Administrative Support – Merrit Penny, Department of Economics
- Excellence in Teaching – Dr. Tom Langford, Department of Sociology
- Excellence in Supervision – Dr. Rob Huebert, Department of Political Science; Dr. Amanda Pounder, Department of Linguistics, Languages and Culture (honourable mention)
- Excellence in Mentorship – Dr. Denice Bay, Department of Biological Sciences
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Liam Cummings, Department of Environmental Design
- Leadership Award – Kristen Barton, Cumming School of Medicine
- Excellence in Administrative Support – Dr. Jean Wallace, Department of Sociology
- Excellence in Teaching – Dr. David Jones, Werklund School of Education
- Excellence in Supervision – Dr. Scott Patten, Department of Community Health Sciences
- Excellence in Support – Alix Westgard, Department of Psychology
