Three faculty members in York University’s Faculty of Health were recognized on Nov. 2 for their outstanding achievement in teaching, service and research.
Dean Paul McDonald presented Faculty Awards to Shayna Rosenbaum (psychology) for teaching, Janet Jeffrey (nursing) for service, and Doug Crawford (psychology) for research during the first faculty council meeting of the fall semester.
“I’m very pleased to have the task of presenting the Faculty of Health Awards,” said McDonald. “I continue to be impressed by the excellence within our Faculty, and this is a wonderful opportunity to shine a light on some of the achievements of our colleagues.”
The awards reflect the 2015-2016 competition, and were adjudicated by the Research and Awards Committee late in the spring. The Faculty Awards were created to recognize the excellence of individual faculty members in advancing the mission of the Faculty of Health. Each year, the Faculty recognizes a faculty member for contributions in teaching, research, and service. In alternating years, these three awards are given to either Early Career or Established Career faculty. The 2015-2016 competition was for Established Career faculty.
Teaching award – Shayna Rosenbaum (Department of Psychology)
Rosenbaum’s contributions to learning and education reflect her abiding commitment to the Faculty of Health’s educational mission to foster opportunities for undergraduate and graduate learning, through to continuing professional development and community-based education initiatives. She has demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching and graduate mentorship, and continues to put forth highly innovative initiatives for clinical education and curriculum development. She has also made extraordinary contributions to the development of professional, scholarly and teaching excellence through her education leadership activities as coordinator of the neuroscience seminar series, coordinator of the clinical neuropsychology stream, and chair of the Examinations and Academic Standards Committee at York.
Her work with local high schools, and as a leader of the Ontario Science Centre Education programs, further demonstrates her deep commitment to community-centered education.
“She embodies the best of the Faculty of Health and we are privileged to have her as a colleague. More importantly, our students are extremely fortunate to have Shayna as a teacher and mentor,” said McDonald.
Service award – Janet Jeffrey (School of Nursing)
Jeffrey’s first administrative role at York University was in 1999, where she served as undergraduate program coordinator for our very new BScN program. This was an inaugural role, as this was the initiation of our School of Nursing with the first cohort of the BScN students. In this role, there were many policies and procedures to be developed for which Jeffrey worked tirelessly. Jeffrey was instrumental for the success of that initial period of learning for all who were newly hired to the new school. She was an exceptional mentor for new faculty.
More recently, Jeffrey stepped forward in April 2015 to be interim director for the school, and has had a positive impact.
Outside of the University, she adds to her very long list of committees by being a member of the Advisory for Bitove Wellness Academy and UHN Academy. She represents York University at the Council of Ontario University Nursing Programs, the Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner Program Consortium, and the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing.
“Dr. Jeffrey is an exceptional academic who has played a key role in building capacity in the School of Nursing, the University and nursing [profession],” said McDonald. “She is an exemplar of servant leadership.”
Research award – Doug Crawford (Department of Psychology)
Crawford’s career is characterized by outstanding innovation and impact on international scientific thinking in the field of visuomotor neuroscience and in ensuring Canada’s status as a major player in vision research and scholarship.
His consistent scientific output is of exceptional quality and quantity, with multiple publications in some the most prestigious scientific journals in the world. He has an h-index of 40 and an i10-index of 81, and his work has been cited over 5,000 times. He has won over 20 research prizes.
Crawford currently holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Visuomotor Neuroscience, is the national coordinator of the Canadian Action and Perception Network and is director of the NSERC CREATE Brain in Action Program.
“These and his many other sustained and meritorious research contributions, his training of many students and post-doctoral fellows, his mentorship of colleagues, and his clear leadership in research at York, throughout Canada, and globally have greatly enhanced the fields of psychology and neuroscience,” said McDonald.