York community awash with honours

A number of York faculty and staff have recently been singled out for awards. Here’s a look at who’s getting what.

Best essay examines “blood activism”

Michael Orsini (left), political science professor at York’s Glendon College, has won the Canadian Political Science Association’s John McMenemy Prize for best essay in the 2002 edition (Vol. 35) of the Canadian Journal of Political Science. The essay, “The Politics of Naming, Blaming, and Claiming: HIV, Hepatitis C, and the Emergence of Blood Activism in Canada,” appeared in the September issue. Orsini examines the mobilization of persons infected with tainted blood through the blood supply. In particular, he looks at the tensions between persons infected with HIV and those infected with Hepatitis C, and how these “blood activists” interacted with state authorities.

Osgoode advancement staff recognized

The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) will recognize the accomplishments of two advancement professionals from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School June 16 at its annual conference in London, Ontario.

Development officer Anita Herrmann will receive a 2003 CCAE Rising Star Award, which recognizes those advancement professionals with three to five years work experience “whose early success in the field augers well for future leadership and accomplishment.”

Andrew Stelmacovich, assistant dean (advancement), will be honoured with a CCAE Circle Award for having completed 10 years of service in university advancement.

CCAE is a Canadian organization committed to fostering excellence in institutional advancement.

History books win regional prizes

Two York University history professors have won CLIO book prizes from the Canadian Historical Association this year for their publications of regional history. The historical association is a founding member of the Clio Consortium, a communication network between organizations concerned with the study of the past and/or the preservation of archival material.

William C. Wicken of the Faculty of Arts won the Atlantic CLIO Award for Mi’kmaq Treaties on Trial: History, Land, and Donald Marshall Junior (right).

William Westfall of the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, won the Ontario CLIO Award for The Founding Moment: Church, Society, and the Construction of Trinity College (left).

Geographer honoured as scholar

The Canadian Association of Geographers presented Glen Norcliffe, geography professor in York’s Faculty of Arts, the Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography on May 30 at its annual meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.

The award recognizes Norcliffe’s scholarly contributions and leadership in Canadian geography, specifically in the fields of economic and cultural geography. His research interests focused on industrial restructuring, modernity and the global economy. His latest book, The Ride to Modernity: The Bicycle in Canada 1869-1900 (right), was published in 2001 and won the Fairman Prize of the American Precision Museum.

During his academic career, Norcliffe wrote and edited several books, including a widely-used text on statistical geography, was associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Regional Science and Chair of the Canadian Association of Geography (CAG) study group in industrial geography. At York, he has served as Chair of the Geography Department and director of the Geography Graduate Program.

A winning innovator

On June 5, The Learning Partnership presented York University’s Janet Murphy (below) with one of its first annual Technology Innovation Awards. The awards recognize the achievements of individual educators and teams whose intelligent use of technology has been instrumental in building a modern learning environment for students.

Murphy is manager of the ground-breaking Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) Project, which is developing an interactive, collaborative learning model for teacher development and education delivery, currently for users in Ontario and Alberta. The project interconnects the faculties of education at York and the University of Alberta with six schools in Toronto and Edmonton. It is funded by a CANARIE (Canada’s Advanced Internet Development Organization) grant and housed at York University, supported by York’s Office of Research and Innovation.

Before coming to York, Murphy implemented virtual school programs and on-line training and development for the Toronto District Public School Board.

The Learning Partnership is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing together business, education, labour, policy makers and the community to develop partnerships that strengthen public education.