Monica Belcourt (MA ’72, PhD ’87), director of York’s School of Human Resource Management in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, recently received the Fellow Certified Human Resources Professionals (CHRP) Award from the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA). She also received a standing ovation at the HRPA awards luncheon in Toronto where the honour was presented on Jan. 26.
Right: Monica Belcourt
It is the highest honour possible for a human resources professional, a designation reserved for CHRP members who have made exemplary contributions to the profession. Belcourt is only the fourth person to be awarded a Fellow designation since the HRPA’s inception in 1936.
"Receiving the award, and the standing ovation from the association’s leaders, was the highlight of my career. It is a recognition that highlights the value that academics can bring to their professional associations,” says Belcourt, former president of the HRPA from 2003 to 2004 and an HRPA board member for over 15 years.
It is awarded to members who promote best practices in the field, enhance the reputation of the profession and whose outstanding contributions are evident in at least three of the following five key criteria:
- strategic positioning of the human resources profession;
- advocacy on behalf of the human resources profession to government policy-makers;
- development, sharing and promotion of Innovative HR ideas, policies and practices;
- service to local, provincial and/or national human resources associations;
- service to the broader community/social responsibility.
Last year, Belcourt was awarded the inaugural Right Management HR Academic of the Year Award at the 2009 Human Resources Summit Awards gala in Toronto by the HRPA and Canadian HR Reporter (see YFile, March 5, 2009).
Belcourt has worked as director of personnel for Canadian Pacific Rail, director of employee development for the National Film Board and as an HR specialist for the federal government. She has also taught human resources management at Concordia University, the University of Quebec at Montreal, McGill University and York, where she helped to create the first bachelor, master’s and PhD degrees in HRM in Canada.
Belcourt is the academic editor of Canada’s first textbooks in human resources management, which now number 11 and include Managing Performance Through Training & Development, Recruitment and Selection in Canada, Strategic Compensation in Canada and International Human Resources: A Canadian Perspective. She is also the co-author of Managing Human Resources and Strategic Human Resources Planning.