Knowledge, understanding, and, hopefully, wisdom are among the core outcomes of the research, scholarship and creative intellectual work conducted within university settings. These pursuits embody and express the University as a community of scholars engaged in knowledge generation, education, and lives as public intellectuals. The Award for Research Excellence was established by Mount Saint Vincent University to acknowledge and to celebrate particularly notable research and intellectual accomplishments achieved by our faculty.
2009 - Dr. Meredith Ralston – Departments of Political Studies and Women’s Studies
Dr. Ralston's scholarly and creative research achievements are considerable and diverse. Most notably, throughout her body of work is expressed her commitment to connecting innovative 'best practices' in research with advancing social justice and fostering social change. As one of Dr. Ralston's nominators remarked, she is committed “…to using the results of scholarship to reach a wider audience and [to] promote social change and social justice.” To these ends, Dr. Ralston has authored or co-authored 3 books and 15 articles, reviews and reports.
But, most distinctively, Dr. Ralston has produced and directed 5 documentary films, and is currently working on her sixth - a feature length documentary that examines the global scope of the sex trade industry. Her most recent documentary, Hope in Heaven, has achieved wide acclaim and international attention. Focusing on sex tourism in the Philippines, among its achievements Hope in Heaven has been broadcast on CBC Newsworld and won the Best Documentary award at the Big Bear Lake Film Festival. As a Globe and Mail review remarked about Hope in Heaven, 'Few documentaries have been as hard to watch or have pestered the memory as much as this film.” Dr. Ralston's approach of focusing on the experiences and conditions of one sex industry worker moved another reviewer to remark “The poverty and squalor she lives in and her hope that one day a foreigner will rescue her are both poignant and heartbreaking.” Working in extremely difficult settings to bring into focus the conditions fostering gender-related injustices and their consequent human misery, Dr. Ralston employs thorough research combined with visual representation to document; but, most importantly, to motivate change through raising consciousness and encouraging action.
By any measure, this is an impressive record of innovative and impacting scholarship expressing the very best traditions of action research. Her research program has won support from funding agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency. In fact, Dr. Ralston's most recent SSHRC award is almost triple the competition's average award value, clearly indicating the importance her peers associate with her work, as well as their esteem for Dr. Ralston's accomplishments. Such is the public record of an accomplished researcher whose life is lived in and through the conviction that research must inform the betterment of the human condition.
2008 - Dr. Frank Bennett, Department of Mathematics
Dr. Bennett is an internationally known scholar whose research in Combinatorics has been published in over one hundred peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at a like number of conferences around the world. He has made significant and lasting contributions to a number of areas in Combinatorics, including Mendelsohn Designs and Ortogonal Latin Squares. His colleagues have recognized the creativity and deep insight of his work in a variety of ways, including his selection as editor of the Journal of Combinatorial Designs and his election as Foundation Fellow of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications. The high quality of his work has also been recognized by NSERC, which has funded his work without break since 1982 and invited him to serve on its Grant Selection Committee for Pure and Applied Mathematics. He has collaborated widely in his research, co-authoring papers with colleagues from Australia, China, and the United States. More locally, he has mentored many students in the Mathematics Department.
Dr. Bennett has been at Mount Saint Vincent University since 1982. He received his PhD from the University of Manitoba in 1976.
2007-Dr. William Hare, Faculty of Education
Dr. Hare’s scholarly and creative intellectual achievements are considerable. Thus far Dr. Hare has published 10 books and monographs, 94 articles and book chapters, and 32 book reviews. He has also been invited to deliver numerous presentations within national and international settings. By any measure, this is an impressive record of research and scholarship. The exemplary qualities of Dr. Hare’s contributions to the fields of Education and the Philosophy of Education have been acknowledged by his colleagues through awards such as the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Association of Foundations of Education, the Mary Anne Raywid Award from the Society of Professors of Education, and the CPES Distinguished Service Award.
Much of Dr. Hare’s thinking and scholarship concerns activating the ideas of critical thinking and open-mindedness, in education as well as throughout one’s life and relationships. His scholarship, as one nominator observes, is interdisciplinary in substance, internationally reputed, and has contributed mightily to the field of educational philosophy. In his work, Dr. Hare challenges, among other sacred cows, both the entrenched processes of authoritarian teaching practice, and the latter day intellectual fashion to insist that truth does not exist, rather that all understandings are equally ‘truthful’. As Jonas F. Soltis of Columbia University remarks in his Forward to Dr. Hare’s book In Defense of Open-mindedness, “In Hare’s treatment, [open-mindedness]…is at once a saint-like attitude of fairness and willingness to consider other views and a dogged commitment to reason, evidence, and truth…Without [such] a sophisticated concept of open-mindedness…we who have inherited the Enlightenment beliefs in individual autonomy and the sovereignty of reason and evidence would stand on the brink of relativism- or worse, nihilism…Hare’s thoughtful and thorough work provides a way out.” It almost goes without saying that qualities such as these are critical to finding the direction and resolved courage essential for wise navigation within this post 9/11 world.
Such is the public record of an accomplished scholar whose life is lived in and through reflective learning and writing. But, it does not end here. Dr. Hare is also an educator of considerable accomplishment and reputation. Dr. Hare’s intellectual work and practice express the essential link between scholarly endeavor, intellectual creativity, learning, and teaching. Also, Dr. Hare is highly esteemed as a student and colleague mentor.
2005 - Dr. Lorri Neilsen, Faculty of Education
Dr. Neilsen's scholarly and creative intellectual achievements are considerable. Many aspire for what Dr. Neilsen has achieved. She is both a scholar and a poet, as well as an educator of considerable renown. For over twenty-five years, Dr. Neilsen has sustained an impressively significant and diverse record of scholarly and creative intellectual activity. Her scholarship, as one nominator observed, is interdisciplinary in substance and internationally reputed. In her work, Dr. Neilsen examines the social, cultural, and political dimensions of learning through various literacies and sign systems, particularly as these intersect with gender and dominant pedagogical processes.
Dr. Neilsen's research, scholarship, and intellectual creativity have garnered many honors, including the Richard A. Mead International Award for Outstanding Research in the English/Language Arts. Dr. Neilsen has authored six books, and edited or co-edited several others. She has published numerous refereed articles, poems, and book chapters. Dr. Neilsen's work has also won support from within the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Canada Council grant competitions. She is an internationally acknowledged innovator and leader in arts-based research, scholarship and teaching. Such is the public record of an accomplished scholar whose life is lived in and through learning. But, it does not end here. Dr. Neilsen is also a poet of considerable accomplishment and reputation. These qualities were recognised recently with her appointment as Halifax's Poet Laureate. Poetry is rarely, if ever, absent from Dr. Neilsen's printed voice and spoken word. For instance, she writes, “If we are to find a way to live between earth and sky, we must learn to surrender to new and larger stories…[that] bring us to the edge of deeper questions: How to be here? …What is good, and beautiful? What matters?”
2004 - Dr. Reginald Stuart, Department of History
Dr. Stuart's record of scholarly achievement exemplifies best practice and the highest standards. For more than thirty years, he has sustained an impressive and significant record of research and scholarly activity. His work contributes meaningfully to North American-focused historical inquiry and, notably, to perceptive and prescient understandings of Canada – U.S. cross-border relationships. To date, Dr. Stuart’s research and scholarship have garnered many honors, the most recent being his award as the Distinguished Canadian-American Fulbright Chair at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Dr. Stuart has authored five books, co-authored another book and edited two anthologies. In addition, he has published forty refereed and commissioned articles, review essays and book chapters, and fifty-five book reviews in scholarly journals. As might be anticipated of such a prolific scholar, Dr. Stuart has sustained a laudable level of contribution to professional meetings and adjudications, having read twenty-five papers to scholarly gatherings and provided commentary to, organized, and chaired many others. No less of an achievement is the fact that Dr. Stuart has assisted his research through a record of consistent success within competitive grant adjudications.
Dr. Stuart’s practice demonstrates his conviction to exercising and expressing the scholar's responsibility to disseminate research widely to a variety of publics. He has taken his knowledge and passion for Canadian-American studies to the general public, delivering many public lectures and talks, and providing public affairs commentary through radio, television and newspaper interviews. This body of scholarly and research accomplishment has been achieved during an MSVU faculty career that has included regular teaching and administrative duties. Indeed, Dr. Stuart has twice served as Chair of History and served as Dean of Arts and Science from 1988 to 1996. As an administrative leader, Dr. Stuart engaged a sincere interest in his faculty's research, encouraging and promoting research and scholarship at every turn. For instance, he initiated the creation of the Faculty Release Time Award for deserving scholars, which since 1993 has given its recipients that little bit of breathing room needed to polish a grant submission, finish off a book or article, or otherwise pursue with increased vigor their own scholarly paths.
2003 - Dr. Ron Van Houten, Department of Psychology
Dr. Ron Van Houten was first active in educational research and in clinical research, but, in the 1980s he turned his attention to the area of Pedestrian Safety and has developed a reputation around the world for his work in this field. He has published 37 of his 82 peer reviewed papers in the area of Traffic Safety. During his career, he has served as an editor on various journals, and is currently a director of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour.
Dr. Van Houten came to Mount Saint Vincent University in 1971 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology. Even wider appreciation for his work is evident in his receipt of a Certificate of Honourable Mention from the Royal Society of Arts (1983), a Solicitor General of Canada Crime Prevention Award (1984), and, in 2000, an award for innovative urban transportation solutions from the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
2002 - Dr. Patrick B. O’Neill, Department of Speech and Drama
Dr. O’Neill is nationally recognized as one of Canada’s foremost theatre historians. His research has led to eight published books, two edited ones, and numerous research articles and book chapters. In 1995, he was awarded the Richard Plant Essay Prize by the Association for Canadian Theatre History. Currently, what occupies Dr. O’Neill’s focus is something more close to home – a history of Halifax theatre.
Dr. O’Neill, who has been with Mount Saint Vincent University since 1975, has a PhD from Louisiana State University. In addition to his research and teaching duties, he has also produced and directed twenty-three theatre productions at Mount Saint Vincent University.
2001 - Dr. Fred Harrington, Department of Psychology
Dr. Harrington is an international expert on canid (wolf and coyote) communication. For over twenty-five years, he has sustained an outstanding level of research activity, with major funding from NSERC and SSHRC, and a wide variety of external agencies. His applied research, focusing on the human impact on wildlife, has included work on barren ground black bears and jet aircraft effects on caribou. Dr. Harrington has worked with both the Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit Association on environmental concerns, and has brought his expertise to a number of critical wildlife conservation issues. In 1990, he was awarded the Silver Medal for the Royal Society of Arts (Atlantic Chapter) for his contribution to wildlife conservation.
Dr. Harrington, who has been with Mount Saint Vincent University since 1977, has a PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Outside of academic channels, Dr. Harrington is well-known for bringing his knowledge to a wide range of audiences: conservationists, governments, policy makers, the general public, and children via educational media productions.
2000 - Dr. Frances Early, Department of History
Dr. Early, an internationally recognized historian, is a Professor in the Department of History. She has made outstanding contributions in two substantial areas of study: U.S. labour, family, and immigrant history in the 19th century; and women, war and peace, and civil liberties in the 20th century. Dr. Early was awarded the 1991 DeBenedetti Prize (Council on Peace Research in History) for her article entitled "Feminism, Peace and Civil Liberties: Women's Role in the Origins of the World War I Civil Liberties Movement." Her book A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacificist Resisted World War I, garnered the 1999 Walter F. Kuehl Award in International/Peace History from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.
Dr. Early, who has been with Mount Saint Vincent University since 1981, has a PhD from Concordia University. She was a founding member of the Canadian Women's Studies Association (now a Learned Society), and was the first woman president of the Peace History Society. She is also a member of the Canadian Association of American Studies, the Canadian Historical Association and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.
1999 - Dr. Blye Frank, Department of Education
Dr. Blye Frank is an internationally recognized educator. He is a specialist in gender, sexuality and schooling, and social/educational theory. Dr. Frank's research on masculinity and schooling has earned him national recognition and has had serious impact on policy development at the local, provincial and national levels. He is a frequent commentator in the media on issues relating to gender equity in education, sexism, HIV/AIDS, and masculinity.
Dr. Frank has been with Mount Saint Vincent University since 1990. He has a PhD from Dalhousie University. An excellent teacher as well as researcher, Dr. Frank received the Mount Saint Vincent Alumnae Award for Teaching in 1997.
1998 - Dr. Cynthia Mathieson, Department of Psychology
Dr. Cynthia Mathieson is a well-respected researcher in the fields of women's health and psychosocial oncology. In the area of women's health, Dr. Mathieson has completed one of Canada's first and its most comprehensive studies of the health care experiences of lesbian and bisexual women, with major funding from the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC). She has also received major funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and from the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Her current SSHRC grant is entitled Building a Bisexual Discourse: A Narrative Analysis.
Dr. Mathieson, who has been with Mount Saint Vincent University since 1992, has a PhD and Master of Science, both in Psychology, from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Arts in English from Northern Arizona University. She has many articles published in academic journals and is a frequent presenter at conferences. At the Mount's 1998 Spring Convocation, she was presented with the 1998 Mount Saint Vincent Alumnae Award for Teaching, as well as the Award for Research Excellence.
1997 - Dr. Peter Schwenger, Department of English
Dr. Peter Schwenger was the first recipient of Mount Saint Vincent University's Award for Research Excellence. Dr. Schwenger is internationally recognized for his innovative research and writings in the field of English literature. He joined the MSVU Department of English in 1975. His work has been described as both 'eclectic' and 'cutting edge', and reflects a deep commitment to exploring new areas of research. At the time of his award, Dr. Schwenger had published two books, Phallic Critiques: Masculinity and Twentieth-Century Literature and Letter Bomb: Nuclear Holocaust and the Exploding Word. A new book, Fantasm and Fiction: On Textual Envisioning, about the ways readers of novels visualize what they are reading, was published in 1999.
Dr. Schwenger received his PhD from Yale University in 1970. He has received a number of research awards, including the F.E.I. Priestly Award for the best essay to appear in English Studies in Canada in 1995. In 1984, he also received the Mount Saint Vincent Alumnae Award for Teaching.