YSGS Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Award Recipients
The Yeates School of Graduate Studies (YSGS) Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Award recognizes faculty excellence in the complex process of mentoring graduate students to prepare them for productive careers. There are a total of seven awards: one to be allocated to a faculty member in each of TMU’s Faculties and one for a faculty member associated with an interdisciplinary program. Note: a faculty member that works with an interdisciplinary program or another graduate program outside of their Faculty may be considered for both their home Faculty YSGS award and any other appropriate award within the YSGS Outstanding Contribution to Graduate Education Awards.
Award recipient(s) will receive a certificate of recognition and a monetary award of $2,000 as a one-time payment (subject to applicable deductions).
Key criteria: Graduate student mentorship
2023 recipients
Marc Adler
Department of Chemistry and Biology, Faculty of Science
Associate Professor Marc J. Adler, of the Department of Chemistry and Biology has made an outstanding contribution to graduate education and the mentorship of graduate students. In the last year alone, 5 of his mentees have successfully completed their Molecular Science MSc degrees. Through 1-on-1, as well as group meetings, he ensures that his students' research, learning, and career planning all remain on track. He ensures that his students are actively engaged in the dissemination of their work, through co-authorship of research articles and encouraging students to give conference presentations. He is most deserving of this award.
Cristina Catallo
Urban Health, Faculty of Community Services
Cristina Catallo is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director (GPD) in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing (DCSN). As GPD she has established a holistic admissions strategy to support equity-deserving applicants’ entry into graduate education. As academic lead for the
PhD in Urban Health, Cristina launched this new program during the pandemic. She seeks innovative ways to bring interdisciplinary faculty and a diverse group of PhD students together to carry out collaborative research opportunities that have lasting impact. As a professor, Cristina is committed to student engagement and mentorship and collaborates with graduate scholars on student-centred SRC activities.
Songnian Li
Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
Dr. Songnian Li, Professor of Civil Engineering, has made outstanding contributions to graduate education through his role as a faculty member and many-year’s work as Graduate Program Director. His contributions include not only graduate teaching and mentoring high-quality, award-winning graduate students, who landed prestigious faculty and research positions, but also development of the Civil Engineering graduate program and a supportive environment for students. He played an instrumental role in leading the collective efforts on completing two periodical program reviews, which ended up with quality and positive review outcomes, and developing and implementing program’s procedural guidelines.
Yuanshun Li
Master of Science in Management, Ted Rogers School of Management
Dr. Yuanshun Li has played many pivotal roles in improving the quality of graduate student mentorship, teaching, and support of graduate students’ professional development and career advancement. As graduate program director of the MScM program, he led the implementation of program expansion in enrollment and program modifications to improve the students’ learning experience and outcomes. As Chair of the TRSM Graduate Program Council, he uses his collegial approach to effectively contribute to governance and administration. Meanwhile, Dr. Li is a prolific researcher and mentor, and has supervised 20+ MScM theses and MBA MRPs, and chaired 30+ MScM thesis examinations.
Jeremy Shtern
Communication and Culture, Interdisciplinary Studies
Jeremy Shtern, Professor of Creative Industries, has supervised more than twenty MAs, PhDs and Postdocs since 2013. He has served as program director of the TMU/York Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture since 2017. His passion for and commitment to the program cannot be overstated. With this award, we recognize Dr. Shtern for leading the program with vision and compassion through challenging times, including a lengthy labour disruption and pandemic, for providing a collegial and supportive environment that fosters innovative scholarly activities, and for effectively mentoring students through all stages of their research and on to successful careers.
Past recipients
- Harald Bauder
Interdisciplinary Studies - Immigration and Settlement Studies, Faculty of Arts - Andre Laplume
Master of Science in Management, Ted Rogers School of Management - Alison Matthews David
Fashion, The Creative School
- Mehrunnisa Ali
Immigration and Settlement Studies, YSGS Interdisciplinary - Nina-Marie Lister
Urban Development, Faculty of Community Services - Katy McCormick
Documentary Media, Faculty of Communication & Design - Ali Miri
Computer Science, Faculty of Science - Donna Smith
MBA Program, Ted Rogers School of Management
- Miranda Campbell
School of Creative Industries, Faculty of Communication and Design - Seung Hwan (Mark) Lee
School of Retail Management, Ted Rogers School of Management - Mehrab Mehrvar
Department of Chemical Engineering, YSGS Interdisciplinary - Maurice Roche
Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts - Alireza Sadeghian
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science - Sharareh Taghipour
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science
- Anthony Bonato
Mathematics, Faculty of Science - Marta Braun
Film and Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, Faculty of Communication and Design - Suzanne Fredericks
Nursing, Faculty of Community Services - Claire Oswald
Environmental Applied Science and Management, Interdisciplinary - Julia Spaniol
Psychology, Faculty of Arts - Hong Yu
Master’s of Business Administration, Ted Rogers School of Management
- Alagan Anpalagan
Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Programs, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Rachel Berman
Master of Arts in Early Childhood Studies, School of Early Childhood Studies - James Gräfe
Biomedical Physics Graduate Programs, Department of Physics - Karen Milligan
Psychology Graduate Programs, Department of Psychology - Paul Moore
Communication and Culture Graduate Programs, Department of Sociology - James Tiessen
MBA Programs, Health Services Management - Matthew Tiessen
Masters of Professional Communication Program, School of Professional Communications
- Deborah Fels
Master of Business Administration Program, School of Information Technology Management - Wendy Freeman
Master of Professional Communication Program, School of Professional Communication - Mehrab Mehrvar
Environmental Applied Science and Management Graduate Program, Department of Chemical Engineering - Ali Miri
Computer Science Graduate Program, Department of Computer Science - Candice Monson
Psychology Graduate Program, Department of Psychology - Pamela Robinson
Urban Development, School of Urban and Regional Planning - Krishnan Venkatakrishnan
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Graduate Program, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering