Awards night celebrates faculty and staff excellence

Staff and faculty achievements were recognized on March 27, when the university held its annual Ryerson Awards Night at Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel.

Informally known as “the Academy Awards of Ryerson,” the ceremony honours excellence in teaching, research, administration, service and leadership from across the university, as part of the awards and recognition program.

Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi kicked things off with a short speech congratulating the recipients. “There is so much to be proud of at Ryerson University. Tonight we celebrate the individuals and teams who are doing amazing work. We also recognize what is special about our university. We will see glimpses of remarkable people and their world.”

The President’s Blue and Gold Award of Excellence (opens in new window)  went to the First-Year Engineering Office Team (opens in new window)  and individual recipients Heather Lane Vetere (vice-provost, students) and Denise O’Neil Green (assistant vice-president and vice-provost, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion). The highest award of the evening, it recognizes those who advance Ryerson “through outstanding dedication and excellence in providing services, participating in or leading teams and demonstrating Ryerson values.”

The Engineering Office’s five-person team was commended for initiatives like the First-Year Ambassador (opens in new window)  program and FYEng (external link, opens in new window)  mobile app, which have helped make the office more inclusive, supportive, and flexible. Lane Vetere was cited for her decisive but empathetic leadership style (epitomized by her In Their Shoes (external link, opens in new window)  experiential learning project), and Green was cited for her work overseeing the innovative Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office (opens in new window)  (EDI).

Chris Evans, interim provost and vice-president, academic, introduced the Provost’s Experiential Teaching Award with a tribute to Ryerson’s academic staff. “Student engagement and experience is integral to our mission, and teaching is a core activity for a university. The best teachers help our students tackle problems, take calculated risks, thrive amid diversity, and realize their full potential as leaders in their communities and beyond. The best teachers encourage students to test ideas while they themselves are trying out new technologies and methods, never settling for a pedagogy that settles for ‘good enough.’”

Evans added, “I’ll just digress for a moment and say that being a teacher means being a learner, too—you can’t teach without learning.”

Introducing the Alan Shepard Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award, Green told the audience that the spirit of EDI extends beyond her office. “All of this cannot be done by one office alone and one person alone. It’s quite wonderful to have the individuals who are recipients this year to engage in this type of work. Those we honour today exemplify exceptional commitment and dedication to EDI by developing, enhancing, and changing our institutional culture; changing students’ lives; and changing the physical campus.”

In his closing remarks, Ryerson chancellor Lawrence Bloomberg said, “The dedication and talent of individuals and teams combine to create an environment where brilliance, initiative and community spirit enhance well-being and progress—not only on our campus, but for our city and our nation.

“We recognize that Ryerson is an energized community, moving forward on its innovation agenda—and a university known for being a catalyst, and making an impact.”

For a full list of recipients and photos, visit Recognition and Awards (opens in new window) .

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Stories about this year’s recipients:
University award recipients announced (opens in new window) 

‘There’s no better than this’ for resettled Syrian family (opens in new window)  (Julia Hanigsberg Make Your Mark Award: Lifeline Syria Challenge team)

University values, beyond the campus (opens in new window)  (Julia Hanigsberg Make Your Mark Award: Your Neighbour program team)

A green-roof oasis (opens in new window)  (Julia Hanigsberg Make Your Mark Award: Arlene Throness)

The clothes make the man (opens in new window)  (Social Innovation and Action Research Award: Ben Barry)

Vice-provost heads back to school (opens in new window)  (President’s Blue and Gold Award of Excellence: Heather Lane Vetere)