University of Manitoba - Faculty of Arts - Faculty of Arts - Award in Internationalization (Previous Winners)
Faculty of Arts - Award in Internationalization (Previous Winners)

2019
Dr. Andrea Charron, Associate Professor of Political Studies and Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies
Andrea Charron is this year’s winner of the Faculty of Arts Award in Internationalization. Dr. Charron’s field of specialization is International Relations. She works to enrich her students’ knowledge of international issues and concerns through her teaching materials based on her research in other countries. Her research on NORAD and the Arctic is included in course work, giving students the opportunity to learn about the world from a research perspective. Dr. Charron regularly recruits guests with international experience to speak to her classes and at student conferences. Speakers with different backgrounds in the field challenge students to think about issues from a global perspective.

 

2018
Dr. Haskel Greenfield, Distinguished Professor, Department of Anthropology
Haskel Greenfield works in many ways to promote an increase in students' awareness of international cultures, perspectives and issues. His immense undertakings of international work in the form of several digs in other parts of the world integrate student experience and field learning, promoting both research and teaching with international emphasis. International projects and field schools which have had Professor Greenfield involved, include placed such as Serbia, Romania, South Africa, Turkey, and Israel. The learning which these activities permit students to undertake provides not only archaeologic training, but immerses students in the cultures of the places in which Professor Greenfield and team find themselves.


2017
Dr. Andrew Woolford, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology
Andrew Woolford is the recipient of the Faculty of Arts Award in Internationalization for 2017 for his impressive contributions to internationalization—from the classroom to the University, national, and global communities. Dr. Woolford works to increase his students’ awareness of international cultures, perspectives, and issues. The terms of the award emphasize that nominees should contribute to such an increase in awareness through courses that integrate international experience, or through the inclusion of teaching materials based on research in other countries, or by facilitating international student exchanges - Dr Woolford is active in all three areas. Dr. Woolford is a leading researcher in the field of international genocide studies who clearly translates his important findings and the high level conversations he is engaged in as a scholar to the classroom for the benefit of students. His reputation as a researcher on critical questions of international importance is signalled by his presidency of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, his involvement in drafting resolutions for the United Nations, many fellowships and awards, including his Tourism Winnipeg Bringing It Home Award, and his membership in the College of New Scholars of the Royal Society of Canada.


2016
Dr. Tina Chen,
Professor, Department of History
Dr. Chen has promoted with energy and passion the importance of international awareness among students, and has fostered a critical appreciation of culture. Her work, including recent articles and books, on the history of cinema within the People’s Republic of China, in particular the role of Soviet cinema between 1949 and 1976 has underscored for many the important role in which culture functions internationally. The research group on globalization and cosmopolitanism which Dr Chen founded with Dr David Churchill in 2001 provides a venue for discussion of culture from an international perspective. Dr. Chen is also energetically engaged in many outreach activities, including work with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural and Community Centre, the Manitoba China-Canada Friendship Association, and Creative Retirement Manitoba. The Faculty of Arts is fortunate to have such a talented and engaged faculty member, who makes such invaluable contributions to the study of culture.


2015
Dr. Alexandra Heberger, Associate Professor (German & Slavic Studies)
Dr. Alexandra Heberger’s work in promoting the importance of international awareness among her students through her teaching, research, and outreach activities, as well as her fostering a critical appreciation of culture have earned her the Internationalization Award. Her research in German and Austrian Holocaust Literature and on Second Language Acquisition opens many doors for students, and broadens their knowledge of another culture. She has also encouraged many students to participate in the exchange program to Griefswald, Germany, which she coordinates. Many students have given her extraordinarily moving testimonies on how interactions with her have been a life-changing experience for them. Even the students who never leave on exchange or study abroad receive a sampling of German culture, through her integration of it into her everyday classes. Dr. Heberger’s efforts in promoting German culture, not for her own benefit, but for her sincere belief in not just teaching grammar rules and essentials of a language, but in the sharing of cultural experiences have been recognized by the her receipt of this award.


2012
Iryna Konstantiuk, Instructor (German & Slavic Studies)
The Award in Internationalization is given to a faculty member who promotes an increase in students’ awareness of international culture, perspective and issues through teaching, service and research. This year’s award winner, Ms. Iryna Konstantiuk, has made contributions in all three areas through her work on Ukrainian and Russian language instruction. For over ten years, Ms. Konstantiuk has coordinated the popular Lviv Polytechnic University/University of Manitoba student exchange and the annual travel study program with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Her collaboration has led to collaborative research on Ukrainian issues involving our institution. One of her most important accomplishments are several grants she has received from the Wasyl Topolnicky Foundation, Taras Shevchenko Foundation and the Carpathia Credit Union to develop North America’s first online course in Introductory Ukrainian.


2011
Dr. Jorge Nállim, Associate Professor (History)
Dr. Jorge Nállim’s organization of and work in the Research Cluster in Power and Resistance in Latin America exemplify the best in scholarly and outreach work in internationalization and an enviable template for fostering interdisciplinarity in support of international awareness and understanding. Having successfully introduced many scholars at the University of Manitoba with interests in Latin America by first identifying those who could benefit from this interaction and second by stimulating their interest in collaboration, he strengthens this exceptional foundation for Latin American scholarship and understanding by “establishing . . .linkages with both undergraduate students and with off-campus Latin American community organizations in the city.” As one student commented “. . .sharing his personal knowledge gave a much deeper and nuanced understanding of the Latin American experience. . .[he] was able to remove the abstraction that often takes place when examining another culture, and give a tangible relationship to the history of a region. . ..” Another student emphasized that “. . .my education would not have taken me to the places I have been without [Dr. Nállim’s] involvement.” International students studying or conducting research in the Faculty of Arts are impressed by the “open dialogue” he promotes with his students, the importance he places on developing international awareness, and his facilitation of their scholarship. Dr. Nállim has developed/offered a full range of courses, from seminars in the social history of the Latin American state to courses in colonial Latin America and revolutions in 20th century Latin America, and supervises honours and graduate students in topics involving contemporary Latin America. Through numerous publications and local, national, and international presentations, meritorious teaching, service, and outreach (including his recent collaboration with the Winnipeg Art Gallery on the  Fernando Botero exhibit; work on and promotion of the Enrique Eismendi scholarship for students of Argentine heritage, among others) Dr. Nállim envisions the foundation for compelling international dialogue, and then seeds and nurtures it in ways that will continue to flower in the Faculty and University, his discipline, the educations and careers of students and collaborators, and in the broader local and global communities.


2010
Russell Smandych, Professor (Sociology)
Specialist in comparative criminology, Dr. Smandych envisions his scholarship, teaching, and service/outreach as the foundation for a compelling international dialogue that illuminates a Canadian experience of learning and discovery. Smandych has developed courses in comparative criminology that emphasize global issues in criminal justice systems. He has mentored both local and international students through readings and undergraduate and graduate theses that have emphasized understanding of international approaches to criminal justice, including youth crime. He has developed productive international scholarly collaborations that have given students direct access to other international voices. His students accredit him with their ability to “look outside the box” and to provide “a more complete and holistic understanding to the subject matter” long after they have left his classes and pursued doctoral or professional degrees outside Manitoba. As one student commented, “he opened my eyes to the idea that if we only examine ourselves in isolation, we will never learn other ideas and methods of how to make for a more . . . productive society.” Another student underscored the importance of Smandych’s work on the legacy of “colonial laws on indigenous peoples in New Zealand, Australia and Canada”: It is “emblematic of his desire to bring the experiences of hitherto colonized peoples to [light] and his quest for justice for the Other.” A colleague noted that “internationalization is a theme that stands out clearly” in Smandych’s work. He “draws attention to the ‘global’ and the importance of cross-cultural comparative analysis [as] an integral component . . .”  In his dedication to studying criminal justice systems from an international perspective, Russell Smandych is making a lasting impact on his discipline and on the educations, careers, and outlooks of collaborators and students who have benefited from their associations with him.


2009
Enrique Fernández, Associate Professor, French, Spanish & Italian.
A Specialist in early modern Spanish literature and 19th/20th c. Spanish literature, cinema and history, Dr. Fernández’s scholarship, teaching, and service/outreach exemplify his exuberant engagement with creating novel and compelling international experiences of learning and discovery for his students, academic colleagues, and members of the broader Manitoba community. One colleague underscored his current and “sustained dedication to initiating international experiences for Manitoba students abroad and welcoming international students in Winnipeg, creating outreach events that showcase the University and the Spanish language, and . . .engaging other faculty members in his international interests.”  Dr. Fernández is recognized for the lasting and profound impact that he has had on students in developing their critical awareness and respect of other peoples and other languages that has led them to careers in Spanish-speaking countries and in language education throughout Canada. He also is dedicated to making international students feel at home away from home, for example, in his staging of a campus celebration of El Dia de los Muertos, or in his production of a campus week of free Spanish cinema and the month-long  Noche del cine/Notte del cinema/Nuit du cinéma celebrating Spanish, Italian, and French classics. As one former student commented, “. . .[Dr. Fernández] situated Spanish culture not only in a European context but in a broader global setting giving it relevance. . .his students emerge with an appreciation and awareness of global conditions which enable them to situate themselves within a larger international context rather than restricting thought to a singular European or North American vantage point.”


2008
Cheryl Dueck, Associate Professor, Geman and Slavic Studies.
A specialist in Eastern German literature, German cinema, 20th c. German literature and culture, post-unification studies, and women’s studies, Dr. Dueck has extended opportunities for student learning and academic exchange in Germany and throughout eastern Europe. Through her insight, communication skills, and drive to open cross-cultural learning and collaboration to our students and faculty, she negotiated the University’s participation in the national consortium, Canadian Year in Freiburg, where students pursue classes at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität and are immersed in German language and culture. In addition to her role in coordinating other exchange programs offered through her Department (to Lviv, Ukraine; St. Petersburg, Russia; Trier, Germany) as Department Head and as Coordinator, Central and Eastern European Studies, she has used her energy and position to open another, exciting inter-cultural portal for scholarship with Szeged University (Hungary). One colleague underscored the unique combination of Dr. Dueck’s research, teaching and service in an international context by stating “all her research benefits the students . . .Dr. Dueck understands her German and European Studies research always from the role as cultural ambassador, of Canada in Germany, and German and Central European culture in Canada."


2007
Lea Stirling, Associate Professor, Classics.
Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology and international authority in Roman North Africa, Roman ceramic production, and cemetery archaeology, Dr. Stirling has used her energy and position as co-director of archaeological research in Leptiminus, Tunisia, to provide exceptional opportunities for the development of international understanding among the diverse members of her research teams and local peoples. Not only does the “cultural experience of living in a small town in Tunisia widen [student] perspectives”, according to a colleague, but the diversity of these teams—Canadian, American, British, French, Finnish, and Tunisian—provides a successful model for cultural immersion, sharing, and adaptation. Dr. Stirling’s exceptional ability to move from archaeological scholar to local community member is evident in invited participation of her and her teams in local Tunisian life. As one colleague states, she has an “unusual ability to communicate to a diverse public audience the joy she derives from her work, as well as its human dimension which cuts across both time and space.”


2006
John G. Adair, Professor Emeritus, Psychology
Impressive in the scope of his contributions to internationalization—sustained over many years and continuing throughout the past academic year—from the classroom, to the University, national, and global communities, Dr. Adair is described as the most internationally oriented faculty member in Psychology. Through his scholarship he has promoted the indigenization of the discipline of psychology throughout the world; fostered links across the international community of psychological scholars and researchers; mentored international students in psychology at Manitoba; and demonstrated distinguished administrative leadership in cross-cultural conferences throughout the world. His is an outstanding record of working to improve global understanding within the context of his discipline.


2005
Dr. George MacLean, Political Studies, has devoted his career to, as a colleague noted, “the principle of broadening our collective understanding of ourselves and others through a greater appreciation of perspectives, cultures, and issues in an increasingly globalized international system.” In research, teaching, and community outreach, he has expanded understanding of international relations; published extensively in multilateralism, economic integration, arms control, and human security; and represented Canada as advisor to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada throughout the world, among others. Recognized internationally as an expert in human security and arms control, invited to speak and consult throughout the world, he also shows outstanding devotion to facilitating students’ understanding of themselves as international citizens. Three times named to MacLean’s list of “most popular profs”, he offers courses in introductory politics, international relations, and international political economy, and has written a core textbook with a strong comparative approach, placing Canada in international context. An engaging public speaker, Dr. MacLean spreads knowledge of our international connectedness as a regular speaker at schools and organizations in Manitoba. A colleague states” Dr. MacLean has shown...a deep and abiding interest in raising awareness of issues in the global arena.”

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