leadership skills Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ students win Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

muellerm — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ graduate students Pierre-Yann Dubé Dolbec, Douglas Hunter and Juha Mikkonen are the 2012 recipients of Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, Canada’s most prestigious awards for doctoral research. Each will receive $50,000 per year for three years.

Vanier scholars are selected for their exceptional leadership skills and for realizing the highest standards of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in natural sciences, engineering, and the social sciences and humanities.

Pierre-Yann Dubé Dolbec (left) is a doctoral student in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Administration, offered through the Schulich School of Business. A world traveller, Dubé Dolbec has conducted research, studied and fostered collaborations in more than 30 countries, including India, France and Denmark.

Dubé Dolbec has an undergraduate degree in business administration from Laval University and a master’s of science in marketing from HEC Montréal. His previous research on brand experiences is set to be published in the coming year.

“Pierre-Yann is motivated, highly involved and enthusiastic,” said Allan Hutchinson, dean and associate vice-president graduate, “and he has an exemplary drive for research innovation.”

Dubé Dolbec's research is aimed at helping create public spaces that encourage more socially responsible behaviour when people come together in large groups, perhaps avoiding destructive riots and creating an environment that fosters more peaceful discussion.

Douglas Hunter (right) is completing his doctoral studies in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in History. A nationally known and award-winning author, public intellectual, popular historian, journalist and artist, Hunter is dedicated to educating a national audience by making Canadian history accessible.

“With an unusual academic background for a doctoral student in history, Mr. Hunter’s work in historical nonfiction has been exceptional, incisive and richly informative,” said Hutchinson.

The winner of the National Business Book Award in 2002 for The Bubble and the Bear: How Nortel Burst the Canadian Dream (Doubleday 2002) in which Hunter analyzed the rise and fall of Nortel Networks, Hunter is also the author of six history books on topics as diverse as hockey and North American exploration, and numerous articles on historians and historical artifacts. With an undergraduate degree in humanities from McMaster University and an advanced degree in securities, Hunter's career has included working as a journalist, editor, illustrator and graphic designer for newspapers, magazines and publishing houses, before he started his own business in 1993.

Now focused on his doctoral research at 91��ɫ, Hunter is exploring “cryptohistory”, looking at how scholarly histories have influenced and been influenced by public prejudices. Similar to conventional histories, cryptohistorical ideas bolstered the celebration of the racial and cultural superiority of European colonists and later immigrant communities. Douglas is interested in particular in how cryptohistorians appropriated indigenous records, particularly in rock art, oral traditions and archaeological material, to support claims of pre-Columbian European visitors.

Juha Mikkonen (left) is working toward a PhD in health policy and equity studies. Working in Finnish, French and English, Mikkonen joined 91��ɫ with impressive background in research. With more than 50 professional and academic contributions geared towards linking academic and non-academic fields, he also has more than a decade working in health promotion in Helsinki and in poverty reduction in 27 European nations.

Mikkonen joined 91��ɫ`s Health Policy and Equity Studies Program with undergraduate and master’s degrees in social sciences from the University of Helsinki, Finland. As a visiting scholar at 91��ɫ, he co-authored a report, Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts with 91��ɫ Professor Dennis Raphael. The report aims to educate the public and health advocates about social determinants of health and shifting thought processes surrounding well-being.

His doctoral research, a comparative analysis of Canadian and Finnish public health policy, will help in developing future policy in both countries and beyond. “Creative motivated and thoughtful, Mikkonen will provide many insights into current health policy debate in Canada,” said Hutchinson.

“We are, of course, incredibly proud of our Vanier scholars,” says Peter Mulvihill, associate dean, Graduate Studies at 91��ɫ. “They have each demonstrated their talents at bringing their research out into the world, and the world into their research. I look forward to seeing their progress and the evolution of their work over the next few years.”

Administered by Canada’s three federal granting agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Vanier Canada scholarship program’s goal is to build world-class research capacity in Canada by recruiting and supporting top-tier doctoral students who will positively contribute to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth.

The Vanier scholarship program is available online at .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Three Osgoode high achievers honoured

fmaquito — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Prof. Poonam Puri, Prof. Aaron Dhir and student Chanakya Sethi at 91��ɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School have each received prestigious awards honouring their leadership skills, legal talent and commitment.

Puri, who is Osgoode’s associate dean, research, graduate studies & institutional relations and co-director of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law at Osgoode and Schulich School of Business, was presented with the Women’s Executive Network’s 2011 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award in the Xstrata Nickel Trailblazers & Trendsetters Award Category.

Left: Poonam Puri

Puri joins a community of 584 women who have received the Top 100 Award, recognizing the highest achieving female leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in Canada. Winners are selected based on their strategic vision and leadership, their organization’s financial performance and their commitment to their communities. The complete list of 2011 winners can be found on the website.

Dhir was named Wednesday night by Lexpert Magazine as one of "Canada's Leading Lawyers Under 40” at a gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, which took place Nov. 30. Dhir, who joined Osgoode in 2007 and teaches in the field of business law, received one of Lexpert's 2011 "Rising Stars" Awards, which pay tribute "to the rising stars of the legal community." Winners were nominated by peers and selected by Lexpert's advisory board, which includes some of the most respected senior lawyers in Canada.

Right: Aaron Dhir

Third-year Osgoode student Sethi was presented with the 2011 Student of the Year award at the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) Annual Gala held Nov. 16 at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto’s Distillery District. The award is a new award that SABA Toronto presented at this year’s gala, which celebrates South Asian achievement in the Greater Toronto legal community.

“Poonam, Aaron and Chanakya are proven achievers who have put their extraordinary talents to work both inside and outside the law school,” said Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin. “They are an inspiration to us all.”

Left: Chanakya Sethi

Puri, who received her award last night at the Top 100 Awards Gala Dinner at the Allstream Centre in Toronto, has received considerable recognition over the past several years for her achievements including Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award in 2005; the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce Female Professional of the Year Award in 2008; and the Professional Excellence Award from the Canadian Association of South Asian Lawyers as well as the Lawyer of the Year Award from the South Asian Bar Association in 2010.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority where she chairs its corporate governance and nominating committees, the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital and the National Advisory Council for Statistics Canada.

Dhir was honoured in 2009 with the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto Young Lawyer of the Year Award as well as the Osgoode Faculty Teaching Award. The following year, he was presented with the Osgoode Hall Legal & Literary Society Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also nominated for the 2011 91��ɫ President's University-Wide Teaching Award.

He has served this summer and fall as the Law Commission of Ontario’s scholar-in-residence and is currently writing a book on corporate governance and diversity, which is under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Sethi earned an A+ average in both his first and second year at Osgoode. He is actively involved in the life of the law school, and currently serves as executive editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, a Dean’s Fellow and a member of the Faculty Recruitment Committee.

This past summer, he was one of two Osgoode students selected to participate in a judicial internship program with the Supreme Court of India. When he graduates next year, he will serve for a year starting in September 2012 as a law clerk for Justice Michael Moldaver at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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