by Jane Shulman

At a reception held March 30 in the downtown Faculty Club, the Concordia Council on Student Life honoured 16 members of the Concordia community for their contribution to the university over the past year.

As always, the awards are divided into four categories: outstanding contribution, merit, teaching excellence and the media awards.

Media Awards
There were two winners this year, both from The Link. “If Kathy Lim had not been The Link’s production manager for the last two years,” said presenter Ariel Troster, Link editor, “there wouldn’t have been a paper. It would just be ideas in the writers’ and editors’ heads.”

“I’ve met a lot of people at The Link and made some of my closest friends, some of whom are like family,” Lim said. The Link’s news editor, Pierre-Olivier Savoie, also won an award.

Teaching Excellence
Three professors were presented with awards by their students. Michael Whatling, from Education, was nominated by one of his students, Louyse Lussier, who is also assistant to the Dean of Students. “With Michael, it’s about learning in a different way. It makes you a better teacher and a better person,” she said.

Whatling responded, “This is really wonderful. Thanks for validating that there is a way of teaching besides lecturing. I try to create a positive environment that motivates students, and then get out of the way.”

James Luckow also from the Education Department, accepted his award, saying, “I have learned a lot from the class. I hope they learned as much from each other as I have learned from them.”

The third winner was Cinema professor Martin Lefebvre, whose philosophy of teaching is partly explained in a letter to the editor in this issue.

Merit Awards
There were five winners. Vince Labossière has been a top player on the men’s hockey team and a top student at Concordia, explained his coach, Kevin Figsby. He also worked closely with alumni from Loyola and Sir George’s hockey teams to give players a sense of the history of their program. Labossière, who also won an alumni award last week (see page 5), expressed his pride in Concordia’s sports program.

History Professor Norman Ingram was nominated by student Mark Wilson: “He is an excellent human being, and by luck, he is also a talented teacher.”

The other merit award winners were Shoushan Aroyan, president of Concordia’s Armenian Student Association and a member Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority; Monica Etwaroo, secretary in the Computer Science Department; and Rachel Berger, a top History undergraduate who has also been heavily involved with student groups.

Outstanding Achievement
As a student representative in Education Technology, Jennison Asuncion helped put computer systems in place that help students with disabilities.

“He has [created] a legacy of research and advocacy at Concordia for others to follow,” said presenter Leo Bissonnette, Director of Services for Disabled Students.

Nisrine Jaafar is a graduate student who was the vice-president, advocacy, for the Graduate Students Association.

Rabih Sebaaly, present of the Commerce and Administration Student Association, was recognized for his efforts, as was Bilal Hamideh, president of the Muslim Students Association.

Dan Jose Abraham, an engineering student, was recognized for his work in two student groups, the National Society of Black Engineers and the Concordia University Building Engineering Society. Like so many other winners of CCSL awards, he successfully manages a crowded schedule of academic, work and community-related activities.

The last CCSL award winner, Michael Golden, began by declaring, “Since everyone else kept their speeches so short, I’m going to take all the time they left!”—and he did.

Golden, a student in the Music Department, was one of the organizers of the Art Matters festival, held at Concordia last month. In an impassioned speech, he underlined the importance of bringing art to people in their everyday lives.

Jane Shulman won the CCSL Media Award last year.