FPA Celebrates Excellence 2013

FPA Celebrates Excellence

On Wednesday, April 10, 2013, the Faculty of Public Affairs celebrated the best of our faculty at a reception in the River Building. This new focus of this event is to both highlight our research and to create a fun and social atmosphere so we can all enjoy the work the faculty has conducted over the previous 12 months. More than 100 members of the faculty and staff of FPA attended this event.

Awarded annualy, the Staff, Teaching and Research Excellence Awards demonstrate the faculty’s commitment to recognizing the outstanding work of all of our members and to awarding those who stand out above everyone else.

This Year’s Recipients:

Staff Excellence Award
Carole Craswell – School of Journalism and Communication.

Carole Craswell has been with the School for 26 years, since 1987 – and was the first support staff member hired specifically for what is now the Communication Studies program. In 2008, she became administrator of the entire School of Journalism and Communication, which means she is responsible for five degree programs, two separate timetables and two separate budgets and was the chief administrative officer in charge of the School’s move from St. Pat’s to the River building. Carole has been for long years at the heart of the collegiality of the School of Journalism and Communication and also organizes the annual Christmas potluck and the annual summer picnic.

Teaching Excellence Award
Prof. Melanie Adrian – Department of Law and Legal Studies
Prof. Brian Schmidt – Department of Political Science
and
Steve Tasson – Department of Law and Legal Studies

Melanie Adrian has created a teaching style all her own that is exciting, innovative, and and interactive. She has consistently won the praises of her undergraduate students as an approachable and gifted mentor who utilizes everything from books to slam poetry in her pedagogical approach. It is this dynamic nature that has earned her this recognition.

Brian Schmidt has shown remarkable diversity in his approach to teaching that includes both undergraduate and graduate-level courses. Add to this his mentoring skills, the ongoing curriculum development, graduate supervising and, to top it all off, his dedication to research projects, and you have someone who has earned an excellence ward in teaching.

Steve Tasson is the very nature of academia personified. Still in the process of attaing his PhD, he lectures in all course levels and continues show great persistence in his teaching even after 10 years as a contract instructor. Steve worked for Carleton’s Centre for Initiatives in Education from 2001-2006 and has also taught courses for the Department of Law ranging from Global Governance and Human Rights to Legal Research Methods; Law and Regulation; Law in the Information Society; and Introduction to Legal Studies.

Research Excellence Award
Zhihao Yu – Department of Economics

With a passion for both research and teaching, Zhihao Yu has proven himself over the last two years by maintaining a high level of teaching while, at the same time, creating a large output of peer reviewed material and research output. With expertise in international trade with special emphasis on outsourcing and intra-industry trade, the political economy of government policy, and trade and the environment, Zhihao Yu never rests on his laurels and has several more articles close to being published. He continues to exemplify a dedication to ongoing research and publication excellence in the field of Economics and is regarded highly in his field both both by his peers and his students.