Memorial University honoured the efforts of its best educators, researchers and staff members at a special ceremony today at the Fluvarium in St. John’s.

 

 

 

            Dr. David Behm, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, is a graduate of McGill University with a PhD in Rehabilitation Science. His research has received international attention, particularly on the effects of noise on performance. Dr. Behm has also focused his research efforts in the areas of alternations in muscle activation with acute and chronic activity and environments; effect of stretching on performance; effect of instability on the neuromuscular system and performance; mechanisms and effects of fatigue. The findings of Dr. Behm’s research have had implications for the academic community but also for fitness professionals and enthusiasts and athletes. He has also focused his research on various aspects of neuromuscular responses and adaptations to acute activities, fatigue, training and extreme environments. Dr. Behm’s papers have been published in many prestigious scientific journals and he has contributed to several books including the popular Quirks and Quarks Question Book. Dr. Behm has been the recipient of several academic awards including a McMaster University Graduate Scholarship and the Canadian Olympic Association Torch Scholarship.

 

            Dr. Wieslaw Kubiak, Faculty of Business Administration, received his PhD from the Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, in 1986 and a D.Sc. in 1996 from the Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland. Dr. Kubiak’s research has been motivated by problems of shared resource allocation arising in business, information technology and computer science as well as problems of minimization of business process variability. His goal has been to develop efficient methods to solve these problems optimally or to prove that such efficient methods do not exist. His research has been supported by grants from NSERC, the NATO Collaborative Research Grant, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Fondation Scientific de Lyon et du Sub-Est (France) among others. Dr. Kubiak has conducted his research in co-operation with leading as well as young researchers form universities and research laboratories in Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Iran as well as others. He has published 65 publications and 30 research reports and working papers. He was awarded the Dean’s Research Award twice, in 1993 and 1999 and the President’s Award for Outstanding Research in 1995.

 

            Dr. Carole Peterson, Psychology, received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1974 and has been a professor at Memorial University since 1991. She has co-authored and contributed to several books on children’s narrative and literacy. Her research focuses on two areas: children’s development of narrative skills and children’s memory. Narratives are autobiographical stories about life events; the play an important role in the development of one’s identity and lay a foundations that helps children acquire literacy. Her research on children’s memory has direct bearing on the reliability of children’s testimony in forensic situations. Since children are increasingly appearing in court and their testimony is sometimes the sole evidence, it is crucial that the strengths as well as the limitations of their memory are understood. Police departments around the world are finding this information useful. Dr. Peterson has been the recipient of numerous research grants and awards and is the chair of the board of directors of the Memorial University Childcare Centres, a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Women’s Issues in Education; she also serves as a consultant for the Department of Social Services and the Department of Justice and Legal Aid of Newfoundland and Labrador and an eyewitness expert for the Newfoundland Supreme Court.

 

 

            For the last nine years he has been deeply involved in developing the Teaching Machine, an animation program developed with Theo Norvell. While the primary goal has been to develop a tool that would help students visualize how programs work, it also enables the researchers to practice software design and development at a very high level.

            Born in Gambo, Newfoundland, Dr. Ursula Kelly received three degrees from Memorial University prior to receiving a PhD from the University of Toronto in 1988. Before joining the Faculty of Education at Memorial, she taught for several years at both Saint Mary’s University and Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. In 1995, she was voted Best College/University Professor by readers of a Halifax-based arts magazine. She is the author of two books, Marketing Place: Cultural Politics, Regionalism and Reading, and Schooling Desire: Literacy, Cultural Politics and Pedagogy, as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her teaching, research, and writing interests are within cultural studies, literacies and language studies, and social justice education.

 

            After 10 years in the private sector, Rose Barrett came to work at Memorial in August 1975 as secretary in the department that was then known as Summer Session and Extramural Studies, now known as Distance Education and Learning Technologies (DELT). Her main responsibility as administrative program assistant within DELT is examinations co-ordinator where she is responsible for many aspects of the midterm exams and tests. This includes working with professors to determine time, location and other details about test and exams, and to arrange the rooms in which these tests take place. She also arranges exams for students who require special accommodations such as additional time and the use of a computer. She also must maintain daily contact with instructors, students, and various on-campus departments either in person, telephone and e-mail and supervise work of other staff members in my section and provide support and assistance to them. Ms. Barrett’s peers constantly recognize her commitment to this organization and her commitment to organization in general. As a veteran of Memorial for over 30 years, Ms. Barrett has mastered the art and logistics of overseeing examinations, as well as countless other responsibilities that she always executes with a smile. Her colleagues are not just proud of her, but they are truly honoured to have worked with her over the years.

 

            Since accepting a two-week contract as clerk stenographer in the Office of Student Affairs and Services in 1985, Roxanne Rideout Scott has been employed at Memorial for 21 years. Her initial position became permanent in 1985 and reclassified in 1987 to secretary. In 1992 she was the successful applicant for a senior secretary position within the same office. In late 2001, her position was reclassified to administrative staff specialist II. She is also a Notary Public. In her role, Ms. Rideout Scott has been involved with enhancing the student experience. And while her position title has changed, the one constant variable that has never changed is the commitment to her work; her passion for helping students; and her loyalty to Student Affairs and Services. During her tenure, with the Office of Student Affairs, Ms. Rideout Scott has worked with two deans, one acting dean, 11 directors, and more than 100 staff. She is married and lives in Upper Gullies. By her own testament, her greatest accomplishment and most rewarding role is mother to her 10-year-old son Matthew.

 

            Shona Perry-Maidment graduated from Memorial University with a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of education in 1989 and a master’s in education in 1992. As an undergrad and grad student, she had many on-campus work experiences including as a research assistant for Dennis Mulcahy, Education, a media assistant, resident assistant of Coughlan College and with Memorial’s catering group, Nova Food Services. A teacher form 1989-1991, Ms. Perry-Maidment started working with Memorial in 1992 as the manager of Residence Life (Housing, Food and Conference Services). From there, she joined the Faculty of Education in 1995 as co-ordinator for Undergraduate Programs in Education. Ms. Perry-Maidment became a student recruitment officer with the Office of Student Recruitment in 1996 and served in that post until 2002 when she took over as acting director of the department. She is currently associate director with Student Recruitment, a position she has held since 2003. Ms. Perry-Maidment sits on the Canadian Higher Education Committee (CHEC) for the Council of International Schools. CHEC is an executive body made up of eight university representatives out of 39 universities in Canada and is one of two Atlantic Canadian representatives on this national committee.

For more information, please contact Ivan Muzychka, manager, communications, Division of Marketing and Communications, Memorial University at 737-8665 or ivanm@mun.ca.