The Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), the provincial organization representing academic staff associations at the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, and Athabasca University, is pleased to announce that Dr. Reginald Bibby, Board of Governors Research Chair in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, has been chosen to receive the CAFA Distinguished Academic Award for 2009.
As well, Dr. Sara Dorow, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Director of the Community Service-Learning Program, University of Alberta, and Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, will each be honoured with the CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award.
The CAFA Distinguished Academic Award recognizes academic staff members who through their research and/or other scholarly, creative or professional activities have made an outstanding contribution to the wider community beyond the university.
The CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award recognizes academic staff members who, at an early stage of their careers, through their research and/or other scholarly, creative or professional activities have made an outstanding contribution to the wider community beyond the university.
“The recipients of the CAFA Distinguished Academic Awards are being honoured by their peers,” notes Linda Bonneville, President of CAFA.
“Through these awards, we wish to recognize and highlight exceptional contributions made by our colleagues, through their research, scholarly and creative activities, to the wider community beyond the academy. This year, we are proud to celebrate the achievements of Dr. Reginald Bibby, Dr. Sara Dorow, and Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, whose work has been exemplary in this respect.”
The 2009 CAFA Distinguished Academic Awards were presented at a banquet at the Shaw Conference Centre, Edmonton, on Thursday, September 17, 2009.
Background information: Dr. Reg Bibby
Dr. Reginald W. Bibby, a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, has been chosen to receive this year’s CAFA Distinguished Academic Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the wider community beyond the academy over the course of a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and public intellectual.
Dr. Bibby, who holds the Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, where he has taught for over three decades, has been monitoring and analyzing Canadian social trends and attitudes since the mid-1970s through a series of periodic nationwide surveys of adults and teens.
This groundbreaking and often-cited body of research, developed in his twelve books, as well as numerous refereed journal articles and monographs, has generated a wealth of pioneering and historic data on social issues, intergroup relations, religion, and quality of life in Canada, and has earned Dr. Bibby a well-deserved reputation among his colleagues as ‘the academic’s academic.’
Never content to address his findings solely to other academics, however, Dr. Bibby, in the words of his department chair, has reached out ‘regularly, willingly, and with a purpose’ to engage with a wider, non-academic audience.
His bestselling books, frequent appearances in the media, and extensive public speaking engagements, attest to his commitment to communicate his scholarly findings to the general public, as well as to educators, family organizations, and religious groups, among others.
To quote another of his colleagues, Dr. Bibby ‘has contributed conspicuously to the popular understanding of social trends in Canada while writing the most careful, prescient, and sophisticated sociological analyses of religion, youth and demographic change in Canadian society.’
More than 140,000 copies of Dr. Bibby’s books have been sold to date. The latest, entitled The Emerging Millennials: How Canada’s Newest Generation is Responding to Change & Choice, was released in April 2009.
A follow-up to his earlier The Boomer Factor (2006), this new book draws on Dr. Bibby’s most recent national survey of teenagers, Project Teen Canada 2008, in examining the impact of the ‘Boomer’ era on teenagers today. The Emerging Millennials has garnered widespread media attention, including a cover-story in Maclean’s magazine – the third time Dr. Bibby’s work has been accorded this recognition.
The recipient of many honours, including an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University, Reginald Bibby was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, in recognition of the contribution which his work in monitoring social trends, values and attitudes has made to our understanding of Canadian identity.
Underlining the extraordinary impact he has had beyond the academy as a social commentator and public intellectual, Venture Magazine has twice in recent years named Dr. Bibby as one of Alberta’s fifty most influential people.
A colleague writes that ‘…if a poll were to be done on Albertans, asking them to name one university professor, I am certain the name most often mentioned would be Reg’s.’
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U of L Communications and Public Relations Contact:
Bob Cooney, Communications and PR Officer (403) 382-7173
As well, Dr. Sara Dorow, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Director of the Community Service-Learning Program, University of Alberta, and Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, will each be honoured with the CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award.
The CAFA Distinguished Academic Award recognizes academic staff members who through their research and/or other scholarly, creative or professional activities have made an outstanding contribution to the wider community beyond the university.
The CAFA Distinguished Academic Early Career Award recognizes academic staff members who, at an early stage of their careers, through their research and/or other scholarly, creative or professional activities have made an outstanding contribution to the wider community beyond the university.
“The recipients of the CAFA Distinguished Academic Awards are being honoured by their peers,” notes Linda Bonneville, President of CAFA.
“Through these awards, we wish to recognize and highlight exceptional contributions made by our colleagues, through their research, scholarly and creative activities, to the wider community beyond the academy. This year, we are proud to celebrate the achievements of Dr. Reginald Bibby, Dr. Sara Dorow, and Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, whose work has been exemplary in this respect.”
The 2009 CAFA Distinguished Academic Awards were presented at a banquet at the Shaw Conference Centre, Edmonton, on Thursday, September 17, 2009.
Background information: Dr. Reg Bibby
Dr. Reginald W. Bibby, a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, has been chosen to receive this year’s CAFA Distinguished Academic Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the wider community beyond the academy over the course of a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and public intellectual.
Dr. Bibby, who holds the Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology at the University of Lethbridge, where he has taught for over three decades, has been monitoring and analyzing Canadian social trends and attitudes since the mid-1970s through a series of periodic nationwide surveys of adults and teens.
This groundbreaking and often-cited body of research, developed in his twelve books, as well as numerous refereed journal articles and monographs, has generated a wealth of pioneering and historic data on social issues, intergroup relations, religion, and quality of life in Canada, and has earned Dr. Bibby a well-deserved reputation among his colleagues as ‘the academic’s academic.’
Never content to address his findings solely to other academics, however, Dr. Bibby, in the words of his department chair, has reached out ‘regularly, willingly, and with a purpose’ to engage with a wider, non-academic audience.
His bestselling books, frequent appearances in the media, and extensive public speaking engagements, attest to his commitment to communicate his scholarly findings to the general public, as well as to educators, family organizations, and religious groups, among others.
To quote another of his colleagues, Dr. Bibby ‘has contributed conspicuously to the popular understanding of social trends in Canada while writing the most careful, prescient, and sophisticated sociological analyses of religion, youth and demographic change in Canadian society.’
More than 140,000 copies of Dr. Bibby’s books have been sold to date. The latest, entitled The Emerging Millennials: How Canada’s Newest Generation is Responding to Change & Choice, was released in April 2009.
A follow-up to his earlier The Boomer Factor (2006), this new book draws on Dr. Bibby’s most recent national survey of teenagers, Project Teen Canada 2008, in examining the impact of the ‘Boomer’ era on teenagers today. The Emerging Millennials has garnered widespread media attention, including a cover-story in Maclean’s magazine – the third time Dr. Bibby’s work has been accorded this recognition.
The recipient of many honours, including an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University, Reginald Bibby was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, in recognition of the contribution which his work in monitoring social trends, values and attitudes has made to our understanding of Canadian identity.
Underlining the extraordinary impact he has had beyond the academy as a social commentator and public intellectual, Venture Magazine has twice in recent years named Dr. Bibby as one of Alberta’s fifty most influential people.
A colleague writes that ‘…if a poll were to be done on Albertans, asking them to name one university professor, I am certain the name most often mentioned would be Reg’s.’
---
U of L Communications and Public Relations Contact:
Bob Cooney, Communications and PR Officer (403) 382-7173