Alumni Association Award Recipients
Bostonian Tony Cicerone named 2021 Isaac Chipman Award for Excellence in Alumni Service recipient
The Acadia Alumni Association is proud to announce that Dr. Anthony ‘Tony’ Cicerone (’68) is the 2021 recipient of the Acadia Alumni Isaac Chipman Award for Excellence in Alumni Service.
For more than 50 years, Tony Cicerone has had a significant positive impact on Acadia and its alumni in the Boston area. His effort has been consistent in the form of time, energy and resources to the services and promotion of the advancement of the University and its alumni.
Jennifer Veinot named Acadia Alumni Outstanding University Service Award winner
Human Resources Manager Jennifer Veinot is the epitome of skill, kindness and customer service, a consummate professional who makes current staff and faculty, potential employees and new hires feel comfortable and a key part of the team at Acadia.
Her career has been characterized by an unparalleled personal approach to human resource management that has shaped the foundation of Acadia’s success, and a big reason why Jennifer is the 2021 Acadia Alumni Outstanding University Service Award recipient.
Dr. Juan Carlos López named 2021 recipient of the Acadia Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching
The Acadia Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Dr. Juan Carlos López is the recipient of the 2021 Acadia Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. López has taught biology at Acadia University in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science since 2014 and has made a dramatic and lasting impact that resonates deeply throughout the department and with his students. Compassionate, down-to-earth and approachable, he has an innate ability to understand and connect with his students, many of whom have noted his teaching acumen and the infectious passion he brings to his vocation.
Guy Harrison-Murray named The Athenaeum and Acadia Alumni Student of the Year
The Acadia Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Guy Harrison-Murray is the 2021 recipient of The Athenaeum and Acadia Alumni Student of the Year Award.
A highly regarded and engaging student-athlete who captained the Acadia men’s swim team in 2019 to its first Atlantic University Sport championship in 39 years, Harrison-Murray is a Paralympian, a World Champion medalist, an AUS all-star and AUS champion. Born in Bath, England, he and his family moved to Perth, Australia in 2011 before he enrolled in the Business and Marketing Honours program in the Fred C. Manning School of Business at Acadia. He is also currently interim coach of the men’s swim team.
Alumni Association Director Profiles
Allison Dean ('14)
After completing an internship in her first field, Allison, a native of The Bahamas, decided she wanted to pursue her love of music. She was encouraged to apply to Acadia by her great-aunt, who had studied music at Acadia. Allison applied, was admitted, and decided not to apply anywhere else. She arrived at Acadia in fall 2011 and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. During her time at Acadia Allison was the accompanist for the University Chorus, several music students, and an organ scholar in the Manning Memorial Chapel. Allison was also the organist at St. John’s Anglican Church in Wolfville.
After leaving Acadia, Allison went to Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, where she obtained her Master of Divinity in 2017. While there, she was the College’s chapel organist and a substitute organist at various churches in the Toronto area. Upon returning to The Bahamas, Allison served as organist at two Anglican churches, and was an occasional rehearsal pianist for the Bahamas National Youth Choir. During this time, she also obtained her teacher’s certification and taught at a local high school. Allison was ordained in the Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in November 2020.
Allison is also a certified swim coach and president of a local swim club. She is passionate about her work with children and young people, loves a good book, and travelling, having been to 20 countries and counting.
Moira MacLean (’85)
Moira MacLean (BBA '85), lives in Dartmouth, N.S. She met her partner, Bill MacLean (BBA ’85), at Acadia and went back to get married in the Chapel surrounded by many of their lifelong Acadia friends in 1990. Both of their children (Maddie '18 and Angus '20) also benefited from the Acadia experience. Moira worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 19 years and now works with the MacLean Wealth Management Group in a marketing and team support role. Moira has always been passionate about health and wellness, which has been the focus of much of her personal and volunteer efforts over her lifetime. She is most proud of her work creating and running wellness workshops for children; raising funds and devoting time to organizations for children with health challenges, whether they live locally or abroad; working to help feed local children; providing positive experiences in sport; or raising funds for children to attend life-changing summer camps at Brigadoon Village. She is excited to bring her passion, positivity and perspectives combined with her love for Acadia to her new role with the Acadia Alumni Association Board.
Board of Directors
Donalda MacBeath ('75) Matt Rios ('14) Tammy Walker ('92) Leah McNally ('07) Hilary Arenburg Gobien ('12) Jeff Aucoin ('96) Carol D'Amelio ('72) David Davidson ('81) Allison Dean (’14) Heather Hickman ('77) Natalie Irwin ('01) Tiffany James ('14) Moira MacLean (’85) Christine McRae ('11) Kyle Power ('13) Stephanie Reid ('05) Kelton Thomason ('07, '10) Ted Upshaw ('80) Sam Zhang ('05) Kierstyn Palmer (ex-officio, ’22) Olivia Shive (ex-officio, '21)
The photo up top depicts Alumni Association Directors who were present for the 2021 Homecoming Board meeting in the Wu Welcome Centre at Alumni Hall, with the remaining Directors attending virtually from around the world.
Nominations Now Open!
Nominations are now open for the following Acadia Alumni Association Awards:
The Athenaeum and Acadia Alumni Student of the Year Award
Created in 1981, The Athenaeum and Acadia Alumni Student of the Year Award recognizes a student who has excelled at Acadia and embodies the Acadia spirit. The award is presented annually to a nominee who has contributed to the Acadia and Wolfville communities through extracurricular and/or academic activities and has worked to further the Acadia spirit. Nominees must be full-time students. Preference will be given to students who will be graduating in May of the current academic year.
Nomination deadline: March 31 annually. Click here for a Nomination Form.
Acadia Alumni Outstanding University Service Award
The Acadia Alumni Outstanding University Service Award is presented in recognition of a staff member who has had a significant positive impact on Acadia, its students and its alumni. The award is an expression of the Alumni Association’s appreciation for an outstanding staff member who has contributed above and beyond job requirements to ensure that Acadia provides an environment that encourages academic, athletic, cultural, organizational and social development. Of greatest importance is the person's ability to foster an environment in which students and/or members of the Acadia community thrive.
Nomination deadline: April 30 annually. Click here for a Nomination Form.
Acadia Alumni Isaac Chipman Award for Excellence in Alumni Service
The Acadia Alumni Isaac Chipman Award for Excellence in Alumni Service recognizes an alumnus or alumna of Acadia University who has had a significant positive impact on Acadia and its alumni. The award focuses on a recipient who has provided consistent support in the form of time, effort and resources to the services and promotion of the advancement of the University and its alumni.
Nomination deadline: May 31 annually. Click here for a Nomination Form.
The Alumni Association Annual General Meeting will be on Saturday, May 7, 2022.
To view the Acadia Alumni Association year-end financial update, please see Pages 23-24 of the 2020-21 Annual Report.
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Dr. Juan Carlos López named 2021 recipient of the Acadia Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching
By Fred Sgambati (’83) The Acadia Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Dr. Juan Carlos López is the recipient of this year’s Acadia Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. López has taught biology at Acadia University in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science since 2014 and has made a dramatic and lasting impact that resonates deeply throughout the department and with his students. Compassionate, down-to-earth and approachable, he has an innate ability to understand and connect with his students, many of whom have noted his teaching acumen and the infectious passion he brings to his vocation.
Alumni Association President Donalda MacBeath (’75) thanked the selection committee for their diligence and applauded Dr. López on being named the 2021 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching recipient. “The Acadia student experience is fundamental to the University’s success as an institution, and faculty members like Dr. López are one of the primary reasons why Acadia is consistently ranked among the premier post-secondary institutions in Canada. His caring and collaborative approach to learning embraces the tenets of diversity, equity and inclusion to ensure that each student feels valued and respected, establishing a standard of behaviour that students model and later represent as members of the Acadia alumni family.”
Dr. López’s teaching philosophy is remarkably straightforward: “As a science educator my main objective is to use interactive learning to create an environment in which learners integrate knowledge by asking and answering relevant questions. I guide learners to assimilate their own knowledge with the new information – not only to understand new concepts, but to critically construct new conclusions.”
Students appreciate that his primary goal is their success, “and he continues to seek it out with respect, patience and compromise,” notes Helen Allen (’21) and Keeler Colton, co-presidents of the Bio Society. Danni Harper (’20), a biology grad student who worked with him as a teaching assistant (TA), says Dr. López “has led by example and instilled in me an absolute joy of teaching.”
Dr. López has made a strong impact in research as well, supervising 10 students in independent research topics and co-supervising two honours and one master’s student. Five of his six publications at Acadia have students as co-authors, including two papers on teaching. His teaching excellence was recognized last fall when he received the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science (FPAS) Teaching Award 2020.
His teaching innovation springs from creating new labs, pedagogical approaches and training workshops that focus on issues relevant to students today. A good example was the implementation under Dr. López’s supervision of a new module on Mi’kmaq Traditional Knowledge constructed by Leah Creaser, honours student and President of the Indigenous Student Society of Acadia. This lab was paired with a lecture by Keptin Jeff Purdy (Acadia First Nation) and was well received by biology majors.
Creaser says, “I expressed my concerns about being a Mi’kmaq student in the lab and feeling disconnected because there was no recognition of native plants and their uses culturally in Mi’kma’ki. Juan Carlos allowed me to take on a research topic to manipulate the lab to incorporate the importance of Mi’kmaq Traditional Knowledge, and then implemented this as curriculum in his lab, overall making the relationship that has for so long been severed between Mi’kmaq and academia a respectful one for me.”
Kristen Noel, master’s student and graduate Teaching Assistant for introductory bio labs supervised by Dr. López, adds, “Dr. López ensures that all of his students are aware that Acadia University is in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq nation, and what this means. This past year, he did a wonderful job incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the labs. As budding scientists, it is imperative that we understand the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and use it in scientific research, outreach, conservation planning, and wildlife management.”
Additionally, while adjusting to online teaching this year, Dr. López prioritized working with smaller groups of students in the online labs so that students would have a more personal connection with Acadia faculty. He also created an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) workshop for the biology teaching assistants, with participation from the Equity Officer, the Indigenous Student Advisor and the Wong International Centre that was later included in a campus-wide TA training program. This workshop was eye-opening and helped TAs discover the importance of an inclusive learning environment. EDI is a major focus of Dr. López, and his commitment to inclusive learning has opened the door for some thought-provoking discussions in the biology department.
Harper concludes, “Juan Carlos is the kind of teacher that helps you to shape your future; the kind you will never forget. He is the kind of teacher that every teacher should be.”
To learn more about Acadia Alumni Awards, please CLICK HERE.
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