Community Leadership Award
This award is given to recognize VIU employees, alumni or students who have demonstrated significant and valuable leadership in the community. Their leadership contributions have enhanced the reputation of VIU while furthering significant community priorities.
Recipient: Anita Carroll, Faculty of Health and Human Services - Nominated by Dr. Patricia O’Hagan
Anita Carroll, a passionate local community health nurse, joined VIU in 2003. Throughout the past sixteen years of teaching across the Bachelor of Nursing curriculum, Anita has demonstrated a sustained commitment to community engagement by developing student placement experiences focusing on the determinants of health. One example of Anita’s exemplary community leadership is found in the countless volunteer hours securing the funds and creating ‘Nourish Cowichan’, a working kitchen, improving the nutritional deprivation of hundreds children.
Community Outreach Award
This award is given to recognize VIU faculty or staff who have demonstrated excellence in outreach activity within the VIU region. Outreach may include the sharing of knowledge in any media (presentations, workshops, videos etc.) that transcends the walls of the university to benefit society.
Recipient: Sandy Alexander, Faculty of Health and Human Services - Nominated by Dr. Patricia O’Hagan
Sandy Alexander is a passionate public health nurse, who joined VIU in 2003. Sandy’s community outreach activities engages Bachelor of Nursing students and multiple partners in knowledge transfer to increase awareness of the social determinants of health. Exemplary of Sandy’s outreach activities include improving the health of preteens in School District 68; developing a high school student drug prevention program, and supporting a nursing student led radio call-in show, Sound Constitution, with over 160 hours of content developed since 2010.
Indigenous Engagement Award
This award is given to recognize VIU employees or students who have developed respectful and mutually beneficial relationships with indigenous community partners. The relationship has enabled VIU to deepen its commitment to truth and reconciliation and has resulted in transformative learning and growth for the recipient.
Recipient: Lillian Morton, Faculty of Education - Nominated by Sylvia Scow
Lillian Morton is Coast Salish (Penelakut and Stz’uminus) and European. She works as a professor at Vancouver Island University. A passionate Hul’q’umi’num language learner, her academic interests include Indigenous methodologies, oral histories and emotional wellness in teaching and learning. She loves working with cedar and being out on the land and ocean, especially when accompanied by her three children.
International Engagement Award
This award is given to recognize VIU faculty or staff who have demonstrated excellence in engagement within the international context. Engagement may include the development of mutually beneficial partnerships that result in opportunities for student engagement, research projects that provide training opportunities for VIU students, or outreach such as the sharing of knowledge in any media (presentations, workshops, videos etc.).
Recipient: Dr. Aggie Weighill, Faculty of Management - Nominated by Dr. Amanda Johnson
Dr. Aggie Weighill completed a diploma in Recreation Administration at Malaspina University-College before continuing her education at Acadia University, University of Waterloo, and the University of Alberta. She returned to Vancouver Island University in 2005 and has taught in the Department of Recreation and Tourism since. Focused on rural tourism development, community development, and women’s leisure, Aggie has spent the past ten years leading international field schools and conducting research in Ghana, West Africa.