JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Five faculty members have been honoured with School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards in recognition of their outstanding and thoughtful supervision of graduate students.

Pamela Klassen, a professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department for the study of religion who is cross-appointed to the department of anthropology, and Angela Colantonio, a professor in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who is cross-appointed to the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, received JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Awards, which recognize excellence in supervision over a minimum 15-year period. Elizabeth Peter, a professor in the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, received an honourable mention.

Cillian O’Hogan, assistant professor in the department of medieval studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Angela Mashford-Pringle, an assistant professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, received Early Career Supervision Awards, which recognize pre-tenure faculty members who have been supervising graduate students for up to six years.

Read about the School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards

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Brenda Cossman and Jonathan Abbatt receive 2023 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

siddiq22 — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 14:46:41 +0000

Brenda Cossman and Jonathan Abbatt receive 2023 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Teaching

siddiq22 Thu, 07/20/2023 - 10:46

Faculty

St. George

Graduate Students

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

School of Graduate Studies

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Brenda Cossman (L) and Jonathan Abbatt (supplied images)

Brenda Cossman, a professor in the Faculty of Law, and Jonathan Abbatt, a professor in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, are the recipients of the 2023 JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision.

The award, given annually by the School of Graduate Studies (SGS), aims to recognize outstanding performance in the multiple roles associated with graduate supervision. Candidates must be active faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in supervision at U of T over a period of at least 15 years.

Two awards are offered every year: one for the humanities/social sciences and one for the physical/life sciences. Each winner receives a conference or travel grant to award to a student, a framed certificate of recognition and has their name inscribed on a plaque at SGS.

“As a supervisor, I am so honoured to be given this award,” Cossman says. “Knowing that my students saw fit to support my nomination – that to me is worth its weight in gold.”

Cossman has supervised eight master's students and 14 doctoral students since 2003 – a high number for the Faculty of Law, which typically admits fewer than 50 graduate students per year.

Abbatt, an atmospheric and environmental chemist, has supervised 16 PhD students and 12 master’s students since joining U of T in 2000.

“A lot of the value for me of this position comes from interacting with people,” he says. “And to know that students have found those interactions meaningful is wonderful.”

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Scott Prudham recognized with 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

lanthierj — Fri, 27 May 2022 20:38:00 +0000

Scott Prudham recognized with 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

Teaching

lanthierj Fri, 05/27/2022 - 16:38

Faculty

St. George

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Faculty of Arts & Science

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Professor Scott Prudham has been recognized with a prestigious 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

The awards are presented by the School of Graduate Studies to a faculty member who, over a minimum 15-year period, has demonstrated graduate supervision excellence at the University of Toronto.  

A professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of geography and planning, cross-appointed to the School of the Environment, Prudham’s research is situated at the intersection of environmental politics, environmental change and political economy. He is especially interested in the intersecting dynamics of social justice, environmental change and the commodification of nature, including in natural resource and extractive industries and in certain branches of agriculture.

Prudham is known for his tireless commitment to supporting and supervising graduate students. Since 2001, across the social sciences and specifically geography and environmental studies, he has supervised many graduate students, and especially doctoral students. He has acted as the sole or co-supervisor of 17 master’s students and a further 15 PhD students.

Says one former PhD student: “Scott demands academic rigour, but not without guidance. He is always generous and reliable with his support: offering thoughtful feedback on written drafts; suggesting reading materials; discussing theoretical or methodological works in depth. He holds his students to high expectations, which is both a mark of his confidence in our abilities and his investment in our academic development.”

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Marla Sokolowski recognized with 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

lanthierj — Fri, 27 May 2022 20:01:37 +0000

Marla Sokolowski recognized with 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Teaching

lanthierj Fri, 05/27/2022 - 16:01

Faculty

St. George

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Faculty of Arts & Science

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

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University Professor Marla Sokolowski has been recognized with a prestigious 2022 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

The awards are presented by the School of Graduate Studies to a faculty member who, over a minimum 15-year period, has demonstrated graduate supervision excellence at the University of Toronto.  

According to her former student, Ina Anreiter – now an assistant professor at U of T Scarborough’s department of biological sciences – Sokolowski is a mentor for life. “When Professor Sokolowski believes in someone,” says Anreiter, “she goes out of the way to support them in every way possible – and Marla Sokolowski always believes in her students.”

A member of the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology, Sokolowski is a pioneer in the field of behaviour genetics and has conducted foundational research into the interaction between genes and the environment, and how genetic tendencies are affected by the environment and experience. Her groundbreaking investigations into the genetic and molecular basis of individual differences in behaviour include the discovery of the foraging gene in Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies.

Over her career, Sokolowski has supervised 22 post-doctoral researchers, 23 PhD students and 15 master’s students. Of 168 refereed papers published by her research laboratory, 112 have included graduate student co-authors. Six of her former PhD students have gone on to faculty positions at U of T, Washington University in St Louis and Brown University. As a testament to her role in their careers, her students organized a special issue of the Journal of Neurogenetics in her honour.

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Marie-Josée Fortin receives 2021 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

lanthierj — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 20:16:49 +0000

Marie-Josée Fortin receives 2021 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Teaching

lanthierj Thu, 07/08/2021 - 16:16

Faculty

St. George

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Faculty of Arts & Science

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

School of Graduate Studies

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(Photo by Diana Tyszko)

Marie-Josée Fortin, a University Professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology, has been recognized with a 2021 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

The awards are presented by the School of Graduate Studies to a faculty member who, over a minimum 15-year period, has demonstrated graduate supervision excellence at the University of Toronto.  

Fortin investigates the role space plays in ecological processes, biodiversity and ecosystems. Known for saying “my success is in my students’ achievements,” Fortin has been inspiring graduate students for more than 25 years, advising or co-advising 60 doctoral students whose work has resulted in more than 90 research publications and almost 200 talks delivered in scientific meetings and symposia.

Fortin has been especially active in mentoring women in the biological sciences. Her doctoral students have gone onto careers in academia as well as NGOs and the private sector – and she is known for supporting her students long after they leave her lab.

“Although I had graduated from her lab several years previously, Marie-Josée was very involved in helping me prepare for my first academic job interview,” says one student. “She spent time with me ensuring that my job talk effectively highlighted my skills and achievements while tailoring my presentation to the expectations and needs of the hiring institution.”

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Grace Skogstad receives JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision

lanthierj — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 20:03:12 +0000

Grace Skogstad receives JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision

Teaching

lanthierj Thu, 07/08/2021 - 16:03

Faculty

St. George

Department of Political Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

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Grace Skogstad, a professor in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded a 2021 JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision.

The annual awards honour faculty members who, over a minimum of a 15-year period, have demonstrated excellence in graduate supervision at the University of Toronto.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with my students and getting to know them,” says Skogstad, who specializes in the areas of comparative public policy and Canadian politics and has been teaching at U of T for 35 years. “Not just as the intellectual heavyweights they are, but also as the wonderful people they are.”

Skogstad, whose first doctoral student became a professor at Yale, has worked closely with more than 60 graduate students as supervisor or dissertation committee member. Her students, many of whom have gone on to prestigious careers in public policy and academia, often single out the time and energy she invests in each student.

“Dr. Skogstad is an incredibly prolific scholar with an active program of research, and yet she was also always available,” says one former student, now an assistant professor of comparative public policy. “She would read and comment extensively on grant proposals, research ethics submissions, and draft dissertation chapters within days with prescient critiques that would push me conceptually and methodologically.”

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Professor Doug McDougall wins 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

s.anderson — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 20:35:49 +0000

Professor Doug McDougall wins 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Teaching

s.anderson Fri, 07/03/2020 - 16:35

Faculty

St. George

OISE

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

School of Graduate Studies

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(photo by Gary Beechey)

OISE professor Doug McDougall has received the 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

This School of Graduate Studies (SGS) award recognizes outstanding performance in the multiple roles associated with doctoral supervision. Two awards are offered annually: in the humanities and social sciences, won this year by McDougall, and in the physical and life sciences, won this year by University Professor Ted Sargent, of electrical and computer engineering.

“I am just so grateful for being able to work with graduate students because they brought and continue to bring me enriched learning experiences,” said McDougall, a professor of mathematics education from the department of curriculum, teaching and learning who has supervised almost 70 grad students through the completion of their degrees.

The two recipients each receive a JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award certificate, an SGS Travel or Conference Award to support a current doctoral student’s participation in a conference or research travel, and have their name inscribed on a plaque housed at SGS.

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Professor Ted Sargent receives the 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

s.anderson — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:25:48 +0000

Professor Ted Sargent receives the 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Teaching

s.anderson Fri, 07/03/2020 - 09:25

Faculty

St. George

School of Graduate Studies

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

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University Professor Ted Sargent, the University of Toronto's vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, has received the 2020 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.

This School of Graduate Studies (SGS) award recognizes outstanding performance in the multiple roles associated with doctoral supervision. Two awards are offered annually: in the physical and life sciences, won this year by the department of electrical and computer engineering's Sargent; and in the humanities and social sciences, won this year by Doug McDougall, a professor of mathematics education at OISE.

Sargent, who has advised 80 graduate students throughout his career at U of T, said receiving the award means a great deal to him.

“Working with brilliant, energetic, and entrepreneurial U of T graduate students has consistently been the most rewarding aspect of my life as a faculty member,” he said. “The pleasures of learning from and – when I can – helping to resource and empower these infinitely talented scholars as they continue to pursue their dreams, are a source of sustaining energy.”

The recipients each receive a JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award certificate, an SGS Travel or Conference Award to support a current doctoral student’s participation in a conference or research travel, and have their name inscribed on a plaque housed at SGS.

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