OCUFA

Program

Each year OCUFA recognizes outstanding teachers and academic librarians in Ontario universities through its Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards. Since 1973 OCUFA has presented 463 awards.

The recipients are selected by the OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards Committee. Maximum 3 awards are presented.

Categories

• Teaching (both full-time and contract faculty members), in the context of the OCUFA awards, embraces virtually all levels of instruction – graduate and undergraduate teaching, continuing education and faculty development. Similarly, proficiency in teaching may extend well beyond the classroom, the laboratory or the faculty member’s office. Activities such as course design, curriculum development, organization of teaching programs and other significant forms of leadership are often important contributions to the instructional process. Those who excel in any of these are eligible for the OCUFA Teaching Awards.
• Academic librarianship, in the context of the OCUFA Awards, embraces all aspects of librarianship that contribute to the scholarly achievement of all members of the university community. Activities such as development and delivery of services, provision of educational materials, collection development and management and other contributions to academic librarianship are important to the intellectual functioning of the university. Those who excel in any of these are eligible for an OCUFA Academic Librarianship Award.

Recipients of OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards are guests of OCUFA at a special awards ceremony, where they are presented with a citation and gift to commemorate their achievement. OCUFA pays accommodation and travel costs from the home university for each recipient and a guest to attend the awards ceremony.

Eligibility

The OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards recognize individuals with exceptional contributions to the higher education community. Group nominations are not accepted.
A candidate must meet both of the following prerequisites to be considered:

1. Candidate is a member of an OCUFA affiliated faculty association.
2. The candidate was not previously nominated OR the candidate was nominated in a previous year and did not win.

Posthumous nominations can be made for those who passed away in the award year. For example, if the award year is 2020-2021, nominations can only be made for those who passed away between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

The Nomination Process

Call for nominations is now open! Please visit the OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards website for more information.

Deadline

Please submit your nomination by March 6, 2026.

 

McMaster’s recipients of the OCUFA award are:

2020 – Rosa da Silva, Biology
2019 – Sue Baptiste, Professor Emerita, School of Rehabilitation Science
2018 – Robert Fleisig, W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology
2017 – Kimberley Dej, Associate Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Science
2017 – Milena Head, Professor of Information Systems, DeGroote School of Business are
2008 – Nick Bontis, Business
2008 – Sheila Sammon, Social Work
2005 – Deborah Cook, Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics
2005 – Anna Moro, Modern Languages and Linguistics
2002 – Jean Wilson, Office of Interdisciplinary Studies – Comparative Literature
2000 – Richard Butler, Pathology and Molecular Medicine
1999 – Miroslav Lovric, Mathematics and Statistics
1998 – Carolyn Eyles, School of Geography and Geology
1997 – P.K. (Chari) Rangachari, Medicine
1996 – William Coleman, Political Science
1993 – Philip Wood, Chemical Engineering
1988 – Joan Coldwell, English
1976 – Eugene Combs, Religious Studies
1976 – Colin Campbell, Electrical Engineering
1975 – Tom Truman, Political Science
1975 – James Anderson, Anatomy
1975 – Henrietta Alderson, School of Nursing
1974 – Donald Woods, Chemical Engineering