The MUFA Award for Outstanding Service provides annual recognition for faculty and professional librarians who have made an outstanding contribution to the mission of the University through the provision of exceptional service to faculty, librarians, staff and/or students.
The 2026 awards winners are Alex Adronov, Mandeep Malik, and Stacey Ritz. A reception honouring this year’s award winners took place at the MUFA Annual General Meeting on April 29th
It was an honour to nominate my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Stacey Ritz, for the MUFA Outstanding Service Award. After 10 years of strong leadership of the Honours Health Sciences Program and impassioned service on university committees, Stacey has demonstrated outstanding service to McMaster University through transformative academic leadership, principled governance, and an unwavering commitment to student success and equity.
From 2015 to 2025, Stacey served as Assistant Dean of the Honours Health Sciences Program (HHSP), one of Canada’s most selective, recognizable and reputable undergraduate programs. During this period, she guided the program through significant growth, curricular transformation, and even an unprecedented name-change from its well-known monnaker of BHSc to HHSP! Under her leadership, HHSP strengthened its identity as a nationally distinctive program grounded in interdisciplinary inquiry based learning, and critical engagement with health, science, and society.
A hallmark of Stacey’s academic leadership is her commitment to innovation and education, and transforming the next generation of HHSP graduates. She spearheaded the development of the Praxis Pathways Curriculum, a longitudinal and developmental series of courses designed to cultivate students’ capacities for collaboration, reflection, ethical reasoning, leadership, information literacy, and critical thinking. Developed through extensive collaboration with faculty, librarians, students and educational experts, the Praxis curriculum enhances student success by equipping graduates with interpersonal and reflective skills essential for complex careers in health.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion are woven throughout Stacey’s service and curriculum programming. She played a central role in the development of the Equitable Admissions for Black Applicants pathway in HHSP, materially increasing Black student representation in one of Canada’s most competitive undergraduate programs and providing a model for similar initiatives at McMaster and elsewhere. Stacey also led the expansion of equity oriented and interdisciplinary course offerings within HHSP, including courses on sex and gender in health, decolonizing anatomy, racism and health, health humanities, global sexual and reproductive health, and health justice. She further oversaw the transformation of program specializations into cross Faculty Concurrent Certificates, expanding access to HHSP courses across Faculties and encouraging students to engage meaningfully beyond disciplinary silos. These initiatives have broadened the program’s impact across McMaster and strengthened the university’s reputation for innovative, socially responsive education.
Beyond program leadership, Stacey has made substantial contributions to McMaster’s governance and institutional life. She has served on Senate, Undergraduate Council (including as Vice Chair), the Health Sciences Education Council, and numerous ad hoc committees, where she is widely respected for her clarity, integrity, and principled advocacy. Stacey has been a steadfast advocate for academic freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly, consistently defending core academic values even in difficult or polarized contexts. Her service as a Senator reflects a deep commitment to the university as a democratic, intellectual institution.
In sum, Dr. Stacey Ritz’s record of service is exceptional in its scope, depth, and integrity. Through visionary leadership, collaborative institution building, cooperation, solution-finding and principled advocacy, she has enhanced McMaster University’s reputation, strengthened its educational mission, and enriched the lives of students, colleagues, and the broader academic community. As a friend and colleague over the last 10 years, I have had the privilege of working closely with Stacey. I have seen and experienced first-hand Stacey’s passion for her work, and her love for and commitment to McMaster’s community. For these reasons, I believe she is richly deserving of the MUFA Outstanding Service Award.
Michelle MacDonald, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences Co-Director, Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences Program