2024 MUFA Award for Outstanding Service Winners

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 2024 awards winners are Gillian Goward, Geoffrey Hall, and Doug Welch. A reception honouring this year’s award winners took place at the MUFA Annual General Meeting on April 29th.

Gillian Goward
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
citation read by Alex Adronov

This award is meant to recognize an outstanding contribution to the mission of the University. I would argue that Gillian probably deserves at least 3 or 4 of these for all that she has done for McMaster!

Many of us know that she is the current Chair of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, now serving her 2nd term. In this role, Gillian has transformed our department, not just by hiring and mentoring a multitude of new colleagues, or navigating the trials and tribulations of departmental politics, but by truly leading by example! She has instilled a new culture within our department; one where collegiality takes precedence over bravado, teamwork takes priority over individualism, and clear, honest communication is of utmost importance. During her tenure as Chair, the department has undergone a massive renovation, launched a new undergraduate program (Sustainable Chemistry), hired numerous new faculty, attracted major investments in multiple core facilities, established Lab Stores that has become a campus-wide resource to researchers, and has overseen a near complete renewal of staff in the department. Beyond all the new initiatives, hiring, and accomplishment, she has also fundamentally changed the way the department operates. She is one of few leaders that makes people feel that we don’t work for her, but she is working (day and night!) for us. In fact, several colleagues who wrote letters for this award clearly stated that she is one of the most effective Chairs our department has ever had!

Apart from her role as Chair, Gillian has held many other positions within our department, the faculty, the University, and beyond. She served as Associate Chair of Research, which she did so well that she was chosen for a one-year acting role as Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty. Beyond the Faculty, she has served on the University Planning Committee amongst others; and beyond the University, she has served as a member of NSERC’s Discovery Grant Evaluation Group and as Editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry! In all these roles, she has handled her duties with integrity, enthusiasm, and dedication. I really don’t know when she finds time to sleep!

But I would argue that her contributions to McMaster go beyond all these service roles. At her core, Gillian is a world-class researcher, studying important problems pertaining to the performance of lithium-ion batteries through the use of cutting-edge fundamental solid state NMR spectroscopy. She leads a large, highly productive research group, which she mentors with the same care, integrity, enthusiasm, and respect that she shows to her colleagues. It is no surprise that her students are highly successful, publishing amazing papers in top journals every year. They have a fantastic role model to look up to! In addition, Gillian has been extremely successful in attracting research funding, having raised millions of dollars, both from national bodies like NSERC, and from private industry (which has included a major grant with General Motors). This ground-breaking and highly creative work is internationally recognized, and it places McMaster on the map in battery technology! This work and recognition are a major contribution to the overall mission of this university, which depends on the reputation of its world-class researchers, like Gillian.

I’ll close with something that I often say to Gillian whenever there is a crisis in our department. As Chair, there is never a dull moment! But I hope that this well-deserved award will allow Gillian to look back on her many moments with a sense of accomplishment, and to celebrate all that she has done to advance the mission of McMaster University.

Thank you, and congratulations again to Gillian on this well-deserved award!

Geoffrey Hall
Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour
citation read by Louis A. Schmidt

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Louis Schmidt, and I am a professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. I was honored to serve as a co-nominator, along with Dr. Mel Rutherford, in support of Dr. Geoffrey Hall’s nomination for a 2024 MUFA Outstanding Service Award.

Today, I have the pleasure of saying a few words about my close colleague and friend, and award recipient Professor Hall. I have known and worked very closely with Geoff for over the last 20+ years. We have collaborated on many projects together (which have ranged, over the years, from examining psychophysiological responses in shy children – to examining fMRI BOLD responses with reward processing in depression and activation – to cross modal emotion processing in children with autism), we have published many papers together, and we have served on countless graduate students’ supervisory committees together.

There are many things that I admire about Geoff, but there are at least three that stand out to me: his modesty, his passion for his science and his students, and his dedication to improving the quality of life for individuals with mental health problems, particularly children, through his service and research. But perhaps, most important to me, and many others, is that Geoff is simply a good person.

Geoff has been a dedicated member of MUFA for over 20 years; first as a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and, since 2011 as a professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. While Geoff has demonstrated excellence in service to McMaster in many ways over these past 20 years, there are two that I would like to highlight.

First, Geoff was instrumental in the creation and development of the Research and Clinical Training (RCT) PhD stream in PNB, a unique clinical psychology stream accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA). While embedded within PNB, its’ strength is the partnership among the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience (DPBN), and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton. Geoff served as the inaugural Program Director and chaired the executive committee from 2014 to 2022. The program stream has successfully trained approximately 50 graduate students to date — many of whom have gone on to establish and apply new knowledge to improve the quality of life for people with mental health problems.

Second, a focus of research in Geoff’s lab has been the development of computer-based child assessment and cognitive training tools. One such project combined a task-sharing training program for community health workers with a technology-supported tablet-based assessment for common childhood mental disorders and was piloted on 200 children in rural Kenya. Another project has involved the development of a game-based cognitive training program for children with Autism. This project has targeted key developmental cognitive barriers including set shifting, response inhibition, shifting attention and emotion recognition and has integrated games-based computer tablet activities that challenge the child by increasing in difficulty adaptively.

Another point that I would like to mention is Geoff’s supporting letters for this award. His letter writers represented a diverse set of academic researchers and clinicians. All of his references were from peers who have received outstanding service awards themselves in their representative fields, and all converged in their strong support of Geoff’s nomination.

I would like to highlight just a few of their many stellar comments:

“Dr. Hall has made outstanding contributions to the academy…his service to students and faculty through his teaching, supervision, and collaboration across faculty departments has been extraordinary”

“Dr. Hall’s exceptional contributions to the scientific literature have enhanced McMaster’s reputation and provided opportunities for student success in research”

“I cannot imagine a more deserving candidate for the award and offer him my highest level of support for this nomination, without reservation”

In sum, Professor Hall is highly deserving of the 2024 MUFA Award for Outstanding Service. He is the very definition of a Leader, Scholar, and Mentor who has dedicated himself to serving McMaster, his many students, and the broader community for more than two decades. I am happy to call Geoff a very valued colleague and friend. Please join me in congratulating Geoff.

Doug Welch
Physics and Astronomy
citation read by Alison Sills

Dr Doug Welch joined McMaster’s Department of Physics & Astronomy in 1988. Over the next thirty-six years he continually enhanced McMaster University through his commitment to the areas of research, teaching and, particularly in his administrative service to students. Doug has been a valuable mentor to me since I first interviewed at McMaster, and the story of that mentorship mirrors the story of Doug’s service to McMaster as well.

One of the things that attracted me to McMaster in the early 2000s was that the Department of Physics & Astronomy clearly embraced both parts of the phrase “student-centred and research-intensive”. Doug, as department chair, had worked to revamp our introductory physics course using methods that were based on the latest physics education research of the time – small sections, peer instruction, and workshop physics. My first teaching assignment was in this course. I was so impressed with the significant improvement to the student experience at the time, and continue to be impressed at the way these changes have been infused through the department teaching culture.

Doug was also critical in developing the reputation of McMaster as a leader in the Canadian astronomical community. He has served in many roles for the Canadian Astronomical Society and for international observatories and research organizations. These activities have significantly shaped the infrastructure and research environment for astronomers nationally and internationally. Personally I have always benefited from Doug’s clear-sighted understanding of the Canadian astronomy landscape, and how best to navigate it when writing research grants, advocating for national infrastructure, or serving on various kinds of selection committees.

Finally, Doug’s contributions to university service have spanned his entire career, and has been a cornerstone of his commitment to the University and its students. Beyond his time as Department Chair, Doug served on many university committees and held leadership roles in Graduate Studies, including Associate Dean for both Science and Engineering, and ultimately as Vice Provost & Dean of Graduate Studies. During my own forays into leadership positions, Doug was always a source of excellent advice and institutional knowledge, and set an excellent example of a dedicated, caring, and compassionate leader.

In order for these words about Doug to be an accurate representation of what he has brought to the university, I should end either with a really bad pun or a quote from a movie of the 70s and 80s. But in these areas, Doug’s mentorship was not sufficient to overcome my lack of basic skills, and I never managed to come close to the expertise he continuously showed. So I will not embarrass him, or me, by trying. Instead I will simply say thank you, Doug, for everything you have done for all of us, and congratulations on your well-deserved MUFA Award for Outstanding Service.