Outstanding Service Awards

2023 Award Winners

Please join us in congratulating Yuqin Gong (University of Prince Edward Island) and Neil Chakraborty (University of Toronto) as the 2023 recipients for the Outstanding Service Award.

Yuqin Gong’s association with CIRPA dates to 2007, and her contribution to the Association and broader IRP community in Canada has been impactful and outsized and continues to this day. She provided leading support for the conferences hosted in the Maritimes (in Fredericton in 2011 and 2015 in Halifax) and she was a Board member from 2018 to 2022, with substantial contributions to the Membership Committee (which resulted in meaningful changes to the membership tiers and guidelines). She has acted as an ambassador of the profession, providing guidance and leadership to the Atlantic Institutional Researchers Group, including a crucial role in the development of the Atlantic Common University Dataset (ACUDS).

Neil Chakraborty has supported the Association in searching for ways to enhance the networking opportunities for its members: Neil conceived and has successfully introduced CIRPA’s mentorship program, providing a mechanism for pairing experienced and newer members of the association, creating avenues for knowledge sharing and fruitful exchanges of ideas, resources and personalized guidance. At CIRPA conferences, Neil has been omnipresent, presenting, delivering workshops, helping to improve the CIRPA surveys, judging presentations, or keeping the dance floor jumping. Between conferences, Neil has organized many of the engaging and informative webinars that keep members abreast of the newest developments in the field.

Thank you to Yuqin and Neil for their tireless efforts to support the profession and the Association!

2022 Award Winners

Please join us in congratulating Carmelinda Del Conte (Mohawk College) and Garry Hansen (St. Thomas University) as the 2022 recipients for the Outstanding Service Award.

Carmelinda Del Conte has been involved with CIRPA‐ACPRI as the Board’s elected Member at Large for 1 term and as Treasurer for 2 terms, where she has presided over the Association’s balance sheet and finance-related business process, the expansion of online payments, and improved budgeting planning practices. Carmelinda has presented at several conferences, and led the local arrangements for the 2014 Hamilton, Ontario conference, CIRPA’s largest conference to date. Carmelinda continues to support CIRPA with advice, business process documentation, and ideas as we transition to a new Treasurer, Connie Phelps.

Garry Hansen has been involved with CIRPA-ACPRI Board as an elected Member-at-Large for 2 terms, co-chaired the 2011 CIRPA conference in Fredericton, lead the strategic planning process for the 2016-21 CIRPA strategic plan, and as a member of the Membership Subcommittee where he helped implement new membership types. Garry continues to be involved with CIRPA as a member of the Nominations Committee and as a mentor in CIRPA’s new mentorship program. Garry has presented at several CIRPA conferences, as well as hosting the Newcomers workshop.

Thank you to Carmelinda and Garry for your dedication and support of CIRPA‐ACPRI and our community!

2021 Award Winners

Please join us in congratulating Mike Krywy (Red River College Polytechnic) and David Paul (Portage College) as the 2021 recipients for the Outstanding Service Award.

Mike Krywy has been involved with CIRPA‐ACPRI for over 15 years, as a presenter, a member‐at‐large Board member, Vice President and President. His strategic vision and leadership for CIRPA‐ACPRI increased collaboration with the Association for Institutional Research in the United States, created a new website and online membership platform, and enhanced professional development opportunities for our members. Mike continues to support the Association by volunteering on the membership committee and volunteering as the upcoming co‐chair for CIRPA‐ACPRI’s conference in Winnipeg.

David Paul has also been involved with CIRPA‐ACPRI for over 15 years, and has served two terms on the Board as Secretary, was the co‐chair for our virtual 2021 conference and has volunteered on numerous committees. David displays tireless commitment, conscientious attention to detail, and quiet enthusiasm that supports everyone else around him on the Board and in committees. David continues to support the Association as chair of the nominations committee.

Thank you to Mike and David for your dedication and support of CIRPA‐ACPRI and our community!

2020 Award Winner

Stephen Childs

Please join us in congratulating Stephen Childs (York University), the winner of this year’s Outstanding Service Award! Stephen has helped many CIRPA members take their first steps in coding. He has presented at conferences, led popular pre-conference workshops on R and Python, and has served on committees and on the Board. His work on the Professional Development committee brought the CIRPA Github site to life. Stephen is known as a “digital pioneer in IR” and is an inspiration to many. Thank you, Stephen, for sharing your knowledge with our community!

2019 Award Winner

Ashley Blackman

The CIRPA Board is pleased to recognize Ashley Blackman as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Service Award. Ashley has contributed to CIRPA in many ways over the years: as a panelist, a presenter, an organizer, and a key volunteer, not to mention his significant role in livening up CIRPA conference dancefloors! Ashley is known for taking the time out to encourage others, and for tirelessly seeking to improve the IR profession with new insights, techniques, and statistical methods. He has also played a key role in bringing the Best Presentation Award to life – he has developed the award criteria, organized the judging panel, revised the sessional evaluation and post-conference survey, and refined the adjudication process. In short, Ashley is an iconic member of CIRPA. Thank you, Ashley, for all that you have brought to our profession and our Association!

2018 Award Winner

On behalf of the CIRPA Board, we are proud to recognize Peter Seto as the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award. Peter spent many years as the Director of Institutional Research at Mount Royal University, and was one of the early founders of the Association. During that time, Peter spent 8 years on the CIRPA Board, serving two terms as Vice-President. He was a lead organizer for CIRPA 2009 (Banff) and served on the programming committee for the Halifax conference (2015). Peter also played a key role organizing local IR groups in BC and Alberta and was a founding member of the Alberta group (ABIR – pronounced “A beer”!).

At conferences, Peter often played the role of the Pied Piper dragging people out to discover fantastic local and international musicians. It was great to reconnect with him in Calgary, as he has been deeply missed since retiring from the profession. Thank you, Peter, for your many contributions to CIRPA over the years!

2017 Award Winner

At CIRPA Toronto 2017, we recognized Brian Christie (University of Regina) for the Outstanding Service Award. Brian is one of the founders of CIRPA, who has been part of the Association from Day 1. He personifies dedication to the association, through his commitment as an organizer, presenter, and mentor to his team and other IR professionals.  Thank you Brian for spending the past 25+ years building and supporting CIRPA.

2016 Outstanding Service Award

In 2016, we recognized the contributions made by Luc Simon of Université Laval.  Luc has played a very important role in the Association, serving four years as a member-at-large on the Board of Directors (2010-2014) where he led the redevelopment of the CIRPA website. Luc also chaired the 2008 conference in Québec City which had unsurpassed food and entertainment, in a truly beautiful city.  For those who regularly attend the CIRPA conference, you’d also know him as a regular presenter on data mining and analytics and sharing interesting ways to use Tableau. Join us in congratulating Luc for being a pillar within the IR profession, and continuing to model excellence in institutional research.

2015 Awards Winners

Congratulations to the 2015 recipients, Alan Vladicka; MacEwan University (former), Golden Sage Consulting
(current) and Cameron Tilson, Concordia University. Consult the President’s message for more details.