Faculty members receive School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards

Pictured, left to right: Angela Colantonio, Elizabeth Peter, Pamela Klassen, Angela Mashford-Pringle and Cillian O’Hogan (supplied images)

Story originally appeared in U of T Celebrates by Rahul Kalvapalle

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

“These annual awards allow us to honour the critical role of supervisors, for both early-career faculty and their more senior colleagues,” says Joshua Barker, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and vice-provost, graduate research and education. “Congratulations to this year’s winners – we are grateful for your remarkable commitment to supporting students through their graduate studies.”

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.

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Awards

“It is a privilege and an honour to have supervised so many outstanding trainees. I have learned so much from their work. Their endorsement of this nomination means the world to me. I am also grateful for all who have supported my students and the trainees at the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute.”

— Angela Colantonio

Angela Colantonio is a professor in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy and director of the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Colantonio currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Traumatic Brain Injury in Underserved Populations and leads an internationally recognized program of research integrating sex and gender considerations with a focus on female brain injury (abiresearch.utoronto.ca). Colantonio has led / co-led over 80 grants and authored over 300 publications and is extremely grateful for the contributions of so many dedicated and talented trainees she has had the honour of mentoring.

Read more about Dr. Colantonio.

“I’m very grateful to my students and colleagues for nominating me. My supervisory style has emerged from my own experiences of being generously supervised and from working with remarkable colleagues on graduate committees. Most importantly, I’ve learned so much over the years from each of my students, both before and after their graduation.”

— Pamela Klassen

Pamela Klassen is a professor in the department of the study of religion in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Professor Klassen’s current research addresses religion, colonialism, treaties, and public memory in North America and Turtle Island. She has supervised or co-supervised 20 doctoral students and 14 master’s students and has served on many dissertation committees at U of T and other universities. Klassen has worked closely with students as co-authors and research associates, approaching the study of religion with a diversity of methods including the digital storytelling project Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations (storynations.utoronto.ca), a collaboration with the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of Rainy River First Nations, in Treaty 3 Territory.

Read more about Professor Klassen.

Early Career Supervision Awards

“As someone who had few mentors before, during and after my postsecondary education, I have learned from those who have helped me. The recognition from my students has humbled and empowered me to strive to provide more mentorship and supervision with mind, body and spirit which is important to me as a First Nations scholar and learner.”

— Angela Mashford-Pringle

Angela Mashford-Pringle is a member of Timiskaming First Nation (Algonquin – Bear Clan) who was born, raised and resides in the Tkaronto area (Treaty 13). Dr. Mashford-Pringle’s research is at the intersection of Indigenous health and education including cultural safety, justice involved peoples, land-based learning, climate action, and Indigenous policy analysis. She holds tri-council funding for storywork with previously incarcerated Indigenous peoples and Indigenous parents who have experience with child welfare. Mashford-Pringle embraces Indigenous pedagogies and ontologies by using Land as Teacher in her graduate teaching (land-based learning), which includes simultaneously learning and teaching with colleagues, students, and collaborators. 

Read more about Dr. Mashford-Pringle.

“I am honoured and humbled by this recognition. Working with graduate students is one of the best parts of my job, and I learn so much from them. Humanities research may seem like a very solitary activity, but in reality it is shaped by a community, as our doctoral students learn over the course of their studies.”

— Cillian O’Hogan

Cillian O’Hogan is an assistant professor at the Centre for Medieval Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Professor O’Hogan teaches medieval Latin language and literature, and courses on medieval manuscripts. His research interests are late antique and medieval Latin poetry, history of the book, translation studies, and the afterlife of classical and late antique literature in the Middle Ages. O’Hogan currently holds a SSHRC Insight Grant to study the medieval transmission and reception of the works of Prudentius, an influential Latin poet of the fourth century CE. 

Read more about Professor O’Hogan.