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OTTAWA, May 8, 2007  —  The University of Ottawa has accomplished quite a feat with Professors Shana Poplack and Joseph-Yvon Thériault among the five latest recipients of the $225,000 Trudeau Foundation Fellows Prize, awarded for outstanding contributions to the social sciences and humanities in Canada and around the world.

Shana Poplack is full professor at the Department of Linguistics. She is the holder of the Canada Research Chair in Linguistics at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Poplack’s research team is working out of the Sociolinguistics Laboratory she founded at the university in 1982 (and continues to direct), which contains unique data banks of varieties of speech gathered from expeditions across the country. Earlier this year, Professor Poplack was awarded a prestigious Killam Prize.

Joseph Yvon Thériault is full professor at the Departement of Sociology and Anthropology. He is the founding Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Citizenship and Minorities (CIRCEM) at University of Ottawa where he holds the Chair in Identity and Francophonie. Professor Thériault’s research focuses on the relationship between collective identities and citizenship, and he has established a strong reputation as a compelling thinker on national identity in a minority context.

The three other Trudeau 2007 Fellows are William D. Coleman from McMaster University; Eric Helleiner from University of Waterloo; and William E. Rees from the University of British Columbia.

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation funds outstanding scholars who conduct research in crucial societal issues, and creates opportunities for dialogue and multidisciplinary collaboration across organizations and disciplines under four key themes Human Rights and Social Justice, Responsible Citizenship, Canada and the World, and Humans in their Natural Environment. Since being established in 2002, the Foundation has granted over 100 major awards to top researchers and highly accomplished individuals, in Canada and abroad. For more details, visit the Foundation’s website: www.trudeaufoundation.ca.