2021-22 Community Engagement Awards

Posted on Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Each academic year, Community Engagement highlights the exceptional contributions of particular students, professors, and community partners participating in our Community Engagement programs. These prizes recognize the contributions of individuals and community partners who are committed to making the programs a success for all. A five-person selection committee, comprising students, professors, and community partners, selects the recipients. 

Community Engagement Awards Winners
Rhea Grace

Student

Rhea Grace

Rhea Grace is in her second year of a joint honours degree in economics and political science (with CO-OP option and French Immersion stream). Rhea was nominated by the Legacy of Hope Foundation (LHF) where she volunteered during the fall 2021 term. There, she worked on major outreach projects, including topics such as residential schools and indigenous policies. Rhea is an exceptional student who saw her contributions to LHF help in developing travelling exhibitions to educate all Canadians. She saw it as an opportunity to do something greater than the usual. The result was a beautifully thought-out draft exhibition design and proposal to curate an exhibition for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: September 30, which was submitted to the funder. After the fall term ended, Rhea continued to volunteer with the LHF Exhibitions team, supporting work for an exhibition called Cruel & Unethical that is set to launch later this summer, and another exhibition entitled Indian Day Schools.

Kylee Hunter

Student

Kylee Hunter

Kylee Hunter is in her second year of the undergraduate medical education program (MD2024) at uOttawa. Kylee volunteered to work with the MoreThanJustSoup (MTJSD) initiative from November 2020 to August 2021.  She was very motivated to serve for high-need and underserved families. Initially, she volunteered to conduct home visits with Vanier families as a member of a team of medical students. She always went the extra mile, assessing a broad range of needs for the families and seeking out extra food, clothing, furniture, etc. She recognized the needs of Francophone families and assisted in recruiting Francophone students, in addition to  taking a leadership role in the organization. It has been a great success, with our families appreciating getting social support, as well as a great learning experience for the students.”

Dorra Jlouli

Professor

Dorra Jlouli

The Professor Award was given to Dorra Jlouli, professor at the Telfer School of Management. Professor Jlouli’s enthusiasm for the circular economy and sustainable development, which is as contagious as her passion for transmitting and sharing knowledge to build a greener and more responsible world, has inspired students. She always clearly links academic studies to community needs by teaching students different concepts that focus on societal sustainability: from the circular economy, to gender equality, to green borrowing. She has coordinated CSL projects with various organizations and created individual projects based on building knowledge about issues taught in class, such as how to reduce our environmental footprint. This has allowed students to understand the connection between academic studies and community needs.

Professor Jlouli teaches students to be much more sensitive to the world around them and has demonstrated how, ultimately, engagement and change can become easier in many situations. 

uOttawa Multiple Sclerosis Club

Community Partners

The Community Partner Award was given to the uOttawa Multiple Sclerosis Club (UOMSC).This organization provides students of various educational backgrounds with many opportunities, with the main goal of raising awareness of multiple sclerosis, a prevalent autoimmune disease of the nervous system, at the undergraduate and graduate student levels at uOttawa. The UOMSC gave students the opportunity  to host or develop their own trivia and seminar-based educational programs, with 50 students participating. This created a sense of community while raising awareness of a vital issue, along with fundraising for MS research and for support programs offered by the MS Society of Canada. These fundraising efforts took the shape of game nights, sales of exam care-packages, and other mental health and wellness workshops, which raised over $400 for the cause. Other students developed a monthly journal club to disseminate research to their peers and discuss the latest research findings. Many past volunteers have been inspired to run their own projects and have pursued higher education, with acceptance into competitive programs such as medicine and law, while others have since launched programs for the MS Society of Canada. 

As a community partner since 2019, the uOttawa Multiple Sclerosis Club serves a vital role for students and the community by offering many interesting and challenging placements.