The man who led two high-profile committees at Queen鈥檚 鈥 the 175th Anniversary and the Principal鈥檚 Commission on Mental Health 鈥 and two social media experts are being honoured by the Kingston Alumni Branch.
Dr. David Walker, Meds鈥71, is the 2017 recipient of the Padre Laverty Award, the highest honour bestowed by the Kingston Branch. Dr. Walker is the former dean of the Queen鈥檚 Faculty of Health Sciences and is currently the Executive Director of the Queen鈥檚 School of Policy Studies. The Kingston Branch is honouring him for his volunteer work with the 175th anniversary and mental health. Dr. Walker and other members of the Principal鈥檚 Commission on Mental Health spent a year consulting with campus stakeholders to produce a report with 116 recommendations on improving mental health at Queen鈥檚.
Steven Koopman, Artsci鈥98, and Cristiano Vilela, Artsci鈥04, will share the Jim Bennett Award. Mr. Koopman formerly ran the Kingston Police social media accounts before recently leaving the position to become a uniform patrol officer and Mr. Vilela runs the popular YGK Make it Home traffic social media accounts. They are being honoured for keeping Kingston safe for their service and innovative collaboration through social media.
鈥淎ll three recipients have demonstrated a strong commitment to both Queen鈥檚 and Kingston,鈥 says Kingston Branch President Timothy Packulak, Sc鈥14. 鈥淒ave has given outstanding volunteer leadership on two important topics for the Queen鈥檚 community while Steven and Cristiano collaborated through social media to help keep Kingston safe.鈥
The Padre Laverty Award is given to an alumna/us for outstanding service to Queen鈥檚 or jointly to the Queen鈥檚 community. Past recipients include Tragically Hip guitarist Rob Baker, BFA鈥86, former Kingston mayor Harvey Rosen, Law鈥75, and former Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Milliken, Arts鈥68.
The Jim Bennett Award honours Kingstonians (who are not necessarily alumni) for outstanding achievements in careers, sport, the arts, or volunteer endeavours, contributing to the betterment of Queen鈥檚 or Kingston.
All three recipients will be honoured during the Padre Laverty Dinner on June 1.
