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By Wanda Praamsma, Communications Officer

Winning the Employment Equity Award earlier this year was a proud moment for Professor Mark Green (Civil Engineering), who was honoured for his work raising awareness of Aboriginal student issues and his determination to eliminate barriers for Aboriginal students who want to study at Queen’s.

Professor Mark Green won the Employment Equity Award for his work raising awareness of Aboriginal student issues.

“Receiving the award helps stress the importance of Aboriginal students within the university, and it gives more credibility to continuing the work for Aboriginal education,” says Dr. Green, who was instrumental in bringing the Aboriginal Access to Engineering Program to Queen’s in 2011. “The recognition is important because it can assist with moving similar projects forward in the future and the awareness can be beneficial in encouraging more Aboriginal people (students, staff, faculty, alumni) to be involved with Queen’s.”

Dr. Green was the second person to win the Employment Equity Award since it was established in 2011. Wendy Crowley, a staff member in the School of Computing, won the inaugural award for her work providing outreach and mentorship to young women in the community with the hope of inspiring them to pursue a career in computing.

Nominations are once again open for the award, which aims to honour and recognize the efforts of students, staff, faculty and external community members to make Queen’s a truly representative and inclusive workplace.

"This is a chance to celebrate the work that’s being done to create an environment that is diverse and welcoming to everyone, with a particular focus on making the campus more inviting for those from equity-seeking groups, including women, persons with disabilities, members of racialized groups, and Aboriginal peoples,” says Irène Bujara, Director of the Equity and Human Rights offices at Queen’s. “The award, along with the other awards our offices present – the Human Rights Award and the Steve Cutway Accessibility Award – are a reminder and signal of our commitment as a university to improving the diversity and inclusivity at Queen’s.”

The Equity Office is seeking nominations for the award until Jan. 17, 2014 and stresses that this award is for anyone – staff, faculty, students, and external community members whose work impacts the university. For instance, excellence in teaching and innovative curriculum design to further the cause of employment equity would be a great example of an effort worthy of nomination.

Nominations are also open for the Human Rights Award and the Steve Cutway Accessibility Award, with more information on those awards to come in the weeks ahead from University Communications.

To find out more about eligibility criteria and to access nomination forms: