Excellence Awards

To recognize graduate students in any discipline who received a GTA from FGSR and conducted exemplary work in providing teaching assistance for graduate and/or undergraduate classes.

The key criteria will be excellence in teaching support, mentorship, and the creation of effective and inclusive learning environments. The nomination should address how the nominee demonstrates outstanding teaching assistance, professionalism, and contributions to student learning and success. Nominees should demonstrate a distinguished academic record and contributions that enhance FGSR's and the University of Regina's mission.

The nomination should address how the graduate student demonstrated outstanding performance, including but not limited to:

• Fostering a healthy, inclusive and intellectually stimulating learning environment, recognizing students’ diverse experiences.
• Designing class assignments geared to stimulate critical thinking, such as experiential learning and innovative teaching strategies or projects
• Developing research skills.
• Ddemonstrating strong professionalism in communicating and interacting with students and course instructors.
• Providing learning supports to students in various courses in a fair, effective, accessible, and reliable approach.
• Providing teaching supports to course instructors in a creative, reliable and timely manner.
• Demonstrate student impact, such as a summary of feedback from course
• Mentoring and guiding undergraduate and/or graduate students.
• Maintaining a distinguished academic record.
• Enhancing FGSR and the U of R missions.

To recognize graduate students in any discipline who conduct leading-edge research.

The key criteria will be excellence in research, scholarship, and creative activity. The nomination should address how the nominee’s research work is innovative, creative, inclusive and impacts the community at large while contributing to the advancement of their field of study. Nominees should demonstrate a distinguished academic record and contributions that enhance FGSR’s and U of R’s mission.

Nominees should demonstrate excellence including but not limited to: 

• Research problems and goals are creative and original with new and innovative ideas and great potential to impact the society
• Demonstrated knowledge production and/or creative activity
• Dissemination of their work to wider audiences within and outside the student’s field of study
• Demonstrate the impact (society, industry, community)
• Recognize any partnerships or interdisciplinary collaborations
• Distinguished academic record
• Contributions and initiatives that enhance FGSR’s and U of R’s research mission

The Nomination Form contains further information.

To recognize graduate students in any discipline who demonstrate excellence in community-engaged service (including but not limited to community-engaged research, creative activity or knowledge dissemination, public education, leadership, community volunteering services, advocacy and activism). 

The key criteria will be excellence in providing invaluable service to the larger community and/or underrepresented groups within or beyond the University of Regina. Nominees should demonstrate a distinguished academic record and contributions that enhance FGSR’s and U of R’s mission.

Nominees should demonstrate excellence including but not limited to:

• Inspirational leadership and community engagement that contributes to the prosperity and well-being of the University and the broader community
• Recognize their impact, including who benefited, scope of impact, sustainability, and partnerships
• Significant community participation and volunteering
• Distinguished academic record
• Contributions and initiatives that enhance U of R’s graduate education mission

The Nomination Form contains further information.

The Call for Nominations for the Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Graduate Innovation and Research Award and Community Engagement Award will open July 1st.

Eligibility: 

The student must be enrolled as an active and registered graduate student in good standing in the upcoming Fall semester at the University of Regina to be eligible to be nominated and receive the scholarship. Previous recipients are not eligible to apply for a period of 2 years following the year in which they received the same award.

Students cannot nominate themselves and must be nominated by someone else.

Nomination process:

Nominations can be initiated by students, faculty, administrators or community partners. The nominator(s) will submit their application packages to their line faculties (for departmentalized faculty, the nominators should submit their application packages to the departments, then each department submit one nomination per award to the line faculty). Each line faculty nominates one student per award and sends each nomination package individually to the FGSR email below. The nomination package must include:

1. Completed nomination form which includes a signature of the Dean/AD/Dept or Unit Head.
2. One letter of support from the UofR unit or other community members who have closely interacted with the nominees in the past year (maximum 1 page/500 words).
3. Letter of support from the graduate supervisor/advisor, including a rationale as to why the nominee qualifies for the award (maximum 1 page/500 words). For the program in which no supervision is required, a letter of support can be from Graduate Coordinator or Associate Dean of the academic unit. For Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, the letter of support can be from a course instructor in which the nominator assisted.
4. The nominee's abbreviated CV including a summary of relevant accomplishments, their academic qualifications and any awards or special recognitions (maximum 3 pages).
5. A copy of unofficial transcript.

Public recognition of the award:

A maximum of one award will be presented annually for each category. Each award consists of a Certificate of Excellence from the Dean of FGSR along with a $500 cash prize. The award will be publicly announced during the annual FGSR Excellence Awards ceremony or at the President's Celebration of Teaching, Research, and Service Excellence held annually in November.

Selection process and award criteria:

The selection committee will be chaired by the Dean of FGSR (or designate) and consist of two Faculty members with FGSR Accreditation, FGSR staff member and one graduate student. Committee membership will reflect the diverse research disciplines at UofR. The committee will review application packages and recommend the recipients to the Dean of FGSR. All nominees will be notified in writing of the outcome of their nomination.

The nominee must be enrolled as an active and registered graduate student in good standing in the upcoming Fall semester at the University of Regina to be eligible to be nominated and receive the scholarship. Previous recipients are not eligible to apply for a period of 2 years following the year in which they received the same award.

The FGSR values and promotes principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, and welcomes nominations from graduate students who self-identify as women and gender minorities, racialized individuals, persons with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, or members of Indigenous communities.

The awards will normally be given out annually and will typically correspond to the FGSR Excellence awards scheduled in the Fall term. FGSR will announce the submission dates as part of the call for nominations each year.

Electronic application packages are required and each must be submitted individually via email to grad.excellenceawards@uregina.ca by August 31 each year.

This award is to recognize a faculty member who has demonstrated a record of excellent mentorship and supervision of graduate students at the University of Regina. The winner will be nominated for the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship. The nomination deadline is April 30.

The Nomination Form contains further information.

President's Celebration of Teaching, Research, and Service Excellence: Congratulations to the outstanding award winners from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research:

• Graduate Teaching Assistant Award: Taneicha Littlejohn Robinson
• Graduate Student Excellence Award: Sharmin Jahan Mim
• Community Engagement Award: Whitney Blaisdell
• Outstanding Graduate Supervision Award: Dr. Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng

These exceptional individuals showcase dedication and commitment to advancing graduate studies and research at UR.

Visit Student Success for more details on our recipients.

President's Celebration of Teaching, Research, and Service Excellence: Congratulations to the outstanding award winners from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research:

• Graduate Teaching Assistant Award: Zohra Zahir
• Graduate Student Excellence Award: Easter Ndlovu
• Community Engagement Award: Brandon Watson
• Outstanding Graduate Supervision Award: Dr. Garth Huber

These exceptional individuals showcase dedication and commitment to advancing graduate studies and research at UR.

• Amin Malakootika (Media, Arts, and Performance Faculty) – Graduate Teaching Assistance Award. (Charity Marsh)
• Louise Castillo (Arts – Psychology Faculty) – Gradute Student Excellence Award. (Lindsey French)
• Abraham (Sociology and Social Studies Faculty) – Gradute Community Engagement Award. (Thomas Hadjisavropoulos)
• Britt Hall (Science – Biology Faculty) – 2023 University of Regina's Award of Outstanding Supervisor. (Zhora Zahir)

- Rachel Krakauer (PhD in Clinical Psychology) – Graduate Student Community Engagement Award;
- Angèle Poirier (MA in Economics) – Teaching Assistant Award; and
- Dr. Jyotpal Singh (PhD in Kinesiology and Health Studies) – Graduate Student Excellence Award (Innovation and Research).