Six Memorial University professors have been accorded the honour reserved for highly distinguished faculty members.

The six individuals will be publicly recognized as professores emeriti at a future session of convocation.

Dr. Ken Barter, School of Social Work; Dr. Shakti Chandra, Faculty of Medicine; Dr. Alice Collins, Faculty of Education; Dr. Beverley Diamond, School of Music; Dr. Alex Faseruk, Faculty of Business Administration; and Dr. Edgar Goodaire, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science; have been awarded the title.

A professor emeritus or emerita is a retired member of the faculty who has served at least 10 years as a regular full-time faculty member and held the rank of professor upon retirement. The prime criterion for nomination is a sustained and superlative record as a scholar, as a teacher or as an academic administrator or any combination of these.

Candidates for the rank of professor emeritus/emerita are nominated by their academic units and, as with candidates for honorary degrees, the nominations are then reviewed by the Senate’s Committee on Honorary Degrees and Ceremonial. The candidates are approved by the university’s Senate and Board of Regents.

Biographies of all six professores emeriti follow below.

Dr. Ken Barter

Dr. Ken Barter earned a bachelor of arts degree from Memorial University, a master of social work from the University of Calgary and a PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Dr. Barter was appointed the inaugural Chair in Child Protection for Memorial’s School of Social Work in 1998. He served as the school’s acting associate dean, undergraduate programs; associate dean, graduate studies and research; and chair of the school’s Accreditation Committee. He has served on numerous other school and university committees.

Dr. Barter’s considerable contributions to the School of Social Work include his exemplary teaching and supervision of numerous master of social work and doctoral-level students, his consistently high levels of leadership in program development, particularly his contributions to the specially designed bachelor of social work program for Inuit students in Labrador, and his research.

He also made a significant community education contribution—an award-winning video on his research in community capacity building for the protection of children.

Dr. Barter was awarded the 2013 International Association of University Presidents Award, which recognized extraordinary achievement in international curriculum development, service, and teaching for his contribution to improving public health and social services in rural Vietnam. He received Memorial’s 2015 President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. He retired in 2015.

Dr. Shakti Chandra

Dr. Shakti Chandra trained as a physician at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. After teaching anatomy at Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine for more than 40 years, she retired in 2015. During her time at Memorial, she produced a series of anatomy videos and other teaching tools. Through her anatomy outreach program, she has travelled to all parts of the province.

Her most significant contribution, besides teaching anatomy, has been to create plastinated anatomical specimens during her sabbatical year 2011-12 in Germany with Dr. Gunther von Hagens. Dr. von Hagens is the inventor of the unique plastination technique and creator of the Body Worlds exhibition that travels internationally. The specimens Dr. Chandra brought back include whole body plastinates and plastinated slices, valued at $350,000. Dr. Chandra has become well known for her Body Works exhibit, which features plastinated specimens.

In recognition of her excellence in teaching, Dr. Chandra received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Memorial’s student union in 2013 and has twice been named Teacher of the Year (in 1996 and 2011), an honour chosen by first-year medical students.

Dr. Alice Collins

Before her retirement in 2015, Dr. Alice Collins was professor and dean of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University. She studied at Memorial, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Ottawa, where she obtained a PhD.

Dr. Collins has had extensive national participation in education as president of the Canadian Association of Teacher Education (1999-2001), president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (2001-04), president of the Canadian Association of Deans of Education (2005-07), and member of the board of directors of the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences (2002-04).

Her research interests include teacher education and school governance. She has published in scholarly and professional journals, presented at national and international conferences and has been involved in development work in Indonesia at the University of Jakarta.

Dr. Collins has worked closely with the province’s Department of Education, provincial school districts and the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association (NLTA). In recognition of her contribution to education in this province, the NLTA twice named Dr. Collins honorary chairperson of Education Week.

Her involvement in and participation on community boards is extensive. Recognition for this involvement includes an Appreciation Award in 2011 from Festival 500 and the Herbert Coutts Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Education in 2011.

Dr. Beverley Diamond

Dr. Beverley Diamond was the first Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology at Memorial University where she established and directed the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media, and Place (MMaP) from 2003-15. She retired in 2015.

In collaboration with communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as other parts of Canada, she published the Back on Track CD series that made archival material available together with extensive documentation. She also organized many symposia, concerts and international conferences.

Dr. Diamond is known for her research on gender issues, Canadian historiography, and Indigenous music cultures. Her research on Indigenous music has ranged from studies of traditional Inuit and First Nations song traditions and Sami joik, to Indigenous audio recording, traditional protocols for access and ownership, and, most recently, expressive culture in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools in Canada. Most recently she co-edited Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada. Echoes and Exchanges (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012) which received a Choice Academic Book award. Among her other publications are Native American Music in Eastern North America and Music and Gender.

In recognition of her work, Dr. Diamond received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Gold Medal in 2014, Canada’s highest prize for achievement in the humanities and social sciences. The recognition included a prize of $100,000. She received the prestigious Trudeau Fellowship in 2009 and was named to the Order of Canada in 2013.

Dr. Alex Faseruk

Dr. Alex Faseruk was a pillar of teaching excellence at Memorial’s Faculty of Business Administration for 35 years before his retirement in 2015.

A 3M Teaching Fellow, Dr. Faseruk received 24 teaching awards over the course of his career, including Professor of the Year from graduating classes, the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, National Post’s Leaders in Management Education, the Distinguished Teaching Award from Academy of Finance and the Beta Gamma Sigma Leadership Award.

He coached Memorial teams in national and international case, paper writing, stock market and entrepreneurial competitions that resulted in Memorial students winning more than 50 first places and $100,000 in prize money. In 2006 he was the inaugural recipient of the Dr. J. Pierre Brunet Coach Award at the John Molson MBA International Case Competition and he won the Arnoldi Award for Coaching Excellence at the Intercollegiate Business Competition Championships in 2008.

Dr. Faseruk produced more than 80 referred proceedings and conference papers as well as 45 journal publications and served on the editorial boards of three journals. He also received 20 awards recognizing his service to the business faculty.

Dr. Faseruk is a graduate of Queen’s and Dalhousie Universities, University of Kentucky and Queen’s College in St. John’s.

Dr. Edgar Goodaire

Dr. Edgar Goodaire has an impressive research record. His committed and scholarly teaching, contributions to the university and to the broader community, and his infectious “can-do” enthusiasm helped promote many causes important to the intellectual life of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Memorial University.

He was head of the department from 1991-94 and interim head from 2011-12. Dr. Goodaire served on numerous departmental, faculty and university committees and review panels prior to his retirement in 2013. He also served on the board of directors of the Canadian Mathematical Society from 1979-81 and on various committees from 1982-2001.

Dr. Goodaire was inducted into the Science Atlantic Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Mathematical Society in 2004.

From 1973 to the present he has continuously received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)/National Research Council (NRC). In addition, he has written six books, 90 refereed journal articles and 52 mathematical reviews.