Pat Elliot – Sociology
Dr. Pat Elliot initially joined the Department in 1988 a year before graduating from the Social and Political Thought programme at York University. Three years later, she was hired as an Assistant Professor in what was then the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and was promoted to full professor in 2012. The Sociology Department has been greatly enriched by Pat’s dedication to improving internal governance and curriculum development with her tireless service as Chair of the Department for three and a half years and her conscientious work on countless committees. She was a generous mentor to new faculty members and supported her colleagues through both good and difficult times. Her kindness and sage advice was much appreciated by many throughout the years.
During her thirty-year tenure at the University, Pat was pivotal to the development, not only to the Department of Sociology, but of the University. She co-founded a women’s caucus to advise the WLUFA executive in the early 1990s at a time when the numbers of female faculty at Laurier were much lower than they are now. She was also a founding member of the Women’s Studies program (in which she taught and served a term as Co-ordinator). In 2007 she was a founding member of the Cultural Analysis and Social Theory MA, a program in which she taught 4 different courses.
Her commitment to the University is matched only by her scholarly accomplishments. She is author of two highly regarded books: From Mastery to Analysis: Theories of Gender in Psychoanalytic Feminism (Cornell University Press, 1991) and, more recently, Debates in Transgender, Queer, and Feminist Theory: Contested Sites (Ashgate Publishing, 2010). In addition to these, Pat has published widely in very reputable journals such as Sexualities, Gay and Lesbian Quarterly, and Hypatia and has served on editorial boards, such as Somatechnics.
Of course, Pat’s accomplishments are many and all of them have served to raise the reputations of both the Department of Sociology and the University more generally. The Department of Sociology will be sad to see Pat leave and she will be greatly missed.
Alma Santosuosso – Music
Alma Santosuosso is well-known and respected for her passion for her research (medieval music) but equally so for her engagement with students. She was at once a brilliant, detail-oriented scholar and a teacher-mentor who, through her teaching core-curriculum music history, influenced every student that went through our program. Throughout her career Alma was relentless in insisting that our program maintain the highest of academic and musical standards. And to that end, if there is a single attribute associated with Dr. Santosuosso it is her commitment to teaching students how to write. She cared deeply for students, spending an inordinate number of hours in her office assisting students with their term papers. In some courses, she allowed resubmissions of students’ papers after critiquing their first submission. Indeed, when alumni return to campus they invariably mention ‘Dr. S’ (as she came to be known) as one of the best teachers they had during their time at Laurier. Her commitment to teaching was not at the expense of research, as she produced half a dozen books and attracted $140,000 in external funding and over $22,000 in internal funding throughout her 33 years in the Faculty. She ran workshops on grant-writing and information sessions on applying to grad school, both as evidence of her commitment to students’ lives beyond Laurier. And her service—to the Faculty and University through committee involvement too numerous to mention and to the community through program notes, presentations, and guest lectures—rounds out an amazing career of productivity, passion, and professionalism.
Rob Milne – Geography
Paul Maxim – SBE