Arts & Science, DeGroote School of Business, Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Social Sciences

Evelyn Myrie, the founder and principal of the EMpower Strategy Group, immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1974, settling in Windsor, Ontario, where she completed her BA at the University of Windsor. She began her long career in social activism when she took a position with Windsor Women Working for Immigrant Women and served as volunteer chair of the Visible Minority Women’s Committee. Ms. Myrie moved to Hamilton in 1989 to become a social development consultant with Status of Women Canada where she worked for almost two decades. She was the first Black woman to serve as chair of the City of Hamilton Status of Women Subcommittee and was a founding member of the Elect More Women organization. She then became the inaugural director of the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group before returning to the Steel City as executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. 

Ms. Myrie cofounded the John C. Holland Awards and led the development of the John Holland Institute for Leadership. In honour of her work, the organization now presents The Evelyn Myrie Award for Political Action annually. She founded the Women Who Rock Awards, co-founded the Greater Golden Horseshoe Diversity Awards and has served on the Hamilton Arts Advisory Committee. She also operated an art gallery and was a long-time Hamilton Spectator columnist.  

Ms. Myrie served as chair of the African Canadian Legal Clinic and the African Black History Committee (now Hamilton Black History Council), was president of the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association, and a board member for organizations including the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, the United Way of Burlington/Hamilton, the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, First Ontario Credit Union, the Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council, and the Hamilton Future Fund. 

Ms. Myrie’s efforts have been recognized with the Windsor Diversity Award, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the Afro Global Award for Community Service, the Hamilton Spectator’s Portrait of Success Award, the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Award, the Order of Hamilton, and induction into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction.

Jonathan F. Vance is a Distinguished University Professor and the J.B. Smallman Chair in the Department of History at Western University, where he teaches military history, Canadian history, and social memory. He previously held the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture for a decade. After growing up in Waterdown, Ontario, Dr. Vance earned his BA in history at McMaster, followed by his Master’s degree at Queen’s University and his PhD at York University. At the beginning of his career, he was a lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph and Brock University before joining the faculty at Western in 1997.

Dr. Vance has authored numerous books, some of which have crossed over from scholarly into popular history. His highest-profile works include the award-winning Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War (1997) and A Gallant Company: The True Story of “The Great Escape” (2003) which has appeared in multiple editions for international markets. He is also the author of High Flight: Aviation and the Canadian Imagination (2002); Building Canada: People and Projects that Shaped the Nation (2006); Objects of Concern: Canadian Prisoners of War through the 20th Century (1994); Unlikely Soldiers: How Two Canadians Fought the Secret War Against Nazi Occupation (2008); A History of Canadian Culture (2009); Bamboo Cage: The P.O.W. Diary of Flight Lieutenant Robert Wyse, 1942-1943 (2009); Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain and Two World Wars (2011); The Great War: From Memory to History (2015); and A Township at War (2018).

Dr. Vance, who served as editor of the Encyclopedia of Prisoners of War and Internment, curates The Ley and Lois Smith War, Memory, and Popular Culture Research Collection for materials such as children’s literature, postcards, military training manuals and popular culture artifacts. He also leads a public history project that brings to life postcards from men and women who served in the First World War by reproducing those postcards and sending them to their original destinations and by using them as teaching tools for schools, libraries and museums.

An elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Dr. Vance has earned the Premier’s Research Excellence Award along with several honours for individual books including the Lela Common Award from the Canadian Authors Association for the best book in non-fiction, the Floyd S. Chalmers Award for Ontario History, the Charles P. Stacey Prize from the Canadian Committee, the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize from the Canadian Historical Association, and the J.W. Dafoe Foundation Book Prize for distinguished writing that contributes to the understanding of Canada.

Dr. Saara Greene is a Professor and Director of the School of Social Work with a demonstrated history of service in the School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, the university, and the community organizations with whom she partners. An active educator and researcher for over 30 years, Dr. Greene grounds her research in community-engaged and participatory action approaches to addressing community identified needs, specifically in the areas of reproductive and maternal justice and barriers to health and social care for women (trans and non-binary inclusive) who experience marginalization along multiple axis of identity. Dr. Greene has a passion for mentorship through her graduate supervision and in supporting students in identifying and applying for scholarships, fellowships, RAships, and teaching positions, and in preparing for careers in and beyond academia. She is committed to creating opportunities for students to develop applied skills in community-engaged participatory research and qualitative/creative methodologies that are justice oriented in both process and outcomes. It is through these experiences that her students remark on Dr. Greene’s “…extraordinary gift for uncovering the best qualities in her students, often revealing talents we didn’t even know we possessed.”  Dr. Greene can often be heard saying that graduate supervision and mentorship is where she finds the most joy and fulfilment. She is viewed as someone who “takes mentorship of learners and the next generation of researchers, educators, and scholars very seriously”, and who “seeks to challenge the barriers that often uniquely affect marginalized women in academia.” Being nominated by her graduate students for the President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision is a highlight of her academic career.