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Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship in Sociology
Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi was Chair of our department from 1963-70. His contributions to the University of Alberta as a teacher, graduate supervisor, researcher and administrator were immense, but not as significant as his contributions to society at large. During the Second World War, while still a young student in the US, Gordon was the first to officially challenge and resist the US government’s decision to give the military the authority to impose a curfew on thousands of Japanese Americans living on the west coast and to also "evacuate" them to internment camps. He lost his Supreme Court challenge, and served time in prison for his beliefs and activism. Four decades later, in 1987, a US court overturned his convictions and concluded that the US government's war-time internment policies had been based on political expediency, not on any risk to national security.
A number of generous donations from former and current department members have put us on our way towards building a $25,000 endowment, the earnings from which will fund an annual $1000 graduate student scholarship in honour of Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi's lifetime contributions. The Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship in Sociology will support graduate students with research interests in one or more of human rights, race and ethnic relations, social inequality, and social justice. [Click here for pledge form.] Recipients of the Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship in Sociology:
2010 - Manoj Misra
2011 - Patrick McLane.
Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award
Beginning in 2008, the Department of Sociology has awarded the annual Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award to Sociology instructors to recognize teaching excellence. The award is in memory of Dr. William Meloff who died in 1997 after contributing 30 years of exceptional teaching to the Department of Sociology. Over that time, more than 10,000 students benefitted from his knowledge about and enthusiasm for the sociology of youth, collective behaviour, and the sociology of communications. Despite the fact that many of his classes had 200 or more students registered, students were regularly turned away because they were over-subscribed.
Both full-time permanent faculty members and contract instructors are eligible to receive this teaching award. Winners of the award are recognized at an annual department social event, and are given the opportunity to direct a monetary award of $1000 in support of "any part of the teaching enterprise in the Department of Sociology." In 2008, the first winner, Professor Serra Tinic, used the award funds to purchase videos to be used in classroom instruction. The second winner, Dr. Alison Dunwoody, has directed her award funds to be used to assist undergraduate Sociology students who have been accepted into our graduate program with their tuition and other expenses.
The award is currently partially funded with earnings from an endowment set up in 1997 by the instructors in Sociology. Our goal is to build the endowment to $25,000 so that it can fund the $1000 annual award in perpetuity. [Click here for pledge form.]
WAYS TO GIVE
If you are interested in giving to either of these department funding priorities, there are 3 easy ways:
1. Online (Credit Card)
a. Visit https://www.xact.ualberta.ca/giveonline/
b. Fill out the Give Online form with your donor information.
c. Identify the fund that you wish to allocate your donation. If you would like your gift to be directed to a fund not listed in the drop down menu or you wish to donate to two or more funds, please provide details in the "Special Instructions" field. For example, to the "Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi Graduate Scholarship in Sociology", or the "Bill Meloff Memorial Teaching Award", or a "General Donation to the Department of Sociology".
2. Phone (Credit Card)
a. To give by credit card over the phone, please call Curtis Champagne at 780-492-0466.
3. Mail (Credit Card or Cheque)
a. Print the appropriate pledge form above.
b. Please fill out and mail along with your cheque or credit card information to:
Mr Curtis Champagne, Assistant Chair
Department of Sociology
5-21 HM Tory Building
Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4