The Killam Graduate Supervision and Mentoring Award

Dr. John V Tyberg

On Tuesday October 4, 2011, we celebrated the achievements of the Killam Scholars and Award winners on the occasion of the forty-fourth year of operation of the Killam Fund for Advanced Studies Program at the University of Calgary.  Among them is this year’s winner of the Killam Award for Graduate Supervision and Mentoring, Dr. John V. Tyberg, Professor in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology.

Dr. Tyberg's research interests are focused in four areas of cardiovascular physiology: wave motion in the arteries and veins, the dynamics of ventricular ejection and filling, pericardium-mediated ventricular interaction, and venous capacitance.  When asked about his philosophy on graduate supervision Tyberg simply states: “Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought”, a familiar quote by Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.  Dr. Tyberg has served as a mentor to graduate students for many years and as one previous graduate student stated “Dr. Tyberg’s contribution to the understanding of cardiovascular and pulmonary hemodynamic physiology is massive, surpassed by few in the world.  This is of course not what makes him such a superb nominee for the Killam Award; it is his humble, nurturing and generous approach to the development and mentorship of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.”

The Killam Graduate Supervision and Mentoring Award is presented to an individual who has done an outstanding job of supervising and mentoring Masters and/or PhD students at the University of Calgary.  No individual may be awarded the prize more than once.   The recipient will receive a prize of $5,000 and a commemorative certificate at the annual Killam Event.

The Killam Scholarship and Prize Programs were established in memory of Izaak Walton Killam through the Will of his wife, Dorothy Johnston Killam, and through gifts made during her lifetime. Their primary purpose is to support advanced education and research at five Canadian Universities including the University of Calgary.

Eligibility

The Killam Graduate Supervision and Mentoring Award is open to all full-time continuing academic staff at the University of Calgary who have been involved in graduate supervision for a decade or more.  This length of service is included not to exclude junior faculty, but to recognize that assisting a PhD student through to completion of the degree and successful beginnings of a career often takes 5 or more years, and this award recognizes outstanding achievement  by an individual who has a record of such successes.

Criteria for the Award

Candidates must have demonstrated:  

•    The ability to guide students successfully through a research degree;
•    The ability to prepare the students for a successful career; and
•    The ability to establish a lasting professional relationship with the students built on mutual respect.  

Nominations:

The Selection Committee welcomes nominations from Graduate Program Directors, each of whom may make one nomination annually.

The Selection Committee will be drawn from the Associate Deans of Graduate Studies and senior members of the Scholarship Committee of FGS, and will be chaired by the Dean of FGS.  

THE DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ALL MATERIALS for 2012 is TBA.  The choice of the recipient will be made by the Selection Committee by early September.   

The recipient of the award will be expected to give a presentation to an open session of FGS Council on the general topic of graduate student supervision, mentoring, or development.

Nomination Package

1.    Signed letter of nomination by the Graduate Program Director. The letter (maximum 3 pages) should outline the accomplishments of the nominee in supervision, within or beyond that particular program, and any other relevant contributions to the graduate enterprise.

2.    A table listing the names and outcomes for all students supervised by the nominee in his or her career at UofC.  The table should identify the year the student began that degree, the year the student departed the program, the nature of the departure (e.g. degree granted, promoted to PhD, withdrew, required to withdraw), the first placement for the individual after departure, and current placement if known.  A complete record is needed, not just a list of the students who successfully completed the degree.

3.    A list of publications by, and scholarships and awards won by these students, arising from research done during their degree program.

4.    Up to four letters from students or former students in support of the nomination.  At least two of the letters must be from former students.