Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization Alumni Award

The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization (EDII) Alumni Award recognizes a Queen's alumni who has made a significant and ongoing contribution through mentorship, advocacy, or guidance to either an individual or group and advances Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization at Queen's, and beyond.

In 2022, the Queen's University Alumni Association (QUAA) renamed and adjusted the criteria for this award from the previous Alumni Mentorship Award. The QUAA respectfully acknowledges the past recipients of the Alumni Mentorship Award and looks forward to celebrating recipients under the new terms.

Award eligibility and criteria

Candidates should be:

  • A Queen's alumnus/alumna
  • Committed to, and demonstrated, positive leadership attributes in guiding an individual or group
  • Someone who has made a significant and beneficial impact in the lives of others through active involvement in initiatives and programs that support the advancement of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization
  • An individual who has accomplished this service in either a professional or volunteer capacity (preference given to any contribution to Queen's)
  • Preference given to alumni with lived experiences as members of equity-deserving groups
  • Preference given to alumni whose efforts support intersectionality

2025 Recipient

Edward Thomas

  • Sc’06, MASc’12

Photo of Edward Thomas looking at the camera smiling. Edward is wearing glasses, a blue shirt, tie and suit jacket

Edward is a PhD student in cultural studies at Queen’s, working under the supervision of historians Dr. Jeffrey Brison and Dr. Barrington Walker.  

Edward’s research focuses on Black medical students who studied at Queen’s in the early 20th century and the school’s racial exclusion policy between 1918 and 1965. His findings have resulted in the official repudiation of the policy, the issuance of a formal apology, and the conferral of a posthumous degree, which has garnered international media attention. His theoretical focus is the historiography of anti-Black racism in the Canadian medical profession and an analysis of how historical erasures, omissions, and misdirections are constructed, propagated, and disrupted.  

Edward is also the Associate Director of external relations at the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute, where he manages partnerships, communications, and knowledge transfer work.