The man who led two high-profile committees at Queen’s – the 175th Anniversary and the Principal’s Commission on Mental Health – and two social media experts are being honoured by the Kingston Alumni Branch.
Dr. David Walker, Meds’71, is the 2017 recipient of the Padre Laverty Award, the highest honour bestowed by the Kingston Branch. Dr. Walker is the former dean of the Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences and is currently the Executive Director of the Queen’s School of Policy Studies. The Kingston Branch is honouring him for his volunteer work with the 175th anniversary and mental health. Dr. Walker and other members of the Principal’s Commission on Mental Health spent a year consulting with campus stakeholders to produce a report with 116 recommendations on improving mental health at Queen’s.
Steven Koopman, Artsci’98, and Cristiano Vilela, Artsci’04, will share the Jim Bennett Award. Mr. Koopman formerly ran the Kingston Police social media accounts before recently leaving the position to become a uniform patrol officer and Mr. Vilela runs the popular YGK Make it Home traffic social media accounts. They are being honoured for keeping Kingston safe for their service and innovative collaboration through social media.
“All three recipients have demonstrated a strong commitment to both Queen’s and Kingston,” says Kingston Branch President Timothy Packulak, Sc’14. “Dave has given outstanding volunteer leadership on two important topics for the Queen’s community while Steven and Cristiano collaborated through social media to help keep Kingston safe.”
The Padre Laverty Award is given to an alumna/us for outstanding service to Queen’s or jointly to the Queen’s community. Past recipients include Tragically Hip guitarist Rob Baker, BFA’86, former Kingston mayor Harvey Rosen, Law’75, and former Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Milliken, Arts’68.
The Jim Bennett Award honours Kingstonians (who are not necessarily alumni) for outstanding achievements in careers, sport, the arts, or volunteer endeavours, contributing to the betterment of Queen’s or Kingston.
All three recipients will be honoured during the Padre Laverty Dinner on June 1.
