(L-R) Kate Hennessy, Rajdeep Singh Gill, Samuel Spiegel

UBC Reports | Vol. 52 | No. 7 | Jul. 6, 2006

Trio Wins Trudeau Scholarships

Three UBC graduate students have been named 2006 Trudeau Scholars, Canada’s premier social sciences and humanities doctoral award. Of the 15 Trudeau Scholars announced in June, UBC garnered the largest number.

Winners receive scholarships worth up to $200,000 over four years and are matched with prominent national and international leaders in their respective fields.

“Each year we search for young, influential minds capable of generating public discussion on important Canadian and global topics in a fresh way,” says Roy L. Heenan, Chairman of the Board of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. “This new class of extraordinary Trudeau Scholars is destined for great things, and we are proud to support them in their diverse and fascinating pursuits.”

Kate Hennessy, of Galiano Island, B.C., received her BA in Anthropology from UBC and her MA in Anthropology of Media from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. A student in the Dept. of Anthropology, her research with communities in northern B.C., Alberta, and the Yukon analyzes First Nations culture through the story-telling effects of local film and digital photography.

Rajdeep Singh Gill, of Galiano Island, B.C., received his BA and MA in Art History, Visual Arts and Theory from UBC. A student in Interdisciplinary Studies, his research explores the social and ethical role of art and creative processes as they relate to indigenous philosophies and global struggles for social and environmental justice.

Samuel Spiegel, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, received his BA from Whitman College in Washington State. A student in Interdisciplinary Studies, his research aims to improve the environmental impact of global gold mining and protect the well-being of miners and their families.

In addition to UBC’s three recipients, other universities to garner Trudeau scholarships include the Universities of Toronto, Laval (two recipients, respectively), Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Dalhousie, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Carleton and Manitoba (one recipient, respectively).

The Montreal-based Trudeau Foundation, established in 2002 as a living memorial to the late Prime Minister, encourages public debate and supports exceptional research on issues of public policy.