DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD BESTOWED UPON THREE AQUATIC SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND POLICY LEADERS

Earth Day presentation held in conjunction with Ideas That Changed The World panel discussion

The Trent University Alumni Association celebrated Earth Day – and Trent’s newest Distinguished Alumni Award recipients – at special Ideas That Change the World panel discussion held virtually on April 22.

Among those who paid homage to Professor Jamie Benidickson ’67, Dr. Peter S. Ross ’81 and Dr. Mark Gessner ’84 was Trent biology professor Dr. Maggie Xenopoulos, who read citations for each, praising their “ingenuity, dedication, leadership and exceptional accomplishments” before leading the related Ideas That Change the World panel discussion.

“From the perspective of developing an interest in environmental matters and affairs, there was a lot going on at Trent when I was a student,” reflected Prof. Benidickson, an environmental law and public policy expert who teaches at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He added that his Trent professors “were inspiring because they were doing interesting, challenging and important things. Each of them engaged with students and gave us a leg up.”

Prof. Benidickson is a celebrated author, and director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Academy of Environmental Law. He has been actively involved in the public policy process through his work with a number of royal commissions and inquiries, including the Royal Commission on Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada and the Walkerton Inquiry. His ongoing research projects centre on governance regimes for watersheds, biodiversity and sustainable development in Canada, a social history of the Lake of the Woods, and the regulation of beer and breweries.

For his part, Dr. Gessner, a freshwater and ecosystem scientist, noted that, in his homeland of Germany, the dynamic between students and their professors is much different than what he experienced at Trent where, he says, a number of his instructors, including professor emeritus Dave Lasenby, played an active role in his education.

“It’s really not an exaggeration to say that they really influenced my entire career,” he noted.

Dr. Gessner works with the department of Experimental Limnology at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries where he carries out research on aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. His current projects focus on light pollution and carbon dynamics in urban surface waters.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ross, an international authority on ocean pollution, described his four years at Trent as “formative.”

“We were looking for mentors, we were looking for leaders, we were looking for teachers, we were looking for friends…in all of those categories, Trent was profoundly important to me,” he said.

Dr. Ross has published over 160 scientific articles and book chapters on the fate and effects of a variety of contaminants in the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at UBC Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, and at the UVic School for Environmental Studies. Between 2014 and 2020, he served as the Vice-President of Research at Ocean Wise, and founding Director of the Ocean Pollution Research Program.

The Trent University Alumni Association receives nominations each year for alumni who have had outstanding success and are role models for others. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who, through their vision, commitment, creativity and leadership, have achieved great prominence and recognition in their respective fields or beyond.

For more information on the Trent University Alumni Awards, please visit: mycommunity.trentu.ca/alumniawards