Reginald Bibby, a bestselling author and holder of the Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology at the Univer­sity of Lethbridge, has been named the Con­federation of Alberta Faculty Asso­ciations’ 2009 Distin­guished Academic.

Bibby, who has been teaching at Lethbridge for more than 30 years, was one of three faculty members to be honoured this year. Sara Dorow, an associate professor of sociology and director of the community service-learning program in the faculty of arts at the University of Alberta, and Candace Nykiforuk, an assistant professor with the school of public health at the University of Alberta, each received CAFA’s Distinguished Academic Early Career Award.

Since 2007, CAFA — the provincial body that represents academic staff associations at the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge and Athabasca University — has named distinguished academics to recognize, reward and support academic staff members who through their research and/or other scholarly, creative or professional activities have made an outstanding contribution to the wider community beyond the university. In addition to being honoured at a reception, recipients receive a $1,000 prize and an original artwork.

“Through these awards, we wish to recognize and highlight exceptional contributions to research, instruction and public outreach made by our colleagues,” said Linda Bonneville, president of CAFA. “We are proud to celebrate the achievements of Dr. Reginald Bibby, Dr. Sara Dorow, and Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, whose work has been exemplary in this respect.”