Marie Battiste is the 2013 recipient of CAUT’s Distinguished Academic Award, the highest honour it can bestow on an academic in recognition of extraordinary contributions as a teacher, as a researcher, and in service to the community.
Professor of education and coordinator of the Indian and Northern Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Battiste works on a wide range of subjects — literacy, cognitive imperialism, linguistic and cultural integrity, indigenous knowledge and humanities, and decolonization of Aboriginal education.
“Dr. Battiste has excelled in every aspect of her work as an academic,” said CAUT president Wayne Peters in presenting the award at the CAUT council meeting in April. “She is a superb teacher, an excellent scholar and has made major contributions to the community, having forged new paths for aboriginal education in Canada and internationally.”
Mi’kmaq, from the Potlotek First Nation in Cape Breton, Dr. Battiste has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Maine and by Saint Mary’s University. She is currently the principal investigator in a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project, Animating Mi’kmaq Humanities. She has been recognized with the Alumni Achievement Award by the University of Maine and received the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in Education from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. In 2000, she took home the First Peoples’ Publishing Award from Saskatchewan Book Awards for her book Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge.
Previous recipients of the CAUT Distinguished Academic Award are Bernard Robaire (McGill), Chad Gaffield (Ottawa), John Loxley (Manitoba), Guy Rocher (Montreal), Barry Grant (Brock), Monique Cormier (Montreal) and Lee Lorch (York).