OCUFA Women’s Committee To Honour Coulter

By Communications Staff
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) will honour University of Western Ontario professor Rebecca Coulter for her contribution to academic women’s equality at an awards dinner in Toronto on Saturday.Coulter will be the first recipient of OCUFA’s “Status of Women Committee Award of Distinction,” created to recognize those whose exceptional efforts have advanced the position of academic women.

“Rebecca Coulter’s life has been so closely tied to so many important initiatives for academic women that it is hard to think of anyone more deserving of recognition by the OCUFA Status of Women Committee,” says OCUFA President Mark Langer.

“The astounding volume of her work — and the enormous impact her work has had on the lives of literally innumerable women in academe — makes our committee very, very proud to confer this, our first Status of Women Committee Award of Distinction, on Rebecca Coulter,” says Audrey Giles, chair of the committee.

At Western, Coulter was instrumental in revitalizing the Western Caucus on Women’s Issue. She has also served on and chaired the OCUFA Status of Women Committee. At the national level, she was a member of the CAUT’s Status of Women Committee and of the National Action Committee of the Status of Women.

Coulter has also been an advocate for women in her roles as teacher and scholar. While at Athabasca University, she founded its women’s studies degree program. At Western, she made sure the Faculty of Education was an early leader in addressing gender equity in education, and founded the Teaching and Research Unit on Women and Education.

A recognized expert in the education field, Coulter has published widely on gender relations in education, the history of women and education, and the impact of economic and educational restructuring on women working in the educational sector.

Her community work has ranged from producing a series for public television about women in Canada to the “Miss G Project,” which seeks to include women’s studies in Ontario high school curriculum. She has also worked with aboriginal communities in Canada and with the international community.

Coulter will receive the award at a dinner to be held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA is the voice of 15,000 university faculty and academic librarians across Ontario. For more information visit www.ocufa.on.ca