Founder of Lakehead Orillia Pride receives 2016 Lloyd Dennis Award

Lakehead student Whitney Page receives the 2016 Lloyd Dennis Award for outstanding citizenship from (l – r): Lakehead President & Vice-Chancellor Dr. Brian Stevenson, Lakehead Orillia Principal Kim Fedderson, and Lakehead University Board of Governors Chair, Murray Walberg. 

June 10, 2016 – Orillia, ON

Whitney Page, a third-year Honours Bachelor of Social Work student at Lakehead University Orillia, is the recipient of the 2016 Lloyd Dennis Award. Page, of Norwood, Ontario, received the award at the Lakehead University Board of Governors meeting, which took place at Georgian College in Barrie on June 3.

The Lloyd Dennis Award is presented annually to a full-time Lakehead Orillia student to recognize outstanding citizenship and academic excellence.

As the president and founder of Lakehead University Orillia Pride (LUOP) – a campus club “that supports those who identify as LGBTQQ2SA and their allies” – Page has been responsible for promoting a culture of inclusion at the Lakehead Orillia campus. She organized and conducted a series of “Positive Space” workshops for faculty and staff on LGBTQ issues and also initiated and coordinated the first Pride weeks in 2015 and 2016 at the campus.

“Whitney’s leadership and the workshops she presented represent a pivotal accomplishment in the evolution of our campus. She and the LUOP club have set in motion a series of initiatives that are going to make a real impact here,” said Lakehead Orillia Principal Kim Fedderson. “Her Positive Space workshop is one of the best professional development sessions I have ever attended,” added Fedderson.

Page’s work has also been recognized by her peers. The LUOP club was the recipient of the student union’s 2016 Malcolm X Club Award in recognition of the club’s outstanding work towards social justice.

The Lloyd Dennis Award is named in honour of the work Dennis did to transform education in Ontario (1968 Living and Learning report, also known as the Hall-Dennis Report), and his support of the Lakehead Orillia campus. Lloyd Dennis was recognized in 1971 with an Order of Canada and in 2000 with an Order of Ontario for his outstanding contributions to education in Canada. Prior to his death in March 2012 at the age of 88, Dennis was an enthusiastic proponent for the establishment and growth of Lakehead University's Orillia campus. Dennis was recognized with a posthumous honorary degree at the University’s 2012 Convocation. 

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MEDIA:  For more information, please contact Communications Officer, Kathy Hunt, at 705-330-4008 ext. 2014 or kjhunt3@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University has about 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies.

Maclean’s 2016 University Rankings place Lakehead University second in Ontario and among Canada’s Top 10 undergraduate universities, and first among Ontario’s undergraduate universities for Total Research Dollars, Social Sciences & Humanities Grants, and Library Expenses. In 2015, Re$earch Infosource ranked Lakehead first among Canada’s undergraduate universities.

Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.