Basil Alexander, Assistant Professor in the faculty of Law, will receive the Dr. Allan P. Stuart Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching on Thursday, Oct. 13 in Fredericton. Professor Alexander joined UNB Law in 2019, and is currently working toward obtaining his Doctor of Philosophy in Law at Queen’s University. His professional experience focussed on social justice and public interest legal work, and his current PhD research highlights how lawyers work with and support social causes. Other research areas include public law, litigation and ethics, such as how law interacts with demonstrations as well as social change.

Prof. Alexander strives to use and bridge both theory and practice. He is passionate about his students’ success and has demonstrated the ability to create an enriching and collaborative classroom through interactive methods and drawing on stories of his own experiences practising law. Having taught almost every current UNB Law student, he received the UNB Law Teaching Excellence Award in 2020-21 to recognize his outstanding teaching in this field.

Over his teaching career, Prof. Alexander has taught courses such as Legal Research and Advocacy, Native Rights, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, and Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

In addition to other roles, he worked with a public interest and social justice focussed law firm in Toronto, the Judges’ Chambers of the Nunavut Court of Justice, and British Columbia law firms focussed on Indigenous clients.

Prof. Alexander has received numerous scholarships and awards, including: the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History Prize from the Law Society of Upper Canada; distinguished service awards, such as the Professor Diana Priestly Award for Outstanding Service; the Cook Roberts Prize in Indian Lands, Rights, and Government; and assorted graduate awards, including Ontario Graduate Scholarships.

Dr. Ian Church, an Associate Professor in the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics in the faculty of Engineering, will receive the Dr. Allan P. Stuart Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching in Fredericton on Thursday, Oct. 13. Dr. Church joined UNB in 2016 and currently serves as the Principal Investigator of UNB’s Ocean Mapping Group. He is keenly supportive of the integration of active learning, and through his guidance, the program expanded its theoretical focus to include hands-on learning experiences that connect students to industry tools, processes, and engineering design principles. By bringing new and exciting opportunities for students to the classroom, Dr. Church wants to ensure they have a well-rounded learning experience.

Specializing in ocean mapping using acoustics, the goal of Dr. Church’s research is to better understand the marine environment using acoustics and to minimize uncertainty in ocean mapping products. While an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, he was part of the Hydrographic Science Research Center in the Department of Marine Science.

Dr. Church is the recipient of NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate and NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, a UNB Board of Governors Merit Award, a Stanley B. Cassidy Scholarship and many others.

He has served The University of New Brunswick through exceptional contributions and leadership in teaching, research, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.