Two professors from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) have been honoured with the title University Professor. This year’s recipients are professors Carl S. Ehrlich and Carolyn Podruchny.

A University Professor is a member of faculty recognized for extraordinary contributions to scholarship and teaching and participation in university life. The award is conferred upon long-serving tenured faculty members who have made extraordinary contributions to the University as colleagues, teachers and scholars.

Such achievement fulfills the following requirements: significant long-term contribution to the development or growth of the University or of its parts; significant participation in the collegium through mentorship, service and/or governance; sustained impact over time on the University's teaching mission; and recognition as a scholar.

Carl S. Ehrlich of the departments of Humanities and History is a highly influential scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Israelite civilization who has published extensively in these fields. He has held several appointments as visiting professor at institutions in the United States, Germany and Switzerland. As director of the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies, Ehrlich has demonstrated outstanding leadership in building scholarship and research in Jewish Studies at York, and in creating and fostering greater links between Jewish communities and the University. Throughout his university career, Ehrlich has twice served as Chair of the LA&PS Faculty Council and he provides ongoing contributions to the departments of Humanities and History. More recently, Ehrlich served as Chair of the Academic Policy, Planning and Research Committee, which, in 24 Senate Committee on Awards Report to Senate 2019-20, was tasked with the responsibility of developing and shepherding the approval of the new University Academic Plan 2020-25.

Carolyn Podruchny of the Department of History is an award-winning scholar, teacher, practitioner of community outreach and engagement with Indigenous peoples, and a leader in building Indigenous studies at York University. She has produced groundbreaking and award-winning scholarship for more than 20 years, including a serious and important body of scholarship in Indigenous and colonial histories of northern North America before 1900, published in books, articles and book chapters, blog posts, media interviews, newsletter contributions and webcasts. This scholarship has earned awards and award nominations from the lieutenant-governor of Ontario, the Canadian Historical Association and the Manitoba Historical Society. York University has also recognized Professor Podruchny with eight Faculty of Arts Awards of Merit and a Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research.

Originally published on yFile.