Terms of Reference
Established in November, 2018 by the Estate of Margaret Lois Hooey, LL.D. 2002. Awarded to a student enrolled in any degree program at Queen’s University who has made an outstanding contribution to the good governance of the University through work with the Senate or any Committee of the Senate. Letters of nomination, including self-nomination, should be submitted to the University Secretariat by 1 February each year. Selection will be made by the Margaret Hooey Governance Award Committee. Value: $16,500 (approximately)
Application Process
The 2023 nomination period is now Closed. The award will be presented at the March 28, 2023 Senate meeting.
To apply, follow this link to complete the application form. Please note that you will need to have the letters of support ready as a single PDF file to upload as an attachment to the application form. If you have any questions about completing the process, please contact senate@queensu.ca for assistance.
Criteria
- current student in good academic standing
- significant involvement with Senate or Senate committee * does not have to be a Senator
- demonstration of a high level of effectiveness in the work of Senate, a committee, working group, or other body related to a governance role or responsibility of the Senate
The full guidelines document is available here.
2023 Award Winner
Congratulations to Christine Moon for being the 2023 recipient of the Margaret Hooey Governance Award.
Ms. Moon is a student in the MD-PhD, Sociocultural Studies program in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies (SKHS). She has extensive Senate committee service and has been engaged in Queen’s academic governance since 2018, with membership on the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching Committee, the Senate Library Committee, the Senate Committee on Academic Procedures and the Senate Committee on Academic Development and Procedures.
Ms. Moon is also very active in other aspects of student governance including the Society for Graduate and Professional Students, as the Equity Officer for the Aesculapian Society, and the SKHS Graduate Student Council. She is a passionate advocate for I-EDIAA and has participated in a number of initiatives across the university, including advising the Faculty of Health Sciences on how to reach equity-deserving students through a summer outreach program and in the organization of a health and human rights conference.
Ms. Moon’s letters of support note her dedication to the importance of governance and her commitment to the work required. Over her many years of service, she has proven to be conscientious in her preparation and participation in meetings, particularly as it relates to the intense work involved with SCADP. Her supporters note Christine’s “willingness to engage in more than one committee at once and to continue in this important service work speaks highly to her abilities and interest in making significant contributions to Queen’s University”.
The Margaret Hooey Governance Award Committee was unanimous in its decision to present the award to Ms. Moon and congratulates her on her remarkable achievements.
Selection Committee Membership
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Secretary of the University (Interim) | R. Coupland |
| Chair, Senate Governance and Nominating Committee | N. Brinklow |
| Rector | O. Crawford Lem |
| Emeritus Professor and Committee Chair | W. Reeve |
Past Winners
2019: Afsheen Chowdhury
2020: David Niddam-Dent
2021: Courtney Bannerman
2022: Sahiba Gulati
About Margaret Hooey
The following is from an obituary which appeared in the Queen's Alumni Review in 2017.
During her more than 30 years of service at Queen’s, Margaret Hooey, the longtime secretary of Queen's University, was admired for her dedication to the university as well as the welfare of her colleagues, students, friends, and family. Dr. Hooey died peacefully in 2017 at the age of 81.
From assistant to Queen’s legendary registrar Jean Royce, Dr. Hooey went on to become Secretary of the university as well as Secretary of the Senate and the Board of Trustees. She was a valued adviser to four principals and their administrations, and a trusted mentor to students, staff, faculty and trustees.
She is also credited with playing a key role in shaping Queen’s modern governance system and for being an advocate for the unique form of student government. More than her role as an administrator she was viewed by student leaders as a mentor and friend. For many of these students, her signature as secretary of the university on their degrees acts as a permanent reminder of her support, professionalism and kindness.
Her efforts in encouraging student leaders to know the deep history of student governance at Queen’s, to work in partnership with each other as well as the administration, senate, board, alumni and Kingston community, and to believe in the difference they could make together for the ‘community of the university,’ clearly showed her strength of conviction, says former Alma Mater Society president John Lougheed (1984–85). Further supporting students, Margaret also played a key role on the awarding committees for the Jean Royce Fellowship and the Marty Memorial Fellowship. For her dedication and work,
Dr. Hooey received the Queen’s Distinguished Service Award (1992), the John Orr Award (1998), and an honorary doctorate (2002). Away from the university her home on Alfred Street was always active with students, colleagues, and friends and was a home away from home for family members as they attended Queen’s.
Dr. Hooey was well travelled, a talented piano player with a lifelong love of music. She enjoyed summers on the water and her faithful corgis. She was proud of her own education, and the institutions she attended, earning a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Toronto, and a master’s from Bryn Mawr.
“I first got to know Marg soon after I arrived at Queen’s in 1974 when Dawn Clarke and I helped Margaret look after former Registrar Jean Royce at Marg’s home for the last three years of Jean’s life. During that time, Marg’s home was not only a sanctuary for Jean Royce, but was a beehive of activity with Marg’s nieces and nephews, friends, and many of Queen’s student leaders coming and going as part of their weekly routines,” says long-time friend Bill Cannon, an associate professor with the Smith School of Business.
Dr. Hooey often helped draw young faculty out of their “departmental/ school cocoons,” Dr. Cannon explains, and into wider service at Queen’s, such as serving on Senate and its committees, “thus cross-fertilizing the engagement of diverse members of the Queen’s community and thereby enriching it. She was widely known and appreciated as ‘the conscience of Queen’s’ as she continually strove to dissuade administrators from skirting Queen’s established governance rules and procedures simply for the sake of expediency.”
Dr. Hooey was involved in many processes that have made Queen’s the respected and supportive institution it is today, including helping set up the Ban Righ Centre and in organizing the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations and Royal Convocations. In all of her efforts she displayed competence, understanding, a flair for teamwork, a grasp of meticulous detail, and the power to inspire.