The Trent University Alumni Association is pleased to announce the recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Spirit of Trent Award and the Young Leader Award for 2011. The winners were celebrated at a special gathering and ceremony on May 14, 2011, at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club.

“These alumni bring great honour to Trent University. We are thrilled to shine a light on their achievements,” said Tony Storey, outgoing director of Alumni Affairs. “The 2011 Alumni Awards recipients absolutely embody the best values and lessons of the University ... inclusion, international distinction, knowledge, compassion, service to others, innovation, a strong ethical commitment and unique personal expression.”

In a surprise presentation to Mr. Storey, who will be retiring in June, 2011 after 27 years as the longest serving alumni affairs officer in Canada, it was announced that an alumni award is being established in his name, The Tony Storey Alumni Service Award.

Honorary chair of the Alumni Awards Mr. Justin Chiu was present at the festivities with his wife Rita, as part of his visit from Hong Kong, during which Trent University celebrated his $1 million donation to the Trent Community Sport and Recreation Centre in a stadium dedication on Thursday, May 12.

Another international presence at the event was Mr. Roy Bodden, a distinguished alumnus who, along with his family, travelled from the Cayman Islands, where he is the president of the University College of the Cayman Islands.

The Trent University community gathered at the event represented a full range of alumni, faculty, staff and students from generations past and present, including members of the very first class, past-president Bonnie Patterson, and current students who are preparing to embark upon their Hong Kong summer internships. http://www.trentu.ca/chiuscholarship/internship.php

“Trent is more than a University. It is like a big family,” said Dakota Brant as she accepted her Young Leadership award. “After graduating, it feels good to be thought of and to be treated like you are still a part of that.”

The 2011 Alumni Awards Ceremony was generously sponsored by Accretive Advisor, National Group Mortgages and TD Insurance Meloche Monnex.

Please visit www.trentu.ca/alumni


The 2011 Alumni Awards Recipients:


Distinguished Alumni

The Trent University Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award is presented based on a person's achievement and leadership in their field. Recipients will have shown leadership in business, industry, a profession or in public life. They will have brought honour to Trent University through endeavours which have earned them prominence within their field. Their vision, commitment, creativity and leadership will have been recognized within their field or beyond it.

Angela Asadoorian ’79

Angela Asadoorian has achieved a place of distinction in the City of Cambridge as a successful business owner with an excellent sense of ethical practice and a community volunteer and advocate. She graduated from Trent with a B.Sc. in Geography and Economics in 1982 and received her real estate broker’s license in 1985. Since 1996 she has owned and operated Royal LePage Crown Realty Services in Cambridge, Ontario, where she presently employs a staff of forty sales representatives. She has been involved with the Cambridge Real Estate Board for more than two decades, serving roles as president, co-chairman of the Ethics and Professional Standards Committee and, most recently, director. Her volunteer work has for the most part focused on recruiting doctors to Cambridge. A member of the Doctor Recruitment Task Force since 1999, Angela has been instrumental in the establishment of the Cambridge Health Link, a clinic which opened in 2007 with seven family doctors and provides health services to over 10 000 Cambridge residents. She formed the Board of Directors which oversaw this project and her visionary ambition is largely responsible for its success. She received provincial and local recognition after its completion. Angela also received the Realtor Award of Merit in 2008 and was recently named a YWCA Cambridge Woman of Distinction.

Distinguished Alumni Award – Michael Cullen ‘82

A professional photographer, Michael Cullen is the owner of Trent Photographics, a studio which specializes in commercial and fine art reproductions. Michael founded the studio in 1985. His publications include The Chair, a collection of portraits of Trent professors, Rowing by Silken Lauman and Peter King, and Canoe by John Jennings. Michael has also photographed the Ken Thomson Art Collection for its many catalogues. He regularly exhibits his own creative work at the Russell Gallery in Peterborough. Michael was the first editor of Trent Annual, the University’s yearbook, in 1984. He studied history and economics and rowed at Trent from 1982-88. While doing so he also rowed for Canada’s national team in the 1986 World Championships, and finished in fourth place. While he no longer rows, Michael continues to volunteer with the Peterborough Rowing Club and he sails regularly on Lake Ontario. His daughter Grace attends Trent and is continuing the family’s rowing tradition. Michael has been recognized by the City of Peterborough with its Citizenship Award and its Sports Award. He has also received acknowledgements for his volunteer work at numerous organizations in and around the City.

Michael Jenkin ’68 – Distinguished Alumni Award

Michael Jenkin is a respected leader in Canadian and international public policy. After studying history, politics and economics at Trent he went on to receive his Master’s and Doctoral degrees at the University of Manchester, England, focusing on contemporary political theory and industry-government relations. Michael’s career since then has been spent at increasingly senior policy and management positions within the Canadian public service in Ottawa. For the last ten years he has been the director general of the Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada. He is responsible for policy development concerning all aspects of consumer protection and information. Michael has published articles in Trent’s Journal of Canadian Studies and The Canadian Encyclopaedia, as well as books on British and Canadian industrial policy and history. He also teaches occasionally at Carleton University. Michael is the president of his neighbourhood’s community association, in which role he represents his community to municipal and provincial agencies on issues such as zoning, traffic and safety. For this and other volunteer work he received the City of Ottawa’s Whitton Award for Community Leadership in 2010.


James Roy Bodden ’75

Roy Bodden is currently the president of the University College of the Cayman Islands, a position he received in 2009. Prior to this appointment Roy had worked as a lecturer at the University. Roy was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands in 1988, representing the constituency of Bodden Town. While serving as a member of the legislature he was minister of Education, Human Resources and Culture from 2000-2005. In 2002 he was appointed a justice of the peace. Roy studied history and sociology at Trent from 1975-1978, and subsequently completed a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration at Queen’s University. He was studying at the doctoral level when he was elected to the legislature, and discontinued his studies. A cultural historian, Roy is the author of three books, two about Caymanian history and politics and one collection of short stories. Another book of stories, A Gathering of Old Men, and a collection of essays about modern Cayman are both forthcoming. Roy is also a community activist, and is the patron of the Cayman Aids Foundation, in which capacity he leads the campaign to promote responsible behaviour and to combat prejudice and stigmatization against victims. Married with four children, Roy lives on a hobby farm where he raises cattle and tends an orchard.

The Young Leader

The Young Leader Award recognizes young alumni who have shown outstanding leadership throughout their first 10 years of alumni status either in their professional career and/or community, public or humanitarian service and are 35 years of age or younger.

Dakota Brant ’06

Teyotsihstokwáthe Dakota Brant is of the Mohawk Turtle Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. As a volunteer, teacher and radio and television personality she has worked to represent and advocate for Indigenous youth in many ways and improve the lives of members of her own and other communities. Among the first graduates of Trent’s Indigenous Environmental Studies program, Dakota was the first to graduate with a specialization in the Mohawk Language program. Dakota currently teaches the Mohawk language to grades one through eight and also provides emergency services with the Six Nations Fire Department. While at Trent, Dakota was a student commissioner for the Trent Central Student Association, a vice-president of the Trent University Native Association and a guest lecturer at Trent’s Pine Tree Lectures. Dakota is the co-founder of Native Youth for Life, a group which addresses Indigenous youth issues in her community and was a youth leader with the Spirit of the Youth Working Group. Dakota has represented Indigenous youth at the United Nations in New York. A lover of the arts as well, Dakota teaches Haudenosaunee dance to Six Nations children and has performed on national television. Recently she has received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and was crowned Miss Indian World 2010, in which capacity she traveled the world as a goodwill and cultural ambassador for Indigenous people of the Americas.

Spirit of Trent

The "Spirit of Trent" award is presented to an alum who has made a difference, through contribution to the University, the alumni association or the community. We intend with this award to recognize those who continue to demonstrate the values and lessons learned at Trent. In addition, we want to recognize those whose contribution might not otherwise be acknowledged, and who are serving in some capacity, in addition to their regular work or hobbies, to make the world a better place. We want to reward those who continue to shine the spirit of Trent in their corner of the world to let them know we are proud of them.


Paul Delaney ’64

As an award winning teacher and volunteer Paul Delaney has made a difference in the lives of thousands. As a member of Trent University’s original class, he also exhibits a strong commitment to the values of the University and an appreciation and pride for its history. He has stayed connected to the University in a variety of ways since his graduation. He was Alumnus in Residence from 2004-2008, has been a member of Trent Magazine’s editorial team, and has been a friend and advisor to many international students and international student associations at the University. Paul has traveled to Nigeria, Sierra Leone, India, and China to teach, volunteer, and build friendships which he still maintains. Paul has had a long career as an elementary school teacher. He is the winner of TVO’s Teacher of the Year Award and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Paul has also been awarded the Canada 125 Medal, the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal, the Midland YMCA Peace Medal and the Papal Benemerenti Medal. Paul is an inspirational person, and has touched the lives of everyone who has come to know him well.

Lucinda Hage ’68

For decades, Lucinda Hage has worked to create a more inclusive and compassionate society through volunteerism. A mother to a disabled son, Lucinda has been particularly concerned with working to provide disabled youth with opportunities to be integrated with the community. Since her retirement in 2001, Lucinda has founded a number of organizations with this end in mind. The Amigos Program brings high school students (with and without disabilities) together to develop relationships. Over the course of its ten year history, Amigos has fostered hundreds of friendships throughout the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. Lucinda is also a founding member of Peterborough’s Healing and the Arts committee and established Faith, Fellowship and Food, a group for families and individuals with intellectual disabilities for mutual support. Lucinda has also made a difference in people’s lives through her professional work as a career and academic counsellor. She graduated from Trent in 1971 and spent almost thirty years working at Fleming College as the career planning and placement officer and later the director of counselling, placement and alumni services. Lucinda has already received much recognition for these and many other volunteer initiatives. She is the recipient of Peterborough’s Community Betterment Award and the Holnbeck Award. In 2010, Heads Up for Inclusion established the Lucinda Hage Founder’s Award, and named her the first recipient.

Posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2011.