Click to download a photo of the 2017 ORION Leadership Award winners
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Category: Innovation
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Dr. Randy McIntosh is the Vice President of Research and Director of the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences and Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is a world-renowned expert in the use of neuro-imaging methods and computational modeling to understand how brain networks change with aging and how the brain recovers from damage or disease. As of 2016, he has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. Dr. McIntosh is leading an international team of scientists to build the world’s first, functional virtual brain (thevirtualbrain.org). The massive project – akin to decoding the human genome – has the potential to revolutionize how clinicians assess and treat various brain disorders, including cognitive impairment caused by stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Dr. Randy McIntosh with presenter Peter Wilenius, CANARIE
Category: Kindergarten to Grade 12
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Anita Simpson is a recently retired Superintendent of Program and Innovation with the Simcoe County District School Board. She is also the Canadian Cluster Lead for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL), an international learning lab involving seven countries and over 1000 schools from around the world. Anita’s leadership in the area of innovation has been featured in over 13 publications, awards and references materials in the last two years, including Fullan’s Freedom to Change: Four Strategies to Put Your Inner Drive into Overdrive, 2015, the Canadian Education Associations’ (CEA) Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, 2015, Chris Dede’s Learning Partnerships Among Educators Enabled by Technology, Harvard University, 2015 and Jenni Donohoo and Moses Velasco’s The Transformative Power of Collaborative Inquiry: Realizing Change in Schools and Classrooms, 2016. She is married to Canadian actor Michael Simpson, and they have two children, Joshua and Leah. Her motto: “No Day Without Learning!”
Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Anita Simpson with presenter Carrie Rawson, Contact North.
Category: Higher Education
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Stéphane Lévesque is an internationally renowned scholar in historical education, teaching and learning on historical thinking, and the integration of technologies in the teaching of history. His book – Thinking Historically: Educating Students for the 21st Century – is highly referenced and cited worldwide, serving as a primary reference for the reform of history programs in Canada, Sweden and Australia. Over the course of his career, Dr. Lévesque has led significant projects at the national and international level. He is a founding member of the national network « History Education Research Network / Histoire et éducation en réseau » (THEN/HIER), member of the board of Canada’s History Society and chair of the Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in History Education. Dr. Lévesque’s expertise has led to him becoming an expert consultant to the Government of Canada for the creation of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and for the Ontario Ministry of Education. In 2013, he was named ‘Professor of the Year’ (University of Ottawa) by Research Matters Ontario for his innovation in higher education.
Click to Download: ORION Leadership Award winner Stéphane G. Lévesque with presenter Linda Franklin, Colleges Ontario