Five Mount Allison University professors have been honoured with the 2026 Paul Paré Excellence Awards. These awards recognize notable contributions to research, scholarship, and creative activities that have made significant impact within the last three years.

This year’s recipients are: 

• Dr. Fiona Black — Religious Studies and Community Engaged Learning  
• Dr. Nancy Garon — Psychology 
• Dr. Mario Levesque — Politics and International Relations 
• Dr. Catherine Lovekin — Physics 
• Dr. Margaret-Ellen Messinger — Mathematics and Computer Science 

“I am thrilled to see all of these long-time Mount Allison faculty members honoured for their dedication and excellence in teaching, research, and creative activities,” says Provost and Vice-President Academic and Research Dr. Richard Isnor. “They are all proven leaders and contribute greatly to their fields, but also to providing an exceptional student experience at Mount Allison. Congratulations to all on this well-deserved recognition.” 

Each recipient will receive $4,000 to support research and professional activities. 

Dr. Fiona Black — Religious Studies and Community Engaged Learning  

A member of the Department of Religious Studies, Dr. Fiona Black’s research interests deal primarily with the reception history of the Bible as a cultural and political document. She works in the areas of gender, sexuality, and the body, in affect and sense criticisms, and decolonization and postcolonial studies. She is currently working on two projects: the Bible's impact on postcolonial Caribbean identity and residential school curricula and the discipline of biblical studies. She is also engaged in curricular design and innovation, dealing with nontraditional learning spaces, and experiential and community-based learning. She is a founding director of non-profit group R-PEACE (Research Partnerships for Education and  Community Engagement). Most recently, Black has played a pivotal role in designing and implementing the community engaged learning program at Mount Allison, which integrates experiential, place-based learning and community partnerships. 

Dr. Nancy Garon — Psychology 

Dr. Nancy Garon is a highly respected, internationally recognized researcher in the study of children’s cognitive function. Recently, Garon’s research activities have focused on the early development of self-regulation and the cognitive underpinning of early social ability. Garon’s work has been published in well-recognized journals, such as Cognitive Development and Child Neuropsychology, and she regularly co-authors papers with Mount Allison students. She says what she enjoys most about being a professor is working with undergraduate students on research projects and helping them decide on careers in psychology or related fields. As a trained clinical psychologist, Garon’s classes are highly sought after by students. 

Dr. Mario Levesque — Politics and International Relations 

Dr. Mario Levesque’s teaching and research focuses on Canadian politics and public policy with a focus on Atlantic Canada. He consistently balances a rigorous teaching schedule with an extensive research program and service commitments. In the past three years, Levesque has made significant contributions to the discipline through his outstanding publication record, often co-authoring with undergraduate students. This includes a book on Environmental Governance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a second book on Understanding New Brunswick Politics, and a special issue of the Journal of New Brunswick Studies.  He is also active in developing and supporting community programs and shares his expertise regularly with the media. He continues to be a vocal force in developing and advocating for improvements to disability policy in Atlantic Canada.   

Dr. Catherine Lovekin — Physics 

Dr. Catherine Lovekin is an expert in computational methods and plays a leadership role in Canada’s digital research infrastructure, ensuring the astronomical community has the resources to do simulations and data analysis. She is one of the leading Canadian experts on asteroseismology and has several international collaborations. Her research work is primarily funded by NSERC and she regularly contributes to peer-reviewed publications, with undergraduate students playing a key role in several projects. Lovekin has played a lead role with Mount Allison’s Gemini Observatory, running an active outreach program and is heavily involved in the leadership of numerous national and international research and umbrella organizations, including the Canadian Astronomical Society and chair of the Executive Science Team for the international BRITE Collaboration. 

Dr. Margaret-Ellen Messinger — Mathematics and Computer Science 

Dr. Margaret-Ellen Messinger’s research falls within both mathematics and theoretical computer science, focusing on graph searching, graph protection, and dynamic processes on graphs and these problems all focus on the following question: How can the activity of an adversary be neutralized in a network? She places a strong emphasis on high-quality student mentorship and regularly integrates undergraduate researchers into her research program, recently co-authoring with Mount Allison students on seven peer-reviewed journal publications. She is also associate editor of the journal Ars Combinatoria and has joined the Mathematical Sciences NSERC Scholarships and Postdoctoral Awards Review Committee and the board of directors for the Atlantic Association for Research in the Mathematical Sciences (AARMS).