Director of executive programs at the Schulich Executive Education Centre, Middleton has been praised as one of Canada’s most respected and influential thought-leaders in the field of marketing communications.

"I was totally surprised and delighted with the news of this award – especially as it means joining such luminaries as John Cassaday, Sunni Boot, Claude Lessard and Frank Palmer," said Middleton. "Hopefully, this signals not only my personal efforts, but the efforts of all those engaged in progressing the discipline of marketing."

Alan Middleton

Middleton's career spans the client side, including international oil and gas sector, agencies, such as J. Walter Thompson in England, Canada and Japan, and academia. He is co-author of Advertising Works II and Ikonica – A Fieldguide to Canada’s Brandscape, and he has authored better-practices reports for the ACA on payment-by-results, client-agency relationships and marketing dashboards.

"Alan Middleton personifies the exceptional qualities that constitute the ACA Gold Medal Award. At every level of endeavor, he has served the marketing communications industry with passion, commitment and distinction," said Ron Lund, president and CEO of the ACA. "As an educator, Alan has mentored a generation of successful Canadian marketers and advertising practitioners. As an author, he has been hugely influential in elevating our practice of effective advertising. And as a marketing authority, he has long been the media’s go-to source of expert commentary."

Middleton sits on the board of ABC Life Literacy Canada, is an Honorary Trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum, co-founder of the annual CASSIES Awards and an inductee into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends.

First presented in 1941, the ACA Gold Medal Award will be presented at this year's Marketing Awards gala June 8 at The Carlu in Toronto.

About the ACA Gold Medal Award

• It is open to all individuals in activities that have an impact on marketing communications in Canada (client marketers, agencies, media, researchers, academics, associations, etc.)
• Awarded for a single achievement, or for accomplishments over time
• Awarded to a candidate whose contribution represents a measurable, distinctive advancement in the practice of marketing communications in Canada

Since its inception, the ACA Gold Medal Award has been presented to a distinguished vanguard of industry leaders and visionaries. A full list of past honorees is posted on the 's website.

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Leblanc teaches governance, law and ethics in the School of Administrative Studies in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and is an adjunct faculty member at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School. An expert on corporate governance, he has made Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 list for vision, leadership and achievement, and has recently been added to the Canadian Who’s Who. This year, he was named among "People to Watch" by the National Association of Corporate Directors in Washington.

Left: Richard Leblanc

At a ceremony in Toronto, he and five others received this year’s for exceptional contributions in the areas of instruction, course and curriculum development, and student engagement.  

This is Leblanc’s second teaching award. In 1998, students voted to present him with the inaugural Seymour Schulich BBA Award for Teaching Excellence. 

The OCUFA award recognizes teaching in a very broad sense. “It is particularly meaningful for me,” says Leblanc, "because colleagues as well as students nominate you." In this case, letters of support came from faculty colleagues, teaching assistants, deans, librarians, and current and former students. 

Like three other recipients at the awards ceremony, Leblanc acknowledged the influence of a parent. “My father was a high school teacher. You don’t realize how much kitchen conversation has on your career choice and the passion you bring to teaching. My father would talk about teaching, grading, curriculum. I was exposed to all that.”  

But Leblanc also gave his audience four or five pointers on what makes a good teacher from a he compiled early in his career. The co-author of Inside the Boardroom says he’s had more response to that list than anything else he’s published.  

Institutional support is one of the requisites of good teaching, Leblanc says. For him, the OCUFA award validates the higher quality of teaching possible in smaller classes. Leblanc teaches large and small classes, and students from his small classes in particular strongly supported his nomination, he observed, because he came to know them in a way he doesn’t know students in large classes.

In her citation, Patti Ryan, political science librarian at York’s Scott Library and a member of OCUFA’s teaching award committee, said Leblanc is “both an exceptional teacher and an extraordinary leader in his field.”  

Those who have experienced the “magic” of Leblanc – students, alumni, colleagues, teaching assistants, administrators, librarians and clients – consistently describe him as engaging, energetic, enthusiastic and exciting, said Ryan. 

Ryan also cited LeBlanc's achievements in course and curriculum development. At York, he has developed or redesigned seven innovative courses in the areas of law, corporate governance and business ethics. He also played a key role in establishing curriculum for a new master’s of financial accountability program, described by one supporter as a “groundbreaking curriculum not currently offered anywhere else in the world."

Outside the classroom, Leblanc has made a powerful impact on the lives of his students and colleagues. They cite his generosity of spirit and dedication to mentorship, said Ryan. Whether he is supporting the work of part-time colleagues, taking time out to meet current and former students, or sharing his expertise with the professional community, LeBlanc consistently exemplifies the spirit of good teaching and lifelong learning. 

“Your pedagogical accomplishments, unwavering commitment to students and to the academic and professional community, and your passion for your work make you a most deserving candidate for this award,” concluded Ryan.

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Historian Nicholas Rogers and mathematician Jianhong Wu were named distinguished research professors for sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement largely accomplished at York.  

Political scientist David Dewitt and education scholar Don Dippo were named University professors for extraordinary contributions to York as colleagues, teachers and scholars.

The following profiles are based on citations given at convocation ceremonies in June:

Distinguished Research Professors

Nicholas Rogers (right) is one of the world’s leading scholars of the political culture of 18th-century British and Atlantic worlds.

In his writing, Rogers blends keen insights into the nature and operation of the early modern state with a detailed understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which it functioned. He has explored a remarkably diverse range of topics, from reactions to press gangs in British ports to religious conflicts amongst London’s crowds, from food riots to public reactions to blunders made by admirals, and even the genealogy of Halloween festivities. His compelling prose, intellectual rigour, powers of synthesis and painstaking archival research has allowed him to produce works that have served as models for subsequent writers on these and other topics. 

In 1999, Rogers was awarded the Wallace Ferguson Prize for his book Crowds, Culture and Politics in Georgian Britain, a study of 18th-century Britain that fundamentally transformed our understanding of early modern Britain and prompted historians to reconsider how they treat the interplay between politics and culture. He brilliantly and persuasively mapped the pathways of political power and identified those who opposed, resisted and deflected its effects.

Jianhong Wu (left) is best known for his groundbreaking work on the application of mathematical modelling to the epidemiology of infectious diseases and was instrumental in establishing the MITACS Centre for Disease Modelling at York. This research has had a direct impact upon public health policy in Canada and abroad. After the SARS crisis in Toronto he was asked to establish a national working group on disease modelling and since then his research has advanced our understanding of H1N1, West Nile virus and avian influenza, to name but a few.

Wu joined York in 1990, and was named Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2001. He has made fundamental advances in a number of seemingly disparate areas, from wave theory to neural network theory to differential equations and his intellectual achievements have made him an international leader in the field of applied mathematics. His career exemplifies York’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity and on the application of research to real-time issues.

University Professors

Since political scientist David Dewitt (right) joined York in 1984, he has demonstrated the utmost commitment to York through his scholarship and outstanding service to other researchers, and in his two terms as the associate vice-president (AVP) of research in the humanities and social sciences.

Dewitt is a widely respected expert on human security and was instrumental in establishing the York Centre for International & Security Studies. At the heart of his research into arms proliferation, conflicts in the Asian Pacific and the Middle East and national defence policies have always been a concern for managing conflict and the safety of peoples. He has passed these essential concerns on in his mentoring and supervision of generations of graduate students and junior faculty.

As AVP, he has been pivotal in transforming York’s research culture. He has been a motivating force in improving service support for researchers, increasing the number of external grants, creating facilities for organized research units and establishing an influential York presence on national research councils. In all of these endeavours he has been mindful that research is not the exclusive preserve of those in science, engineering and medicine. His constant attention to York’s enduring research strength in the humanities and social sciences has made him an ideal ambassador both to this University and for research and scholarship in all fields of human knowledge.

Don Dippo (right) has made an extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher, mentor and scholar. He has played an important, consistent and multifaceted role in the development of the Faculty of Education and to �첥��Ƶ. Through his teaching, administration and scholarship, he has also helped others learn how and why community engagement matters.

Before he joined York in 1987, Dippo was an elementary school teacher specializing in music. He has brought the same skills, knowledge, dedication, patience and energy he used as a teacher to his academic life to great and wide acclaim.

Dippo has served as graduate program director and twice as associate dean of preservice education. He has spearheaded new initiatives and educational innovations dedicated to enhancing social justice and inclusivity. He has encouraged advanced study that will transform lives and communities. And he has posed urgent and difficult questions.

Dippo devotes long hours to initiatives that involve schools and community organizations. He is actively affiliated with York’s Centre for Refugee Studies. He is sought out by graduate students who enjoy his lively mind and capacious scholarly reach.

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