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Centre for Scottish Studies

SFU English students win the Jennifer Prosser Wade Award

February 24, 2025
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SFU English students, Michelle Patton and Robyn Pearson, have won the Jennifer Prosser Wade and Family Annual Award in Scottish Studies.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) majors who receive this $1000 prize complete at least one Scottish Studies undergraduate course and do volunteer or community service that shows caring and concern for others.

Patton, who is in the final year of her studies as a history major (honours) and English minor, completed ENGL 433: Unsettling Scottish Literature: Canons, Chronologies, Colonialisms with Professor Leith Davis.

“Unsettling Scottish Literature allowed me to explore aspects of Scotland's history and literature that are often overlooked, and forge connections between Canada and Scotland in unexpected and ultimately deeply impactful ways,” says Patton.

She also is a dedicated volunteer, working as docent for the VanDusen Botanical Garden and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, as well as an education assistant for the City of Surrey’s Historic Stewart Farm.

Pearson, a fourth-year English major, has taken Scottish Studies courses focused on oral, manuscript, and print culture. Also, like Patton, she completed ENGL 433. As part of that course, she presented her research on Scottish botanist Archibald Menzies and botanical colonialism at the November 2024 Unsettling Scottish Studies: Canons, Chronologies, Colonialisms conference. Pearson also works as a transcriptionist on Professor Leith Davis’ Lyon in Mourning project.

“What I enjoy most about Scottish Studies is getting to interact with literatures that you'd be unlikely to come across otherwise, and they're often very distinct from common British or Western works,” says Pearson. “My work in Scottish Studies provided me with an entirely new selection of English literatures to analyze and appreciate, an opportunity which I am always grateful for.”

Outside of her studies, Pearson volunteers as an online writer and proofreader for other students in western Canada.

The SFU Research Centre for Scottish Studies and Department of English congratulate both Michelle Patton and Robyn Pearson on their award.