The ILA Women and Leadership Member Community Recognizes & Congratulates the Recipients of This Year’s Awards
The ILA Women and Leadership member community is very happy to announce its 2022 awards in the areas of women and leadership for outstanding scholarship (for established scholars and for emerging scholars) and for outstanding practice (for local impact and for broad impact).
Scroll down to learn more about this year’s recipients!
Marlene Janzen Le Ber, Ph.D., Professor, Leadership Studies, Distinguished Chair, Centre for Leadership Brescia University College, Western University
Winner: Outstanding Scholarship for Established Scholars
The ILA Women and Leadership member community recognizes Dr. Janzen Le Ber for moving women’s leadership from intent to action. Dr. Janzen Le Ber describes her overarching area of research as the complex processes of leadership in multiple contexts. As an accomplished and well-respected scholar in the field of Leadership Studies, Dr. Janzen Le Ber has presented 87 peer-reviewed conference papers and 32 invited and keynote addresses; published 32 peer-reviewed papers, books, book chapters, and 13 reports; convened 16 symposia/workshops; and granted over one million in research funding in the past 12 years. In addition to her involvement in the ILA Women & Leadership Community, her last year has been full of the development of a new Centre for Leadership at Brescia University College (affiliated with Western University). Brescia is Canada’s only women’s university. She has also branched out to develop micro-credentials for women who are upskilling and reskilling (e.g., advanced manufacturing, data analytics, project management). In collaboration with the YWCA (Hamilton, Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo), she has taught the following three micro-credentials to meet the stated needs of employers: “Navigating Gender Inequities in the Workplace,” “Leading Change without Resistance,” and “Creating Psychological Safety in Organizations.” Dr. Janzen Le Ber has provided exceptional leadership to the ILA Women and Leadership member community. She was Co-Program Chair for the 2015 ILA Women and Leadership conference at 1440 in Scotts Valley, California. Additionally, she Co-Chaired the 2021 ILA Women and Leadership Research Colloquium, which facilitated the creation of eight research teams who are continuing to work together on moving women’s leadership from intent to action.
Sherylle J. Tan, Ph.D, Director of Internships and KLI Research, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology, Kravis Leadership Institute, Claremont McKenna College
Winner: Outstanding Scholarship for Established Scholars
The ILA Women and Leadership Member Community recognizes Dr. Sherylle Tan for her work advancing women and leadership. Dr. Tan is the Director of Internships and Research at the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College. Her scholarship consists of eight books, 13 book chapters, 10 articles, and 23 years of academic conferences. She has multiple certifications and is a certified leadership coach. Dr. Tan, with her frequent collaborator Dr. Lisa DeFrank-Cole, published the much-needed book, Women and Leadership: Journey Toward Equity, the 2022 Most Promising New Textbook award winner by the Textbook and Academic Author’s Association. Tan and DeFrank-Cole illustrate how the ILA Women and Leadership member community brings women scholars and practitioners together to do outstanding work.
Lisa DeFrank-Cole, Ed.D., Director of Leadership Studies and Clinical Professor of Leadership at West Virginia University
Winner: Outstanding Scholarship for Established Scholars
The Women and Leadership member community recognizes Dr. Lisa DeFrank-Cole for tirelessly promoting women and leadership. Most recently, Dr. DeFrank-Cole and Dr. Sherylle J. Tan published their 2021 textbook, Women and Leadership: Journey Toward Equity, which won a 2022 Textbook and Academic Author’s Association’s Most Promising New Textbook Award. The book is groundbreaking as a college textbook that centers women and diversity, rather than relegating equity as one final chapter, as too many other leadership textbooks do. DeFrank-Cole and Tan also co-edited the Sage Business Cases – Women and Leadership series and have multiple chapters and articles as collaborators. DeFrank-Cole’s scholarly output includes three books, six book chapters, seven articles, two case studies, two edited series, seven magazine articles, and 15 years of conference presentations. She earned two grants and seven awards, including a Fulbright.
Candace Brunette-Debassige, Ph.D., Assistant Tenure-Track Professor, Department of Education, Western University
Winner: Outstanding Scholarship for Emerging Scholars
The ILA Women and Leadership member community recognizes Dr. Brunette-Debassige for advancing the understanding of the challenges facing Indigenous women in higher education and working tirelessly to decolonize education so that Indigenous women can thrive and become the leaders they are meant to be within their own cultural values and practices. Dr. Brunette-Debassige is herself an Indigenous woman leader, a Mushkego Cree iskwew with Cree and French ancestry originally from Peetabeck (Treaty 9 Territory). Dr. Brunette-Debassige’s dissertation and soon to be book on the challenges facing Indigenous women in higher education is groundbreaking. Dr. Brunette-Debassige was a keynote speaker at ILA’s Women and Leadership 2021 Research Colloquium and gave a powerful and inspiring presentation on “Indigenizing and Decolonializing Leadership.” On September 5, 2021, she was a guest on Phronesis, ILA’s official podcast. Listen to “Undoing the Silence” (Episode 85).
Ann Marie Berghout Austin, Ph.D., Retired Professor of Child Development Department of Family, Consumer, and Human Development Utah State University
Winner: Outstanding Practice for Local Impact
The ILA Women and Leadership member community recognizes Dr. Berghout Austin for the establishment of the Center for Women and Gender at Utah State University, for her work establishing childcare for working women, and for her devotion to the ILA Women and Leadership member community, including being Conference Co-Chair for the 2015 ILA Women and Leadership conference at 1440 in Scotts Valley, California. As Founding Director of the Center for Women and Gender from 2010-2019, Dr. Berghout Austin implemented a substantial change that has benefitted women within the local sphere of Utah State University as well as the state of Utah and women from around the world who have developed relationships with the Center. Through her work at the Center, she introduced gender studies at the university and was named Women and Gender Distinguished Professor by the University in 2000. As Director of the Center, Dr. Berghout Austin exercised effective leadership to highlight gender issues and ensure that gender considerations were integrated into the university’s functioning. Dr. Berghout Austin is the author of several important articles on women’s leadership.
Éliane Ubalijoro, Ph.D., Executive Director Sustainability in the Digital Age and the Future Earth Montreal Hub, and Professor of Practice for Public-Private Sector Partnerships at McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development
Winner: Outstanding Practice With Broad Impact
The ILA Women and Leadership member community recognizes Dr. Ubalijoro for advocating for women’s leadership globally. Her actions have benefited women in a variety of areas and arenas far beyond her local sphere, resulting in broad impact. As a scientist, Dr. Ubalijoro has been an advocate of STEM education for women and has worked to advance women’s leadership in virtually all her endeavors in many countries around the world. Recently she co-authored an important chapter in ILA’s 2021 book, Reimagining Leadership on the Commons: Shifting the Paradigm for a More Ethical, Equitable, and Just World, about the success of open access information in helping Nigerian women shareholder leaders increase their yields and empower themselves as leaders of their communities. Dr. Ubalijoro founded C.L.E.A.R. International Development Inc., a consulting group harnessing global networks for sustainable systems development. Among other publications, she contributed a chapter on women’s leadership in international development, “Transforming Community through Feminine Leadership: My Experience in the African Context,” to the ILA book Leadership and Power in International Development: Navigating the Intersections of Gender, Culture, Context, and Sustainability. She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council, and Dr. Ubalijoro has been a member of the Presidential Advisory Council for Rwandan President Paul Kagame since its inception in September 2007.
