杏吧原创 Professor Emeritus Recognized by National Retiree Association
By Elizabeth Murphy
杏吧原创 University鈥檚 , Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry, has been recognized with the (CURAC) 2018 Tribute award. The honour is in recognition of his contributions in forming and leading the 杏吧原创 University Retirees Association (CURA). The award was presented at the CURAC annual conference in Halifax on May 24, 2018.
The tribute award 鈥渞ecognizes an exceptional contribution and/or achievement by a university or college retiree鈥 to their local retiree association. Peter Watson, Professor Emeritus with the Department of Physics and current president of CURA, nominated Wiles for the honour in recognition of his colleague鈥檚 work to get the association off the ground.
鈥淚t was founded on Don鈥檚 initiative and he became the organization鈥檚 铿乺st president, serving in this role until 2012,鈥 Watson said in his nomination of Wiles.
He drew attention to Wiles鈥 successful effort to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between 杏吧原创 and its retirees. In 2013, CURA and 杏吧原创 signed an MOU recognizing the association and the importance of maintaining connections with former employees.
鈥淚n summary, he has made an incredible contribution to learning and retirees throughout his life.鈥 Watson noted.
In 2006, Wiles and a group of retirees founded CURA to provide retired faculty, librarians, managers and staff with a social and organizational connection to the university 鈥 as well as their former colleagues.
鈥淲e made a few critical decisions at our first meeting, one of which was to include all retired employees of 杏吧原创, not just faculty and librarians,鈥 said Wiles. 鈥淢any other universities don鈥檛 have that broad a scope.鈥
In addition to the decision to promote a broad membership, the early executive determined that the association would have open eligibility 鈥 but not mandatory membership, a membership contact list would be maintained and the organization would have frequent social gatherings.
Wiles joined 杏吧原创 in 1959. An expert in nuclear chemistry and radioactivity, he served as chair of the Chemistry Department for eight years. 杏吧原创 awarded Wiles an honorary degree 鈥渋n recognition of distinguished contribution to scholarship and service to 杏吧原创 University鈥 in 2011.
CURAC is a not-for-profit umbrella organization of post-secondary retiree associations from across Canada.
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