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Awards

FASS honours outstanding contributions with 2026 Dean’s Medals

September 28, 2026

Congratulations to professors Ralph Mistlberger and Martin Bouchard for receiving the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Dean's Medal in recognition of their academic excellence in research, teaching, and service. 

Established in 1999, the FASS Dean's Medals are awarded annually to continuing faculty members who have demonstrated significant contributions to their field of research and service to their department while in position at FASS.

2026 Medallists

Lifetime Achievement Award

Ralph Mistlberger

Psychology

Ralph Mistlberger conducts research on the neural mechanisms and functions of circadian timekeeping and sleep in mammals. He is internationally recognized for empirical and theoretical contributions to our understanding of how animals use circadian clocks to exploit temporal regularities in the availability of resources necessary for survival.  He has provided expertise to professional sports teams and shiftwork employers seeking to minimize sleep and performance disruptions associated with travel or night work. He is a previous recipient of a Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence (2011) and was recently recognized by the Canadian Society for Chronobiology with a Career Achievement Award (2025). He trained in biopsychology at McGill University (BA Hons., 1979), in sleep science at the University of Chicago (PhD, 1984), and in circadian neuroscience as a postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University and Harvard Medical School before joining the Psychology department at Simon Fraser University in 1988.

Academic Excellence Award

Martin Bouchard

Criminology

Martin Bouchard's work focuses on the organization and dynamics of illicit markets and organized crime, as well as the role of social networks in shaping criminological outcomes. Since joining Simon Fraser University in 2007, he has built an internationally recognized research program, publishing more than 125 peer‑reviewed articles and book chapters in all major journals in criminology. He was the recipient 2018–2019 WSC Fellows Award for contributions to Western criminology and will soon become the Associate Editor of Criminology, the leading journal in the field. 

Bouchard’s research has attracted sustained external funding from SSHRC and major U.S. agencies, including the NIJ and NSF. He has participated in 45 successful grants or contracts totaling over $9 million. Bouchard received the SFU Dean of Graduate Studies Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision in 2013. He has supervised 11 PhD and 13 MA students, with as many as 12 of those able to secure faculty positions after leaving SFU. He is also proud to nurture collaborations with a variety of practitioners and agencies. Between 2022 and 2026, Bouchard has served as Director of the School of Criminology, hoping to have left the community stronger than it was before.

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