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Montreal
Ratna Ghosh, an Indian-Canadian has been honored with McGill’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Learning, which recognizes sustained excellence in leadership and innovation, as well as the active integration of teaching and learning with inquiry, scholarship and research.
Ratna Ghosh has been part of McGill for more than 40 years, becoming Professor Emerita in 2023. During that time, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Distinguished James McGill Professor. She was profiled in Time magazine, and was named to the Order of Canada, the Order of Quebec, and the Order of Montreal.
“People who are teaching and in education now need to ask themselves, ‘What is the role of education in a world confronted with diversity and difference in multiple ways?’,” said Ghosh. “Diversity is not going to go away – it’s going to stay – because human beings are different in multiple ways.”
Ratna Ghosh’s Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred as part of Fall 2024 Convocation on Dec. 2.
She has also served a five-year term as Dean of the Faculty of Education, where she played an instrumental role in hiring the first Indigenous scholar for OFNIE (Office of First Nations and Inuit Education). She was the first woman and the first person of colour to hold the role.
“Dr. Ghosh’s award is an apt reflection of her dedication, passion, and countless contributions to the field of education,” said Vivek Venkatesh, the Faculty of Education’s current Dean. “She has succeeded in inspiring generations of students while also mentoring many of us who have had the privilege to work alongside her.
“She’s been more than a professor and a Dean; she has been a beacon of knowledge, wisdom, and compassion, and we are immensely grateful that her many influential achievements have helped to propel our Faculty to new heights.”
