2022 Award Recipients
This award was established in 2008 to recognize exceptional students who have a record of academic achievement, consistently demonstrate leadership, and make significant contributions to our community.
Chaten Jessel
Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Neuroscience
Chaten Jessel worked diligently throughout his degree to make the university a better place for students whilst achieving high academic performance including having two first-authored, peer-reviewed publications in top journals in the field of pharmacogenomics, as well as a prestigious invitation to present his work at the annual meeting of the Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network.
As the Students’ Union Faculty of Science representative, Jessel took part in 19 different provincial, university, Faculty of Science and Students’ Union committees, and led many impactful initiatives.
One such initiative was his advocacy for open education resources — free alternatives to textbooks. He helped create the $500,000 Open Education Resource Fund and a related librarian position — now permanently staffed. This initiative was a major contributing factor to Jessel being awarded a prestigious 3M student fellowship.
Jessel also worked with other university departments to create Pre-Pathways to Education for Indigenous Students in Southern Alberta. The project addressed issues that Indigenous learners can face in remote settings and made it possible for over 160 Indigenous students to take pre-requisite classes not available in their communities.
Jessel also contributed to many student clubs with his time and energy. With the Neuroscience Students Association, he created a virtual meet-up. With the Run for Little Ones, he helped raise $37,000 for the Alberta Children’s Hospital. With the TEDx Club, he helped create a space where students could practise public speaking. He also founded a student-led advocacy body in the Faculty of Science. The club’s first event aimed to help students find academic research placements.
He was also an orientation leader and helped implement equity, diversity and inclusiveness bias training into orientation programming. As a peer helper for the Leadership on Demand program, he planned and facilitated workshops on leadership skills.
Jessel hopes to continue working for the betterment of others as he moves on to the next stage of his life.