October 29, 2004 for immediate release

UNBC Professor Alex Michalos has received the most prestigious award inCanada for outstanding research in the social sciences. The SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council's (SSHRC) Gold Medal forAchievement was presented to Dr Michalos last night during a galabanquet in Ottawa.

AlexMichalos is a world leader in quality of life studies. When US soldiersand their families faced escalating rates of depression and stress, thePentagon called on Dr Michalos to help evaluate and address theproblem. When apartheid ended in South Africa, the new governmentturned to him to help measure and improve its citizens' quality oflife. Thirty years ago, he founded - and still edits - SocialIndicators Research, and academic journal that has published more than1000 articles on quality of life. Dr Michalos himself has published 22books and, in 1985, surveyed 18,000 students in 39 countries - thebiggest quality of life study ever conducted on students. He is also aPast President of the Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Humanitiesand Social Sciences.

"Having a scholar of Alex's status has been great for UNBC," saysHoward Brunt, UNBC Vice-President Academic. "He has been a terrificmentor for younger faculty and even though he is now retired fromteaching, he continues to engage in research that is very relevant toPrince George and other northern communities." Through UNBC's Institutefor Social Research and Evaluation, Dr Michalos has conducted localsurveys of crime, the arts, seniors' issues, municipal government,health, culture and ethnicity, and public services, as well as gaugingtrends in local quality of life.

Dr Michalos is the second person to receive the SSHRC Gold Medal forAchievement. The first recipient was renowned Canadian politicaltheorist Charles Taylor.

For more information about Alex Michalos, see the article on him that appeared in the University's Update magazine. Click here.