AURORA COLLEGE
Ministerial Literacy Champion Award presented to Aurora College Instructor

Aurora College instructor Dr. Suzanne Robinson was honoured with the Ministerial Champion Literacy Award at a ceremony in Yellowknife September 26.

Presented by Education, Culture and Employment Minister Caroline Cochrane, the award recognizes an individual or group whose work in the field of literacy has had a wide-ranging positive effect on literacy over a number of years. Dr. Robinson has worked with Aurora College for nearly 20 years as an instructor and as coordinator of the Community Educator Program, and has dedicated her career to promoting literacy improvement in her students.

"Suzanne Robinson is an example of the commitment our instructors make to student success and helping each individual fulfil their potential," notes Aurora College Interim President, Jeff O'Keefe. "While in Inuvik, she developed and delivered family literacy programs in addition to her regular instructional responsibilities." Dr. Robinson moved to Yellowknife North Slave Campus from Inuvik's Aurora Campus in 2012.

Dr. Robinson's academic work focused on bridging the gap between Indigenous knowledge and traditional ways of knowing and the literacy expectations of mainstream education. She actively seeks to promote and enhance literacy in the official languages of the Northwest Territories. An example of her dedication to that goal is that she assisted one student to complete high school credits in Indigenous languages in order to achieve his secondary school diploma - a first in the NWT.

She has also promoted and championed literacy through multiple roles with the NWT Literacy Council over the past 15 years.