Two Acadia staff members and one student were recognized for their excellence in student service with awards this spring.

Student service professionals from across the country come together to debrief the past year and share ideas for how they can best serve our students in the future once students leave campus for the summer.

Members of the student service team from Acadia regularly attend both the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS) and Atlantic Association of College and University Student Services (AACUSS) conferences where professionals are recognized for their work.

Janique Ellis (Coordinator, Black Student Affairs) won the 2026 New & Emerging Professionals Award at CACUSS in April.

The award goes to professionals who are new to the world of student services (under 5 years) but have already shown outstanding leadership and hold a great deal of potential for their career.

The next month at AACUSS, Marissa Walter (Psychologist, Acadia Counselling Centre) and TaNyah Gibson (‘26) earned some well-deserved recognition.

TaNyah received the Award for Student Leadership, which celebrates students who shows excellence in leadership in campus community. This is something TaNyah has demonstrated on campus at Acadia and internationally.

Recently, she delivered an intervention at the UN General Assembly in Geneva, bringing her invaluable perspective to major global issues. She spoke to the importance of resolving conflict and building a united internal community within the African diaspora to move forward in addressing external issues like racism.

Marissa earned the Sankofka Award for Inclusive Leadership. The award “recognizes AACUSS members who advance justice-oriented change while centering the voices, experiences, and leadership of those historically marginalized—including racialized, Indigenous, disabled, and otherwise underrepresented students and colleagues.”

From left: TaNyah Gibson ('26) and Marissa Walter

"This award is especially meaningful because it reflects the kind of leadership I have been striving toward throughout my career,” says Marissa.

Reflecting on her practice as a psychologist, she says, “a few years ago, I remember saying to my supervisor that if the wisdom and lived experiences of my ancestors had been more fully reflected in the development of psychology, both my foundational training and, consequently, my practice would probably look very different.”

“Since then, I have been intentionally seeking ways to align my work with my own cultural lineages and ways of knowing. Receiving the Sankofa Award feels like an affirmation that there is value in creating spaces and approaches that honour both where we come from and the communities we serve today.”

The Acadia campus and our wider community both locally and globally are undeniably better for the incredible work of these three leaders. Acadia is honoured to be part of their stories and the beneficiary of their leadership.