On March 1, Trinity Western University English professor Dr. Barbara Pell will be honoured with a 2008 Leading Women Award. This award will be given with recognition in the category of Education, Training and Development.

Pell, currently on a leave of absence, will receive the award at the National Christian Leadership Conference for Women in Toronto, Ontario.

This recognition pays tribute to Pell’s legacy at TWU, said Dr. Holly Nelson, who was the primary nominator in this process.

“Often women didn’t get PhDs who were evangelicals, that is quite unusual,” said Nelson, adding that “for a woman to be able to excel academically in the Christian university is amazing.”

Pell has taught for over 21 years at TWU and was one of its first female professors. Apart from teaching at the university level, she has published books and articles, worked as an external reviewer for journals and graduate theses from other universities and co-founded the Women’s Faculty Caucus at TWU. The caucus serves as a platform for female professors of all departments at TWU.

“[They] realized that there were very few women moving up the ladder [at TWU] so they decided to put together a body where they could talk about issues related to women in Christian higher education and [try] to facilitate them to develop them in the area [of study],” said Nelson.

While on her leave of absence, Pell still remains involved with TWU’s English department. She gives occasional guest lectures, meets with faculty to discuss courses and mentors students in their course material.

Pell’s additional work extends past the TWU community. She is president of the Board of Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre and is the co-founder and Emeritus Chair of the Christianity & Literature Study Group, the latter being a forum for Canadian scholars to contribute papers and discussion.

“[Pell] always found that it was essential to be part of the broader academic community,” said Nelson. “She’s a very outward-looking person.”

Nelson said that this national recognition will generate positive feedback to the university. “By winning this award as a leading woman, [Pell] shows that Trinity supports women scholars [and] women leaders.”

Nelson noted a common perception that surrounds Christian universities. “What sometimes happens is that the secular community feels that the Christian community is not receptive to strong women leaders,” she said. “Trinity [in the past] has been criticized for not allowing women to advance in their field of study. That’s a false perception.”

This award, according to Nelson, “might offset the falser perception of Trinity as a place that might silence women or limit their advancement.”