The Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship, or Performance is bestowed every year to recognize outstanding research.

This year's winner is Dr. Brian Titley, Faculty of Education.

Over a period of three decades, Professor of Education and University Scholar Dr. Brian Titley has produced major works of historical inquiry that influence our understanding of institutions and politics in Canada and abroad.

Titley, who was profiled in the March 2009 issue of the Legend, has authored five books, all of which make singular contributions to several distinct areas of scholarship. His selection as the 2009 Ingrid Speaker Medal winner is testament to his research acumen and the furthering of scholarship in his field.

A native of Cork, Ireland, Titley earned his undergraduate degree abroad before coming to Canada to study at the University of Manitoba where he received his Bachelor of Education degree as well as his master's degree. He would then earn his PhD at University of Alberta and spend 10 years teaching at U of A before joining the University of Lethbridge in 1991.

His books have critiqued church power in Ireland, investigated the Canadian Indian Department and its policies, studied dictatorship in sub-Saharan Africa and offered a biographical portrait of immigrant adventurer Edgar Dewdney. His latest offering, The Indian Commissioners, examines the careers of those who directed the Indian Department on the prairies during a critical historical era.

Titley is also the author of more than 40 articles and essays and has served as president of the Canadian History of Education Association.

In 2008 he was appointed the Faculty of Education's first University Scholar.