Lynda Bastien

Lynda Bastien is an amazing professional and human being. All through my graduate school years she’s shown genuine concern and support for graduate students and faculty. When I first started my grad studies, everything was new to me, very overwhelming at times. Lynda literally would take me through many situations and procedures, often reminding of important things lest I forget and miss a deadline. She always helped with putting applications together, with getting issues resolved at various points in the complex university administrative system. Quite often, having forgotten how to find something, I’d ask her, and Lynda would explain/email links/info/etc. everything in detail with amazing patience and a cheerful attitude. It’s hard to enumerate each and every instance during my 8 years at McGill when Lynda came to my rescue, but through all of that she has always, and I mean always, been cheerful, upbeat, exceptionally patient and understanding. I’ll never forget how much she helped me with the timely submission of both my Master’s thesis and PhD dissertation. With my thesis it was a particularly difficult situation because I left the country for a month, having missed one of the important steps in the thesis submission procedure (because, somehow, I missed that piece of information when I read the instructions). Had it not been for her help, I would not have submitted my thesis on time. She has an amazing combination of honed professionalism and a great personality. She also has a special touch: even though I know that she is great with everyone, when I talk/work with her, I feel like she’s concerned with me personally. And that’s very important: she finds a personalized, individual approach to everyone and shows genuine concern and interest in everyone. She is a very sensitive, understanding person, as well as an excellent professional. She always, and I mean always, goes above and beyond her mere duties. I’m very grateful for all her help and support, and I wholeheartedly nominate her for this award.

Nominated by a colleague at the Faculty of Arts