Every successful organization has a small — indeed often tiny — group of volunteers who keep the society going, often in quiet and unassuming ways. We depend on them for all kinds of things, yet are often unaware or take for granted the important roles they play.
For this reason, we have decided to create an ISHPSSB Community Award that recognizes and honors a member of ISHPSSB who has played an outstanding role in supporting, managing, or building our organization, or in fostering a spirit of community.
With the unanimous support of council, the first inaugural award of the ISHPSSB Community Award recognizes the outstanding work by Carlos David Suárez Pascal, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.
Since 2011, Dr. Suárez Pascal has continuously served as editor of our Newsletter, “ensuring that our diverse and international membership is both informed and connected,” to quote from his nomination letter. He has shown us his skill and artistry in layout and design, producing the newsletter in a timely manner, despite the fact that many of us are often late, or forgetful. But his work doesn’t consist of merely compiling news items. He has undertaken a number of original and incisive interviews with a diversity of scholars in our community. This is serious work. I invite you to read the last Newsletter’s interview (only part one of two parts) with Jörg Matthias Determann, one of our few scholars whose areas of expertise takes him to the Islamic world.
Dr. Suárez Pascal’s involvement in ISHPSSB doesn’t stop there. He has served on the editorial committee, is an active member of the education committee and the off-year workshop committee and indeed in 2022 organized an off-year workshop himself on the life and work of Richard C. Lewontin, in collaboration with the Asociacion Iberoamericana de Filosofia del Biologia and the Society for the Study of Evolution. To quote from his nomination letter again, “this initiative exemplifies the values of interdisciplinarity and internationalization, fostering dialogue across disciplinary and geographic boundaries — goals that are at the heart of ISHPSSB.”
We, the members of the council of ISHPSSB wholeheartedly agree, and for this reason, are very pleased to recognize the outstanding contributions made by Dr. Carlos David Suárez Pascal to our organization and our community.
Betty Smocovitis, President, ISHPSSB