Two members of Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology have been honoured as members of the Order of Canada.
Barry Truax, professor emeritus in the School of Communication and John Willinksy, university research associate in the Publishing Program, have been recognized for their contributions to acoustic communication and public access to research, respectively.
“My appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada has been a great honour for which I am immensely grateful,” says Truax, “particular coming in the same year as my Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from SFU, awarded at the June 2025 Convocation. Both awards have seemed to be a ‘lifetime achievement’ recognition that is most gratifying.”
“It is wonderful to have the work of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), and the team behind it now, recognized as making a significant contribution to a better Canada,” says Willinsky. “And a great credit to SFU to have first supported this fledging project two decades ago, even as many universities continue to support it today. I am delighted that I’ve been named to the Order of Canada for playing a small part in building a community committed to open access to research and scholarship.”
Truax’s time at SFU dates back to 1973 when composer R. Murray Schafer, who had recently joined the university, invited him to join the World Soundscape Project. In 1971, Willinsky took a class with Schafer who was then at York University. Willinsky founded the PKP in 1998, which, in 2005, partnered with the Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing at SFU. Willinsky joined SFU’s Publishing Program in 2012 as a term professor.
The World Soundscape Project formed the basis not only of Truax’s over 50-year career, but the foundation of the field of soundscape studies and acoustic ecology. The WSP Database, curated by Truax over the past 20 years, provides an extensive set of documents related to all aspects of sound.
Willinsky’s pioneering work in open access scholarship continues as the PKP remains focused on the principle that academic knowledge should be freely available. PKP has developed the most widely deployed scholarly publishing platform, used by journals in 150 countries and 60 languages.
“PKP has introduced a Publication Facts Label that appears on research articles, and our goal is to see the label implemented as an industry-wide standard to advance research’s contributions,” says Willinsky. Now led by SFU Publishing associate professor Juan Pablo Alperin, PKP has a global team of collaborators building open source and open access software for academic publishing.
Truax retired in 2015 and continues to teach online versions of his soundscape composition courses, which attract students from all over the world. As an electroacoustic composer, Truax has presented his works internationally in over 600 concerts. His recent work, What The Waters Told Me, was selected for last year’s World Music Days in Lisbon. He is currently collaborating with local artist Desirée Patterson on a multi-channel soundtrack for a visual art installation that deals with the theme of glaciers and climate change.
Willinsky, who is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and professor Emeritus of Stanford University where he was Khosla Family Professor of Education, continues working towards his goal of increasing public access to research.
Both Truax and Willinsky exemplify the Order of Canada’s motto: they desire a better country.