V茅ronic Bezaire (Department of Chemistry) has received the Provost鈥檚 Fellowship in Teaching Award for her leadership and commitment to teaching and learning. She has also been designated as a 杏吧原创 University teaching fellow and will receive $2,500.

Scott Bucking (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering), Kasia Muldner (Institute of Cognitive Science) and Sangeeta Murugkar (Department of Physics) have been awarded this year鈥檚 New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, each receiving $500.

The Excellence in Learning Support Award goes to Natalie Allan (Residence Life Services) for her outstanding contribution to the student learning experience. She will receive $750.

This year, no candidates were selected for the Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award.

Please join us in congratulating this year’s winners!

Learn more about the teaching awards available to 杏吧原创 faculty, instructors and support staff.

Walking into one of Professor Simon Power鈥檚 classrooms, you won鈥檛 find tablets or a touch screen, but you may just find a minimum of three blackboards.

Professors don鈥檛 need anything more than words and some chalk to engage students, he says, as long as they鈥檙e good teachers themselves.

鈥淚n order to get students engaged, the professors have to be engaged. That perhaps is more important,鈥� says Power.

Power, who has been teaching in 杏吧原创鈥檚 Department of Economics for 27 years, has applied that attitude to all of his teaching methods. Earlier this year it earned him a 2015 for sustained excellence in teaching.

Power says a huge part of teaching is having empathy with students. During lectures he watches students鈥� reactions and adjusts his teaching based on how well he perceives them to be following. He says he checks to see if they understand, what points are lost on them, and how he can explain things in a new way so they keep up.

鈥淚 like to think of myself as 鈥榓ctively lecturing鈥�,鈥� Power says.

Creating personal connections with students and collecting feedback is a crucial element of Power鈥檚 teaching. He says he鈥檚 developed little tricks to learn how students are doing, like asking them if they鈥檙e happy, rather than if they understand. He says that鈥檚 because few students would admit to a teacher they don鈥檛 understand something.

鈥淭he more feedback I get, the more I鈥檓 able to adapt or respond, to make my teaching more effective,鈥� says Power.

In his classes, Power says he encourages students to motivate themselves by teaching them why they should care about material they鈥檙e learning. Overall, he says a successful lecture happens when a professor reads the classroom and cares about the students鈥� development and learning.

鈥淚 personally think that constant interaction with the feedback is the optimal way to do it,鈥� he says.

Because of this teaching method, Power says he never teaches one class the same way, and is constantly learning from new students who bring new perspectives to the material.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e interested in teaching, and you care about the students, and care about them learning the material, then you tend almost automatically to try and improve what you鈥檙e doing all the time.鈥�

Simon Power (Department of Economics), Peter Thompson (School of Canadian Studies), and Jim Davies (Institute of Cognitive Science) all received the Provost鈥檚 Fellowship in Teaching Award for their leadership and dedication to teaching and learning. They have also been designated as 杏吧原创 University teaching fellows and will receive $2,500 each.

Eva Kartchava (School of Linguistics and Language Studies) really impressed, taking home two awards this year: an Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award and a New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.

Professor Anne Tr茅panier (School of Canadian Studies) was also honoured with a teaching with technology award for her thoughtful incorporation of technology into the classroom. She and Kartchava will both receive $750.

Along with Kartchava, Jeffrey Erochko (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Stacy Douglas (Department of Law and Legal Studies) underscored 杏吧原创鈥檚 commitment to teaching excellence and innovation, earning them new faculty awards. Each winner will receive $500.

Learn more about the .

Front to back, page by page, line by line鈥攖his is how 杏吧原创 humanities professor Gregory MacIsaac teaches his students some of the most challenging texts history has to offer.

It鈥檚 all part of the award-winning professor鈥檚 unique approach to teaching what he calls 鈥渉olistic鈥� reading. This means studying and analyzing texts in their entirety rather than picking and choosing sections or pieces of information.

MacIsaac says this approach is necessary to really understand philosophy.

鈥淲hat you want is to show (students) what it鈥檚 like to get inside the book, inside the argument,鈥� he says. 鈥淚nstead of cramming as much into a course as we could, we have them read fewer things, but we have them read all of it when possible.鈥�

Photo by Dario Balca

A professor at 杏吧原创鈥檚 College of Humanities since 1998, MacIsaac usually teaches the second-year course 鈥淩eason and Revelation.鈥� The reading list includes Plato鈥檚 The Republic, Aristotle鈥檚 Ethics, and Dante鈥檚 Divine Comedy.

Two years ago, he developed HUMS 1200, a course aimed at teaching students how to read and write in a way that will help them be successful. Before, he was trying to teach philosophy and writing simultaneously in his second-year course.

鈥淲hat I realized is that we鈥檇 never taught writing,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e just had students read quite difficult books, then set them papers.

鈥淚 can teach my second year course at a much, much higher level now.鈥�

The 45-year-old is also writing a guide for students on how to navigate philosophy texts that he hopes to finish this year.

MacIsaac鈥檚 teaching innovations haven鈥檛 gone unrecognized. In 2011, he was awarded the Provost鈥檚 Fellowship in Teaching Award for sustained excellence in teaching, the Faculty of Social Sciences Teaching Award, and several other accolades.

A native of Antigonish County, N.S., MacIsaac says his interest in philosophy began in high school and later led to an undergraduate degree in classics from Dalhousie University and graduate studies at Notre Dame University.

These days, MacIsaac鈥檚 own research is aimed at finding new ways of reading Plato鈥攐ne of the authors he first fell in love with.

鈥淲hen I started reading Plato, I was blown away because I was thinking for the first time in my life, not just taking for granted how the world is, but really considering that things could be otherwise,鈥� he says.

Although his teaching style has changed in his 17 years at 杏吧原创, MacIsaac says his aim has always been to help students think this way.

鈥淚 think our society places far too high a value on usefulness,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is such a thing as sitting back and just thinking about what makes life good, and people who study philosophy and literature and history鈥攊t鈥檚 our job to think about that stuff, and it鈥檚 really important.

鈥淭hinking is just inherently enjoyable and enriching.鈥�

Isaac Otchere can trace his path to 杏吧原创 back to his years as a high school student in Ghana. In geography class, he learned about two far-off commonwealth countries: Canada and Australia.

鈥淚t fascinated me,鈥� said Otchere, adding he was drawn to images of prairies and kangaroos. 鈥淚t was at that time that I made it a point that I would go to Canada or Australia if I had the opportunity.鈥�

He did both. Always scholastic, Otchere first travelled to Ottawa and completed two Master鈥檚 degrees at 杏吧原创. Next, he accepted full funding and a plane ticket to complete a PhD in Hobart, Australia 鈥� with his wife and a three-month-old baby in tow.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 that easy supporting a family on a graduate scholarship while studying full-time,鈥� said Otchere. He took a teaching stint at Melbourne University and the University of New Brunswick before coming back to make his home at 杏吧原创鈥檚 Sprott School of Business.

But wherever he鈥檚 been, Otchere has succeeded both in academics and instruction, racking up awards at every institution. His latest ones are the 2012 Provost’s Fellowship in Teaching Award and the 2014 Graduate Mentoring Award, his seventh award at 杏吧原创. Others include a Capital Educators鈥� Award, Teaching Achievement Award, Research Achievement Award and two Student Teaching Excellence Awards.

鈥淗ow do you do it? That鈥檚 a very popular question,鈥� said Otchere with a laugh. He publishes up to two articles a year and has at least three on the go now.

鈥淚 guess what keeps me going is the desire to work hard and achieve something,鈥� he said, adding he likes to discover ideas that have not yet been examined. 鈥淚 have a very inquisitive mind.鈥�

It鈥檚 this constant drive to keep things new that carries into his classroom.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 keep up with what is going on in your environment you become stale and you will not be able to excite your students,鈥� said Otchere, who designs his courses to relate theory with practice. 鈥淵ou see investors are doing exactly what you鈥檙e talking about. They can see the relevance of what you are teaching.鈥�

Students respond to his teaching style, giving him excellent evaluations 鈥� only one of the factors that garnered him the 2012 teaching award. He also created a new course on mergers and acquisitions to fill what he saw as an educational need.

But Otchere said the real reward is hearing from old students still using the skills he taught. One called Otchere from Cambridge University to say he was well ahead in some of his classes there. The other students in the class asked him how he knew so much already.

鈥淗e told them that he took a course with me at 杏吧原创 University,鈥� said Otchere with a smile.

Hal Goldman is a man of many talents. The former corporate civil litigator turned history professor also runs a 130-acre farm in Montebello, Que.

But Goldman says nothing has held his attention like teaching.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the thing I鈥檝e done the longest in my life that I鈥檝e continued to enjoy,鈥� says Goldman, who is 10 years into his 鈥榥ew鈥� profession. 鈥淲hen I walk out of class, I鈥檓 always up and happy.鈥�

And he鈥檚 good at it. He鈥檚 racked up six educational awards since he became a contract instructor at 杏吧原创, including the 2013 . Goldman was recognized both for excellence in teaching and for his commitment to fostering that ability in others.

Goldman says his work in that regard isn鈥檛 necessarily special 鈥� it鈥檚 a responsibility.

鈥淚 think that any time students are being placed in a role where they are also teachers, that should be a development process for them as well,鈥� says Goldman, who works with both teaching assistants and facilitators in 杏吧原创鈥檚 . 鈥淭hey have a right to come out of the process more skilled as teachers.鈥�

The ESP program gives university hopefuls, who don鈥檛 fit the traditional academic requirement, a chance at first-year university. To help with the transition, the program pairs its participants with third- and fourth-year mentors 鈥� students Goldman calls 鈥渢he cream of the crop.鈥�

When Goldman ran the training program for facilitators he made sure every stage provided development opportunities. Out of the hundreds that apply, about 20 facilitators are hired.

鈥淭he screening process and training process is incredibly rigorous,鈥� Goldman says. He tells students they鈥檒l only face such scrutiny again if they become astronauts. But he demands that dedication from himself too. He once combed through 100,000 court records to research a thesis that contradicted existing consensus.

And it is clear he cares about their success as educators.

鈥淭hese facilitators are so unbelievable,鈥� Goldman says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 peer-based education, so they have to be able to manage and inspire the students.鈥�

It likely isn鈥檛 a stretch to say some learned that brand of enthusiasm from him. His philosophy seems wrapped up in one question: 鈥淲hy should (students) care if the teacher doesn鈥檛?鈥�

Goldman says he can name every teacher he鈥檚 ever had as far back as kindergarten and that some of his drive came from those passionate instructors.

鈥淚 always wanted to be the kind of great teacher that I had, so whenever I鈥檓 feeling lazy I think about that.鈥�

Adrian Chan likes to think of his classroom as more of a community. In many learning environments, he says, the onus is on the instructor to make the learning process a success because both teachers and students are caught in a cycle of thinking that鈥檚 the way it鈥檚 supposed to be.

鈥淏ut then it鈥檚 a battle. I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 what students want. They appreciate the fact that they need to be tested, but I think they鈥檝e lost that ownership,鈥� he says.

Chan, who was one of three 2012-13 winners of the Provost鈥檚 Fellowship in Teaching Award at 杏吧原创, works to instill in his students a sense of responsibility for their own learning.

For instance, in a graduate class that he taught this year, he led the students through an experiment: He spent the initial lecture talking about 鈥渨hat education is鈥� and why the students were at university. Then Chan had them write a letter of justification for their final mark, far before they鈥檇 even done any of the work or received a grade.

鈥淚t was kind of like a 鈥榯his is what I promise to do鈥� type thing,鈥� he says.

Chan then took all their letters and made word maps out of them.

鈥淎 lot of what they were talking about was assignments and deadlines. They are being driven by these externalities. Others were talking more about knowledge and learning and self-motivation.鈥�

It was the first time Chan had done such an experiment. He can鈥檛 say for sure whether it had much of an impact but he says that he found the class was very engaged and that students seemed to have an understanding that they had to take responsibility for their own learning.

鈥淢y lifelong goal is to make a difference in the world. What are the stories that my children鈥檚 children鈥檚 children are going to say about me?鈥�

When he teaches, he says his impact is amplified through his students and how they go on to live their lives.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 kid myself into thinking that they鈥檙e doing these things because of me, but I鈥檇 like to think I made some small contribution to who they are right now. 鈥�

Religion has a way of inciting passionate discussion. And year after year, religion professor Shawna Dolansky has seen these passions manifest in her students during class.

鈥淚 often get students who either take the class because they hate religion and want to prove it wrong, or because they grew up in a religious household and wanted to learn more. And so I try to make the course equally challenging for both groups.鈥�

She鈥檚 not trying to play peacemaker, per se, she鈥檚 just coming to the text from a completely different angle than they鈥檙e perhaps used to. While some may have traditionally looked at the bible from a theological standpoint, Dolansky makes it clear from the start that they鈥檒l be looking at it from an academic, historical standpoint.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about putting the puzzle pieces together using archeology. Finding out which match together and which don鈥檛, and creating a story out of those pieces.鈥�

Dolansky recently won a , partly for the effusive praise her students give her. Among the reasons listed in her recommendation letters: she challenges students to become more deeply engaged both in the course and in life, and not to settle for superficial answers.

鈥淚 want them to be able to question what the text actually says and what I鈥檓 saying it says. I encourage them to ask as many questions of the text – and also of me – as possible.鈥�

The next venture she wants to explore is how to incorporate more technology into her teaching. Students are often engaged in digital media during class anyway, she says, so using it as a teaching method makes sense.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 wonderful that 杏吧原创 encourages good teaching, and rewards it in this way,鈥� Dolansky says. She laments that some universities consider teaching as a distraction from research.聽鈥淭o me, you can鈥檛 separate the research from the teaching. Each enriches the other.鈥�