Campus community celebrates extraordinary colleagues who create rich student learning experiences

“The purpose of teaching awards is to recognize those colleagues who are extraordinary at creating rich learning opportunities for our students,” says Ellen Perrault, associate dean (teaching and learning) in the Faculty of Social Work. “Recognizing those many colleagues who continuously strive for teaching excellence demonstrates that we value quality teaching.”

Perrault is 2018’s University of Calgary Teaching Award’s recipient in the category of Educational Leadership (Individual, Formal Role). She highlights the importance of the University of Calgary Teaching Awards in demonstrating the university’s focus on excellent teaching.

“Academics at the University of Calgary take their teaching very seriously and work very hard to create a meaningful learning experience for students,” she notes.

The University of Calgary Teaching Awards recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to the student learning experience within diverse contexts across campus. Recipients are required to prepare comprehensive nomination dossiers, which are supported by personal teaching philosophies, evidence from students and colleagues and quantitative data. Once completed and submitted, dossiers are discussed at length by adjudication committees.

2018 University of Calgary Teaching Awards

Mehrnoosh Tahani, one of this year’s three recipients of the Award for Graduate Assistants (Teaching), believes that excellent teaching is rewarding on a number of levels.

“Having the opportunity to talk about the area you’re passionate about, as a teacher, is its own reward. The most enjoyable moment of teaching, then, is watching the students discover the beauty of your subject area,” she says. “But I think recognizing teaching excellence is important because over time it helps teachers and the university celebrate and discuss effective teaching techniques. Also, especially in the graduate assistants category, awards can be used on job applications to help graduate students find better opportunities later on, which I think aligns well with the university’s Eyes High strategy.”

This year, over 300 students, academic staff and staff members from across campus and beyond were involved in nominating and adjudicating the Teaching Awards.

Aubrey Hanson, assistant professor in the Werklund School of Education, is 2018’s recipient of the Award for Teaching in Online Environments.

She points out that “University of Calgary scholars are working hard to connect together their research and service, or community engagement, with leadership in teaching in learning and excellent experiences for students.”

“It is important to recognize this dedicated professional practice so that the University of Calgary can offer leadership for excellent teaching and learning in postsecondary education,” she continues. “It's also important to celebrate the great work our colleagues are doing!”

2018 University of Calgary Teaching Awards

Mehrnoosh Tahani, one of this year’s three recipients of the Award for Graduate Assistants (Teaching), believes that excellent teaching is rewarding on a number of levels.

“Having the opportunity to talk about the area you’re passionate about, as a teacher, is its own reward. The most enjoyable moment of teaching, then, is watching the students discover the beauty of your subject area,” she says. “But I think recognizing teaching excellence is important because over time it helps teachers and the university celebrate and discuss effective teaching techniques. Also, especially in the graduate assistants category, awards can be used on job applications to help graduate students find better opportunities later on, which I think aligns well with the university’s Eyes High strategy.”

This year, over 300 students, academic staff and staff members from across campus and beyond were involved in nominating and adjudicating the Teaching Awards.

Aubrey Hanson, assistant professor in the Werklund School of Education, is 2018’s recipient of the Award for Teaching in Online Environments.

She points out that “University of Calgary scholars are working hard to connect together their research and service, or community engagement, with leadership in teaching in learning and excellent experiences for students.”

“It is important to recognize this dedicated professional practice so that the University of Calgary can offer leadership for excellent teaching and learning in postsecondary education,” she continues. “It's also important to celebrate the great work our colleagues are doing!”

The 2018 Celebration of Teaching Ceremony

President Elizabeth Cannon and Dru Marshall, provost and vice-president (academic), presented the awards on April 10 at the fifth annual Celebration of Teaching, hosted by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning.

“I believe strongly in celebrating exceptional teaching at the University of Calgary,” says Marshall. “The 2018 University of Calgary Teaching Awards recipients have all contributed to our goal of inspiring students and fostering learning experiences that are rich with creativity and engagement.”

2018 award recipients

Award for Curriculum Development
Nanoscience Minor Program
(David Cramb, Elmar Prenner, Darryl Barber, Ron Dyck, Max Anikovskiy, Simon Trudel and Hagar Labouta)
Faculty of Science

Award for Full-Time Academic Staff
Instructor: Fabiola Aparicio-Ting, Cumming School of Medicine
Senior Instructor: Brent Snider, Haskayne School of Business
Assistant Professor: Hanan Bassyouni, Cumming School of Medicine
Associate Professor: David Nicholas, Faculty of Social Work
Professor: Larry Katz, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Kinesiology
Teaching Professor: Jalal Kawash, Faculty of Science

Award for Graduate Assistants (Teaching)
Colby Regel, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science
Mehrnoosh Tahani, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science
Elizabeth Watt, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science

Award for Educational Leadership
Individual, Formal Role: Ellen Perrault, Faculty of Social Work
Individual, Informal Role: Isabelle Barrette-Ng, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science
Group: Health Champions Committee (Shelly Russell-Mayhew, Tina Gabriele, Alana Ireland, Kerri Murray, Gavin Peat, Werklund School of Education, Faculty of Kinesiology, Ever Active Schools) 

Award for Graduate Supervision
Shelly Russell-Mayhew, Werklund School of Education

Award for Experiential Learning Initiatives
Rajeev Nair, Department of Geoscience, Faculty of Science

Award for Teaching in Online Environments
Aubrey Hanson, Werklund School of Education

Award for Sessional Instructors
Robbie Babins-Wagner, Faculty of Social Work

Award for Non-Academic Staff (Individual)
Maria Soos-Gonczol, Faculty of Social Work

Award for Continuing and Professional Education
Marina Fischer, Continuing Education

Award for Team Teaching
Milana Trifkovic, Elise Fear and Laleh Behjat, Schulich School of Engineering