It is common knowledge that Colin Baird is an outstanding teacher. In addition to his high student ratings, Colin has made a contribution to nearly all of the important course and curriculum innovations in chemical education in his department, as well as co-authoring an internationally acclaimed innovative Year I text. He has worked continuously and diligently to raise the standards of undergraduate instruction. He has a passionate interest in his subject and a superb grasp of how to explain it. He is genuinely interested in the well- being of Western’s students and is a caring and personable advisor. In recognition of his skill and commitment, Professor Baird received an OCUFA Teaching Award and, this year, will accept the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Western Ontario.

The University is also indebted to Professor Baird for rebuilding and strengthening its Educational Development Office. He successfully revitalized and enhanced its activities, creating an active centre for encouraging effective teaching across the campus. Colin designed specialized workshops on explaining and programs for faculty that provided teaching ideas for immediate use in the classroom. With his help, many faculty members have experienced success with new teaching approaches and have been encouraged to continue to refine their teaching methods.

Trevor has maintained a distinguished career in all aspects of his profession, but his commitment to teaching has been extraordinary. His personal style and congenial interest in students’ welfare and progress have made him a popular faculty member. His clear, effective and enthusiastic classroom presentations are matched by his openness to students as individuals and his ability to assist individual students to identify and overcome scholastic and personal hurdles. He has twice received the “Engineering Professor of the Year” award at the University of Guelph.

He was Guelph’s first Coordinator of Instructional Development. He has organized and implemented many workshops for faculty and graduate students on improving the quality of teaching, on problem solving skill development, on evaluating students and on many other topics concerned with learning and effective teaching. He served with dedication and displayed a deep interest in the principles and theories of Instructional Development and has continued this work until today.

As one colleague writes, “Dr. Fishburne is one of our most outstanding professors because of the quality of his teaching . . .” Graham has taught and studied at five different universities and taught courses for four different departments at the University of Alberta and therefore brings a wealth of teaching experience to all his university courses. Regardless of discipline and location, his teaching evaluations have always been very high. As well, peer evaluations, representing a wide range of colleagues from both within and outside the university, have been excellent. In 1987, he was a recipient of the University’s most prestigious award, the A.C. Rutherford award, for excellence in undergraduate teaching.

Dr. Fishburne has also worked closely with the Committee for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta. Through this association, he has provided support and leadership to colleagues through regular workshops and presentations on topics designed to improve the effectiveness of university teaching. He has also provided a vast amount of instructional material that is widely used in universities, colleges and other learning institutions.>

Dr. Gilsdorf’s career at Concordia has reflected a serious commitment to quality teaching and to its improvement within the University and beyond. The quality of this work was acknowledged by the University when he was awarded the John O’Brien Distinguished Teaching Award. He is especially noted for the creative and innovative ways he involves students in his courses. He communicates enthusiasm, curiosity and imagination in a way few of his peers can equal. He is, in short, a superb classroom teacher.

Bill carries his passion for teaching beyond the classroom and directly to his colleagues by being active at the departmental level as well as on a university-wide basis to promote support for teaching in the University. His work with the Lacolle Centre for Educational Innovation led to the development of a program of residential seminars for faculty on innovative approaches to learning. This program has had a deep influence on many instructors and continues to grow and expand today. As well as serving as Chair of the Communication Studies Department, he has been Director of the Learning Development Office.

With student evaluations that consistently approach “5” on a five-point scale, Professor Lennon ranks as one of Western’s most highly-rated instructors. She is valued as “a unique and talented teacher” who “maintains an enthusiasm in her work and an interest in her students that is extremely rare these days.” She was instrumental in the development of a new program in Western Literature and Civilization and has, since its inception, nurtured curricular developments that have attracted students in excess of the most optimistic enrolment projections.

She has participated in several workshops on teaching principles and methodologies in order to extend and vary her own teaching skills. Furthermore, she undertook, as her personal responsibility, the encouragement and coaching of faculty members to experiment with innovative teaching methods beyond the traditional lecture. Thus, she has served as a catalyst for improved teaching in her Department, and more generally, in the Faculty of Arts. She was recently invited to join a new, nine-member group of outstanding teachers who will serve as peer consultants to faculty members across the campus.

As the recipient of many teaching awards within his Faculty, Professor Newton has a distinguished record as a teacher and is respected by his colleagues for his accomplishments. He has consistently demonstrated his commitment to excellence in teaching through his direct interaction with colleagues, by representing teaching interests as a member of several university committees, and through his own teaching excellence in the classroom.

Jim has been a leader in the Peer Consultation Program at the University of Alberta since 1985 and has delivered several workshops and presentations designed to train new peer consultants. Without Jim’s contribution, his colleagues claim that the peer consultation program would not be nearly as strong in promoting teaching excellence. He has been the founder of a special program to provide a different learning environment, developed courses, provided mentoring in teaching to colleagues, and published in education-related journals.

Pat Rogers is a superb teacher who has incalculably changed the lives of many students. In her teaching, she brings a unique blend of sound theoretical knowledge well grounded in recent research and practical experience. As Course Director in the Faculty of Education, she provided individual counselling which was always positive, constructive, thorough and handled with great sensitivity. While demanding a high degree of excellence from her students, she provides them with that illusive model, a blend of skilful teaching, supportive counselling and scholarly dedication.

Since 1989, Dr. Rogers has been the Director of the Centre for the Support of Teaching. She has worked with several teaching/learning committees and has conducted seminars, workshops, conferences, talks and other events on teaching/learning topics for colleagues at York. She is an excellent sounding board for ideas about how to improve the undergraduate learning experience because she has a wealth of experience but continues to be receptive to new ideas.

Dr. Vermeulen has consistently been rated as the top teacher in his Department since teaching ratings were introduced in the mid 1970’s. He expends an exceptional amount of effort preparing his lectures and developing his material concisely and clearly. Students consider him to be very approachable and most generous of his time in helping them on an individual basis. He has received several awards for teaching excellence, including the University of Alberta’s Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Centennial Medal, and the Medal for Distinction in Engineering Education given by The Canadian Council of Professional Engineers.

Dr.Vermeulen is held in the highest regard by his colleagues and his evident dedication to teaching has done much to increase their own interest and commitment to teaching. He has devoted much of his time to the Committee for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning and has participated in many seminars on a variety of aspects of teaching.

John Clilberd O’Connor Young was born in London, England. He is a Canadian citizen and is married to Nicola Mae Young, a Professor of Accounting, and has five children.

Following undergraduate and graduate studies in chemical engineering at London University’s Imperial College of Science and Technology and business administration studies at New York University, and fifteen years of industrial research experience with petroleum and chemical companies, Dr. Young joined the Science Faculty of Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he became a full professor of physical chemistry before, and a professor emeritus upon, his retirement in 1995.

Prior to his retirement, John was a member of the Board of Governors of Saint Mary’s University and of the Board’s Executive Committee. He served as Acting Vice-President, Academic and Research, in 1990-91, as Acting Dean of Science on several occasions, and as a member of numerous Presidential and Senate Committees. John used all of these roles as opportunities to promote the importance of teaching at his university. He initiated the University’s Student Peer Counselling Program, was a founding member of the Senate’s Quality of Teaching Committee, has given numerous public and media talks on education-related topics, and has been an active participant in conferences and workshops on teaching methods, learning patterns and behaviors, computer-aided education, peer counselling and the problems encountered by first year students. He has conducted several university-sponsored speaking tours in which he addressed such topics as “Undergraduate Research: Why and How”, “Problem-Solving in Practice”, “Scholarship Reconsidered: Enlarging the Perspective” and “The Art of Scientific Investigation”.

Teaching Awards:
John’s abilities as a teacher were first formally recognized when he was awarded his university’s Stewart Medal for Teaching Excellence. Subsequently, he was made an Honorary Alumnus of Saint Mary’s University by its Alumni Association and received the “Golden M” award of the university’s Student Association for services to students. He received the inaugural Instructional Leadership Award of the Association of Atlantic Universities, and the Atlantic Provinces Council on the Sciences (APICS)/Northern Telecom Science Teaching Award. John is 3M National Teaching Fellow and, upon his retirement in 1995, he was made a Professor Emeritus, received the President’s Annual Award for Excellence in Research and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (London) for “exceptional services to higher education”. The subject of his MBA thesis was “The Nature and Nurture of Scientific Creativity”, in which he explored the idea that one could deliberately learn and be taught to be more creative, a theme which he pursued throughout his teaching career with both his students and his colleagues. For this work, he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the US National Honor Society of Business Administration.