Nancy J. Adler was the Faculty of Management’s first recipient of McGill’s Distinguished Teacher Award, recognizing her excellence in teaching both undergraduate and graduate students at McGill University. She is the only person to win this award for both levels of teaching. In 1990, McGill University again awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award to Professor Adler. This was the first time that the Faculty had given the award twice to the same professor. Her courses, including required courses considered to be particularly difficult, are consistently rated among the highest in the Faculty. As one student (once discouraged with the subject but now a faculty member himself) put it: “Her teaching tools were new and completely different… Our interest, motivation and level of participation flourished … Our enthusiasm for learning increased dramatically … “

Dr. Adler’s leadership in working with her peers has been remarkable. She has coached colleagues in North America, Europe and Asia on ways to design and teach courses. For example, she has been selected twice as a faculty member for the International Teacher’s Programme in Milan to help university teachers from around the world develop and use a range of teaching methods. This work complements the many faculty workshops she has led in Canada and the USA. As a recognized authority on integrating international issues into the curriculum, she has led faculty workshops, presented special sessions at pedagogical conferences, designed experiential exercises, cases and simulations, written a textbook used by over 100,000 students, produced a video movie used around the world, and worked as resource person with professional colleagues on the design and redesign of curricula. A “new” faculty member, coached by Dr. Adler as he began to teach university students after 30 years experience as a consultant and trainer, wrote: “Professor Adler contributed much more than the mechanics (of) course content and methodology. She exemplified true leadership qualities by influencing me to deliver excellence and to use multi- faceted methods.” Television Series

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) selected Professor Adler’s research and teaching on international and cross-cultural management to include in their latest series on multinational organizations, and featured Nancy’s work in the film “World Without Borders”, and in two films on multinationa teams “It’s a Jungle Out There” and “The Survival Guide”. The BBC filmed Nancy in Montreal in 1994 and will release the new series for television and classroom use in 1995.

Awards

Professor Adler’s research and teaching on international management has received wide recognition from her colleagues. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Management in 1994 and a Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 1992. She is the only professor in Canada to be honored by both Academies. In 1992, Women in World Trade honored Professor Adler with their Outstanding Achievement Award and in 1991, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research selected Nancy for their Outstanding Senior Interculturalist Award.

Since 1973, Beverly Cameron has been a highly successful and valued teacher of undergraduate students in the Department of Economics where she has designed, developed, and taught a variety of courses. Her ability to turn students in large lectures into active participants in their own learning indicates her truly outstanding ability as a teacher. As a result, she receives outstanding teaching evaluations from students and is consistently placed among the very best in the Department. Her excellence as a teacher has been formally recognized by her Department through the Department of Economics Teaching Award, and by the University, through the University of Manitoba Merit Award for Teaching.

Her main interest in recent years has been in how to improve teaching in the Department of Economics as a whole. As a member of the Teaching Committee for the past decade, she has researched, designed and conducted courses and workshops in lecturing and communications for university faculty members, teaching assistants and other instructors in adult and higher education. She has also been a counsellor and resource person in teaching skills, methods and course design. In 1992 Beverly is scheduled to assume directorship of the University of Manitoba Teaching Services (UTS). In this capacity, she will be responsible for a research program to examine the effectiveness of the instructional development activities of the U.T.S. In addition, she will utilize her expertise to design an institution-wide instructional development program, and work to support the different teaching methodologies which are used in a large university.

Beverly’s publications have a pedagogical thrust as well. She has written study guides and co- authored a widely-used introductory economics text in which her contribution was the application of effective thinking skills to economic theory.

Dr. Day’s dedicated involvement with teaching has been his hallmark for 25 years. From 1988 until 1999, he taught the largest number of undergraduates of any instructor at McMaster (typically 3000 each year), including the large Year 1 Introductory Psychology course as well as several second year courses. Dr. Day’s student ratings were consistently at or near the top in the Department, and he was nominated for the McMaster Students’ Union Teaching Award each year from 1987 (when he won for the Faculty of Social Science) until 1999. He is known as one of the University’s most enthusiastic teachers.

Professor Day has received particular recognition for his development of a unique methodology for the introductory course of some 1800 students. This includes hand- picking and training 40 undergraduate tutors, producing and revising a series of fifty 35- minute videotapes and writing a 200 page student handbook including readings, study tips, and sample questions.

Dr. Day served as Hallmaster of McKay Residence for eight years, during which time he worked with students and Residence Administration officials to improve the residence environment and the academic experience for undergraduates. After his term was completed, the Richard B. Day Award for academic excellence and achievement in residence government was instituted.

In addition to his own teaching, Dr. Day has been actively involved in promoting teaching- related activities across the campus. He served three consecutive terms as a member of the University Committee on Teaching and Learning, and as its Chair from 1991 to 1996. During his membership, he was involved in the creation of “TA- Day”, McMaster’s orientation workshop program for teaching assistants, and in the introduction of the President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching. He has also given seminars and workshops on teaching to faculty members at McMaster and at sister institutions in Ontario.

In 1999, Dr. Day was named the first Academic Director of McMaster’s Centre for Leadership in Learning where he is involved in encouraging and supporting innovation in undergraduate education.

“Merci pour l’intérêt, le dynamisme et l’originalité manifestés lors de votre enseignement”. This tribute to the relevance, enthusiasm and originality of Dr. Laszlo DeRoth’s teaching appears as part of a certificate signed by the members of the class due to graduate in 1993 from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. As well as receiving superb ratings from students over almost twenty years of teaching, Laszlo DeRoth has four times been awarded his Faculty’s prize as their most distinguished teacher. Among the many innovative teaching methods he has introduced are the use of case-study methods for large classes and laboratory simulations to replace animal experimentation.

But Dr. DeRoth’s influence goes far beyond his own teaching. As Chair of the Committee for Pedagogical Faculty Development, he helps his colleagues enhance their courses and their teaching skills. As a member of the University of Montreal’s Granting Committee for the Development of University Teaching, he helps colleagues in all Faculties seeking to develop and improve their courses. In extending his leadership to other disciplines and across provincial and national boundaries, he has organized and conducted seminars and symposia on teaching and learning in his own University, in other Canadian universities and in francophone countries in Europe and Africa.

Dr. Gaily is an outstanding teacher. His student evaluations are far above the department average and is one of the most highly rated instructors in the entire Faculty of Science. He brings to his teaching a tremendous enthusiasm for his subject which helps to make his lectures so interesting that often non-science students attend his classes purely out of interest. Although he “manages to tell a story as no one else can”, Dean does much more than put on a show; he motivates an interest in the subject itself [“(He) inspired me to a whole new appreciation for Physics”, “(He has an) uncanny ability to excite and interest his students in the subject”]. In 1990, he was the recipient of an OCUFA Teaching Award, and in 1982, he won the Gold Medal for Outstanding Teaching at the University of Western Ontario.

In addition to his outstanding performance as a classroom teacher, Dean Gaily has made important contributions over the years to faculty development and teaching improvements at UWO. He has served for several years as a member of the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Teaching and Learning, the committee that oversees university-wide instructional development activities. As a Committee member, Dean worked on the arrangements for educational development programs on campus and personally led several workshops on topics such as teaching strategies and techniques for teaching problem solving. He played an important role in shaping the organization and functions of the Educational Development Office.

In the early 1980’s, Dean was part of a task force that reviewed and revised the teaching evaluation system at Western. More recently, Dean has served as coordinator of computer-assisted instruction activities, and in this role has offered regular seminars and workshops for faculty members, and has taught a session each summer on computers in higher education in the credit course for graduate students on university teaching.

It would be no exaggeration to say that Professor Gedalof is one of Western’s best known and most sought-after teachers. He has been a member of the Department of English since 1982 and evidence of his superlative abilities as a university teacher has been steadily accumulating since that time. A mature student of his writes: “…his skill at using lectures, seminars, discussions, visual aids, groups approaches, student reports … kept the students interested, involved and learning. That same variety … actually enticed me enough to read all of Samuel Richardson, even the unabridged `Clarissa’, an experience from which I am still recovering”. In 1990, Allan Gedalof was a recipient of a Teaching Award from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

Allan has a particular talent for seeing how any given content could be taught more effectively. By such contributions, he has assisted both novice and experienced instructors to improve their teaching, particularly as it relates to the manner in which they use their voices and bodies and dramatic style to enhance attention and understanding. His advice has been invaluable to faculty members not only in the liberal arts but also in science, medicine, law and engineering. In addition, Allan has served as Chair of the Senate Committee on Admissions and Academic Programs and has participated in workshops on teaching which the Educational Development Office mounts annually. He continues his efforts as “a teacher of teachers” in the University’s Perspectives on Teaching series and through a graduate credit course on the theory and practice of university teaching. By all his contributions, he has assisted hundreds of faculty members with their teaching.

Ever since his arrival at the University of Windsor in 1964, Dr. Habowsky has shown an exceptionally strong commitment to improve skills in teaching both at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has been the prime contributor for over 20 years to the University of Windsor’s multimedia teaching laboratories. For this sort of dedication, he was awarded the University of Windsor’s Teacher of the Year Award in 1991.

Dr. Habowsky’s contribution in organizing “Individualized Instruction” in the Department of Biological Sciences eventually led to the development of the Biolearning Centre. Under Dr. Habowsky’s direction, this Centre was one of the pioneers in the development of individualized instruction in Canada. This approach uses selected media and carefully-designed feedback to allow a student to work through even the most technically demanding course content at a pace, and via a medium, matching his or her own learning. It provides an exceptionally effective as well as a motivating and interesting learning experience. At the same time, Joseph Habowsky’s students draw attention to his care, his enthusiasm and his commitment to students as people.

Since 1970, Dr. Habowsky has conducted over 40 seminars, workshops and invited presentations for faculty colleagues. He was Chairman of the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning and has also published several articles on ways to improve education. As further evidence of his lifetime commitment to improvements in teaching, he played an active role in the organization of the Inter national Society for Exploring Teaching Alternatives and he was the Society’s first President from Canada.

Gordon Lange is a highly respected member of the faculty, having been the previous winner of teaching awards within the university (University of Guelph Faculty Association, 1983), provincially (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, 1984) and nationally (Union Carbide Award in Chemical Education, 1986). Students consistently rank his teaching at or near the top, and this in a Department with several teaching award winners and carrying the highest undergraduate load in the University. “Dr. Lange is by far the best professor I’ve had”, is a frequent student comment.

His colleagues draw attention to his success as a coordinator of multi-sectioned courses, a key job requiring a great deal of time, attention, care and tact. “A good performance gets little praise, but a poor one leaves students feeling they got a raw deal and the course was unfair”. A high degree of tact is needed to coordinate one’s “sometimes prickly” colleagues. This critical role is in safe hands with Gordon Lange.

Dr. Lange has contributed to the development of teaching beyond his own department through several sessions organized by the University Teaching Support Services. In his workshop “What do I do Tomorrow?” Gord helps faculty members plan ways of beginning a course effectively. In “Research and Teaching/Teaching and Research” he helps colleagues explore the relationship between these two major calls on faculty members’ time. In those sessions, he demonstrated to his colleagues the dedication and thoughtfulness with which he approaches teaching and the way he manifests these qualities to encourage students’ learning.

Professor Nielsen is an exemplary university teacher. She loves her subject and communicates her passion for her students’ learning both in and out of the classroom. When asked, “How do you rate your instructor in this course?”, students give Rosemary Nielsen exceptional evaluations. (Her ratings consistently average 4.9, where 5 is the highest possible, in courses of well over 100 students. This is extremely unusual, even among outstanding teachers). It is no surprise that her teaching has been recognized through the University’s Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Teaching Award of Excellence. In 1990 she was the first Canadian recipient of her own professional association’s award for excellence in the teaching of classics.

Professor Nielsen devotes unstintingly of her time and talent to the improvement of teaching and learning. In her own field, her aim is to make classical writing alive and significant in the lives of her students. Her contributions beyond her own courses include the development of curricula for a new MA and Ph.D. program in classical studies which she single-handedly initiated.

Her influence, however, spreads far beyond her own discipline. As one colleague writes, “She is a visionary teacher who has established a reputation as a reliable and enthusiastic resource person for teaching consultation and peer support.” Another points out that “It is in no small part due to her eloquence that the Faculty Salaries and Promotion Committee has given substantial weight to a professor’s teaching record”. Her contribution to wider teaching excellence includes her active participation in numerous faculty workshops and on the University’s Committee for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning. She has presented many university-wide seminars on teaching, designed to help others improve their teaching, and presented talks on teaching in off-campus venues. She is “an advocate for quality education throughout the curriculum, and for the quality of life for students and faculty alike.”

Over a professional career that spans 38 years, Don Ursino has demonstrated a deep commitment to his students’ learning and has received consistently high ratings from his classes. A typical student comment on a Don Ursino course is: “A tremendous learning experience. This course has inspired me to return to science” and some advice offered by another student: “Study extremely hard for midterms … he only wants excellence – nothing less”. It is very clear that Dr. Ursino’s teaching makes his courses both challenging and rewarding. This commitment is one reason Don won the Brock Alumni Teaching Award, the award for teaching excellence at Brock University. He was also the first Brock professor to win a teaching award from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

In addition to his many informal consultations with colleagues and students, Don was one of the early members of the Instructional Development Committee at Brock, working directly for university-wide teaching improvement for over seven years. In this capacity he organized and gave workshops on teaching for both faculty and teaching assistants, including chairing the Forum on Teaching and Learning and the Teaching Assistant Day programs. His seminars for colleagues include titles such as “Academic Standards and Student Learning” and “What Makes a Good Teacher?”.

Concurrent Education Program:
In Sept. 1990, Brock University introduced a Concurrent BSc/BEd Education Program to produce teachers who are especially well-prepared in science and mathematics to teach in the elementary schools (Grades 4-8). : I participated in the development of this program and from 1990 until 1996 I served as the first Director of the Program and as an instructor of science education in the program. I am involved, therefore, with science education in the elementary schools, and with the preparation of teachers for these classrooms.

Science to “Non-Science” Students:
I enjoy and value the challenge of engaging non-science students in the study of science (biology). One such opportunity is provided through a course that I teach annually to about 700 non-science students. In this course I focus on only two major topics, the biology of cancer and cardiovascular function as it relates to aging and heart disease, and I structure the lectures around the presentation, analysis, and discussion of data from the contemporary research literature. The limited focus of this course and the extensive use of empirical data make it a novel learning experience for the students, and one which significantly involves them in the process of science. My second contact with non-science students comes through a bioethics course which I offer in collaboration with a professor in the Philosophy department. This course, first offered by us in 1981, attracts students from all disciplines, and once again I am challenged to engage the students in science as an important prerequisite for the challenge they face in defining, analyzing, and resolving the moral dilemmas which we deal with in this course.

Much of my current teaching, therefore, is focused on helping and encouraging students who are often uncomfortable with science, or poorly prepared for science or occasionally even negative towards science, to become actively engaged in the learning of science. I seek to positively affect their attitudes toward science and their abilities to engage in this form of enquiry. Teaching-related presentations and activities: I have been involved in several instructional development activities, offering presentations on ‘Teaching Large Classes’ to new faculty members, ‘On Teaching’ to Teaching Assistants, and as a participant in the peer-consultation program. Several years ago, I collaborated in the design and initial offering of a series of three-day, residential “science camps” for students in grades seven and eight. This program has now grown to 12 camps in May with over 1500 students attending from across Ontario. During their 48 hours on campus, the students are involved in laboratory and computer experiences in biology, chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, physics and astronomy. This program has been very well received by the schools and has provided an additional and valuable teaching experience for the BSc/BEd students who serve as instructors in these camps. In addition to the above activities, I continue to serve as academic advisor to Brock’s Varsity Men’s Basketball Team and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University. I am also a competitive distance runner and marathoner, and sing lead in a barbershop quartet of some renown! And, oh yes, I am a competitive runner and marathoner, a member of the SPEBSQSA, and lead singer in a barbershop quartet of some renown!