Arshad Ahmad is an Associate Professor and Director of the Finance Co-op Program at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University. He joined the Finance Department in 1982.

Arshad received an MBA and Ph.D from McGill University and holds a CGA designation. He was recognized as a distinguished teacher in his Faculty in 1990 and an excellent teacher by the Concordia Council on Student Life. He was also honoured as the most dedicated professor to student life. In 2001, he began serving as Coordinator for the 3M teaching fellowships program. Arshad was also awarded the George L.Geis Dissertation of the Year Award for the most outstanding doctoral dissertation in Higher Education by the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education.

Arshad has authored several texts, including Canadian Financial Management (5th Edition) and other learning material. The latter includes study guides, case studies, video series, CDROM, and pedagogical devices on the World Wide Web. His research interests are in the areas of cognitive and instructional psychology as well as the design of open-learning environments. He has created and taught the faculty’s first web-based undergraduate and graduate course in Personal Finance which has attracted record enrolment. He has also been awarded a major developmental grant by the Office of Learning Technologies to help the youth of minority communities (Blacks and the Cree) in developing lifelong learning skills.

Arshad has been very active in teaching and leaning issues in higher education. He chaired the Educational Technology Conference at Concordia University and has been an invited speaker at several universities including Laval, McGill, McMaster, Carleton, Western, Victoria as well as private and public institutions overseas.

Guy Allen is an unusually talented teacher. His great enthusiasm for, and love of his work, his teaching skills, his sensitivity to the learning style of his students, and his ability to understand and empathize with his students have resulted in remarkable achievements by his students. He is currently a senior tutor with a joint appointment in the Transitional Year Programme (TYP), where he has been teaching writing for approximately 15 years, and Erindale College where he also teaches writing.

Students in the Transitional Year Programme are atypical undergraduates with very different knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Their learning styles, motivations, aspirations, confidence and self-esteem also differ substantially. For these and related reasons, teaching TYP students places unusual demands on an instructor’s ability. Despite these challenges, Professor Allen has been consistently rated as an excellent or very good teacher by 100% of his students.

In the mid-1980’s, he spearheaded a reorganization of the writing course at TYP which greatly improved its effectiveness. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the University of Toronto Native Students Association and has been acting as advisor to the Association. Professor Allen has been a leading exponent of progressive and innova tive teaching. More recently, his hard work and initiative have resulted in the establishment of a modern computer laboratory in the TYP. He supervised the installation of this facility and has been volunteering his time to assist students in gaining competence using computers.

Throughout his 30 years at Queen’s University, William Barnes has shown a steadfast commitment to improving teaching skills at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels. His contributions to pedagogy are significant, not the least of which are his organiza-tion of summer refresher courses for high school English teachers, his mentoring of junior faculty members and graduate students in the department, and his dauntless efforts to promote the importance of effective teaching across the curriculum.

Professor Barnes possesses the basic talents required of any good teacher: he has a thorough knowledge of his subject, he requires high standards of performance from his students, and he has the discernment and social skills necessary to foster and direct a stimulating learning environment. The special passion he brings to his subject makes his lectures popular among not only humanities students but science students as well. The strongest evidence of the high regard in which students hold his teaching may be found in his being presented the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society’s Award for Teaching Excellence in both 1986 and 1992. No other faculty member has received this honour twice.

Professor Barnes has always been at the centre of activities devoted to improving the teaching of English both at Queen’s and the surrounding area. He has conducted poetry work-shops at high schools, worked with the Kingston Area Teachers of English, and provided service on the University’s advisory committee on instructional programs for area prisons. These are unrewarded extra tasks that he adds to his official duties at Queen’s.

Joseph Cunsolo’s reputation as an extremely effective teacher in and out of the classroom is based upon his enthusiasm and excitement for mathematics, his wonderful clarity of presentation, his well-known accessibility outside of class, and his care and concern for students and their learning. His teacher evaluations are among the highest in the department of 28 faculty. He has taught a wide spectrum of courses but has been a stalwart in the development and delivery of the University’s large introductory calculus course, making it a course of relevance, rigour and academic value. In 1986, Professor Cunsolo was the recipient of the University of Guelph Faculty Association Professorial Award for the College of Physical and Engineering Science.

Over the years, he has conducted numerous seminars, workshops and conferences on teaching and learning topics, as well as edited papers and newsletters on teaching and learning. In January 1989, he was appointed Instructional Development Coordinator for Teaching Support Services at Guelph for a three year term. In this capacity, he coached the planning of Guelph’s faculty development activities, contributes to a host of teaching workshops, publishes articles and worked with fellow faculty members to develop and improve teaching on campus. His energy and enthusiasm helped build Guelph’s “Instructional Show and Tell” Conference into an annual event that attracts well over 100 participants from southern Ontario and beyond.

David Foot is an outstanding teacher; his performance in the Department of Economics can only be described as exceptional in quality and consistency. Written comments by his students uniformly praise his ability to communicate, his preparedness and organization, his encouragement of independent thinking, and his success in bringing into the discussion examples drawn from current events and controversies among specialists in the field. In 1992, he was a recipient of the Students’ Administrative Council and Association of Part- time Undergraduate Students’ Teaching Award. The fact that this is the second time he has received this award is an impressive tribute to his teaching excellence.

Professor Foot is always willing to assist his colleagues in teaching development initiatives. He has presented at the Faculty of Arts and Science “Effective Teaching” seminar for new faculty, and has consulted with other departments on the design of courses. His early interest in the evaluation of teaching resulted in a program for his own department. More recently, his interest in the numerous implications of demographic trends has resulted in repeated requests for seminars, presentations at conferences and workshops, always with the intent of helping educational institutions and other organizations better prepare for the future. Many of these trends have been outlined in his best-selling Boom Bust & Echo books which are now part of many course curricula in a variety of educational settings.

Diane Labrèche has devoted herself to the art of her profession since the very first course she taught. She is an effective communicator and attentive listener. She is extremely organized and thorough when preparing for class; she is thoughtful and innovative when presenting in class. Her concern for student learning means she takes the extra time required to systematically review her teaching with a view to improving it. Students note that she is a professor who is demanding both of herself and of them. Professor Labrèche enjoys an outstanding reputation among students, which comes as no surprise, given her rare collection of care and skill as a teacher.

Her unique qualities find expression not only in her willingness to help students learn but also in her commitment to assist other law teachers to improve and strive for excellence. Probably the single most important contribution she has made to law teaching in Canada has been as Director and staff member of the Canadian Law Teaching Clinic. The Clinic first offered seminars on teaching in 1979 and is now the longest running clinic of its type with an international reputation. Her tireless dedication to the Clinic has meant that even through difficult times the only program for the improvement of law teaching in Canada has survived and evolved. She has spent countless hours at the Clinic and has participated in all aspect’s of the Clinic’s work from overall programme planning to the detailed develop ment of individual sessions.

Harry Murray is an outstanding teacher, a respected scholar, and an acknowledged leader in educational development. He has demonstrated excellence in teaching, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, for well over two decades. His personal reputa tion as a stimulating, challenging teacher is attested to by colleagues, and by past and current undergraduate and graduate students. Professor Murray brings out a love of the subject and a respect for careful, systematic, scientific analysis of human behaviour, particularly in educational settings. He was recognized in 1981 when he received the University of Western Ontario Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 1984 when he received an Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Association’s Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Professor Murray is one of the few fine teachers in universities who have gone beyond excellence in the classroom on an individual basis and have attempted to bring out the best in their colleagues. A colleague of his writes, ” For me and for many others who care about teaching at Western, it has been first and foremost Harry who got us involved in programs to improve teaching, who pointed the way to improvement, and who by leadership and example kept us focused on the nature and value of good teaching.” Professor Murray is recognized as an expert on teacher effectiveness and the evaluation of teaching at the university level. He has produced an impressive number of publica tions, conference papers, and colloquium addresses on various aspects of teaching within Canada and internationally. He pioneered the first Canadian credit course on teaching for graduate students. He designed a comprehensive course and continues to teach it each summer.

Publications:

• Murray, H.G., Rushton, J.P., & Paunonen, S.P. (1990). Teacher personality traits and student instructional ratings in six types of university courses. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 250-261.
• Murray, H.G. (1991). Effective teaching behaviors in the college classroom. In J. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research. Volume 7. New York: Agathon.
• Koon, J. & Murray, H.G. (1995). Using multiple outcomes to validate student ratings of overall teaching effectiveness. Journal of Higher Education, 66, 61-81.
• Renaud, R.D. & Murray, H.G. Aging, personality, and teaching effectiveness in academic psychologists. Research in Higher Education. In press.

Workshops, Colloquia, Papers Presented:

• “Summative evaluation and faculty development : A synergistic relationship?” National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, Invitational Conference on the Development of Faculty as Teachers, Princeton, New Jersey, February, 1993.
• “Small group teaching”, King’s College, November 1993
• “Can teaching be improved?” Brock University, May, 1994.
• “Student evaluation of teaching: A 25-year perspective”, Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, Calgary, June 1994.
• “The teaching dossier”, University of Ottawa, September, 1994.
• “Evaluation of teaching”, Algoma University College, September, 1994.
• “Styles of lecturing”, University of Western Ontario, September, 1994.

Awards:

• Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, Award for Excellence in Research, 1993

Sue Stanton has demonstrated teaching excellence throughout her career. The University of British Columbia formally recognized her achievements in 1990 with a Killam Excellence in Teaching Award. She strives to develop multiple ways to engage students actively in the learning process. Beyond the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Sue is a member of a team of University Instructional Skills Workshop facilitators and actively promotes educational opportunities that provide positive academic and fieldwork experiences for students.

Primary areas of expertise include:

• educational administration;
• the design, development and evaluation of educational programs and courses in ‘face-to-face’ and Web-based learning contexts, and the design of unique active learning activities that link theory with practice.

Elizabeth Tumasonis has been well known as an outstanding teacher at the University of Victoria for many years. There is nothing postured or posed about her teaching, students simply note that she loves what she is doing and succeeds in instilling this love in them. She has a stunning capacity to inspire students at both the undergraduate and graduate level and in many disciplines: the history of art and architecture, studio art, theatre, languages and literature. Her classes are extremely stimulating, informative, challenging and often sparkle with humour. She can be characterized as a wide-ranging humanist, intellectually dedicated to interdisciplinary teaching and learning and committed to making her field understandable and appealing. Professor Tumasonis served as the Chair of her Department from 1991 to 1994.

In 1989, she became the first winner of the University of Victoria Alumni Teaching Award. Since that time, she has been even more active in helping to promote teaching improvement across the campus through a range of activities. She introduced a training program for teaching assistants, served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Learning and Teaching Centre, served on a number of committees dealing with teaching in art history, and conducted peer consultations for colleagues. As an active member of the University of Victoria Task Force on Teaching she recently assisted with the review of all aspects of teaching and learning at the University.

Wayne Weston has been teaching medicine since he started practicing family medicine in 1965 in the small village of Tavistock, Ontario. The ratings of his teaching are always well above average and student comments include quotes such as, “He continued to stress the fact that patients are real people and deserve much respect”, and “He was reassuring and gave criticism in a constructive manner.” One of Professor Weston’s most significant accomplishments has been the development of a full year Masters level course on Teaching and Learning in Family Medicine. This course has been running since 1977 and has had participants from all over the world.

As Assistant Dean for Faculty Development, Professor Weston was praised for his proactive approach to improving teaching and learning in the Faculty of Medicine. He worked diligently to introduce problem-based learning in the undergraduate medical curriculum and trained a large number of faculty members to serve as tutors within a problem-based curriculum. He has been invited to assist other medical schools working on similar projects and has conducted workshops on teaching and learning for medical educators from across Canada and internationally in the United States, Scotland, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates.