The University of Calgary Students’ Union honoured outstanding instructors for their contributions to student success at the annual Teaching Excellence Awards ceremony April 26.
Fourteen instructors from across the university received the award while six faculty members were inducted into the Teaching Excellence Awards Hall of Fame, a new addition to the ceremony which recognizes instructors who have won the award multiple times.
Faculty of science, biological sciences instructor Isabelle Barrette-Ng was one of the first round of inductees into the hall of fame after winning the award three times in the last four years.
“It’s a fantastic award that means even more because it’s from the students,” Barrette-Ng said. “It’s unique across the country in universities in the sense that it’s from the students.”
Barrette-Ng said she thinks that the secret to her successful teaching methods is making students interested on a level where they actually want to learn the material. The strategy has evidently paid off with multiple nominations from her students, which she says is an honour.
“It still came to me as a surprise,” Barrette-Ng said of this year’s nomination. “I always ask myself why, I think I’ve just been blessed with great students.”
At the awards ceremony, in one of her last duties with the SU, former vice president academic Meg Martin said the recipients made a true difference in the academic pursuits of U of C students through their teaching.
“We were thrilled to honour those instructors who have made a great impact on students here at the University of Calgary,” said Martin.
The Teaching Excellence Awards is a SU program that allows students to nominate those instructors they feel deserve the recognition every November, March, June and August. Faculty members and teaching assistants require multiple student nominations to be considered officially nominated.
The SU lists criteria for selection as an ability to communicate broad and accurate knowledge of the subject matter, as well as an ability to create enthusiasm among their students.
Even though Barrette-Ng is no longer eligible for the award now that she has been inducted into the hall of fame, she still believes the program is a fantastic opportunity.
“I think it will give a chance to other people,” Barrette-Ng said.