[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Minister’s announcement 010906 006.jpg” caption=”Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot, and Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Univerisities, announce the Leadership in Faculty Teaching Award at McMaster. Photo by Susan Bubak.”]The inspiration a teacher imparts to a student is one of the best ways to foster life-long learning, and it's a gift that often goes unrecognized. Today, Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, announced the creation of awards honouring teaching excellence at Ontario colleges and universities.

“We are on the side of hard-working Ontario families who want their sons and daughters to find opportunity,” Bentley said in a news release. “That's why our government is committed to promoting teaching excellence at our colleges and universities by rewarding the teaching efforts of faculty who go the extra mile to provide students with an outstanding learning experience.”

Bentley's announcement this morning in Hamilton Hall at McMaster University was attended by faculty and staff from across campus, as well as local media. Ken Norrie, the University's Provost, welcomed Bentley and Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot.

Up to 100 of Ontario's best faculty will be honoured each year with the Leadership in Faculty Teaching Award. Winners will receive a total of $20,000 over two years to encourage continued excellence in the classroom. Details of the nomination process will be available later this year.

The announcement is part of an overall government investment in post-secondary education that will allocate $1 million this year and $2 million each subsequent year from the Reaching Higher Plan.

Under the Reaching Higher Plan, the Ontario government aims to make a $6.2-billion multi-year investment in post-secondary education–the largest in 40 years–to improve access and quality of education at Ontario's colleges and universities.

It's an initiative that supports the continuous improvement in teaching advocated by McMaster's Centre for Leadership in Learning. Under the directorship of Dale Roy, the Centre has been providing support and innovative teaching strategies to faculty across campus for more than 30 years.

Attending today's announcement was Juliet Daniel, associate professor in the Department of Biology, and Megumi Harada, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, both of whom have embraced the idea that teaching excellence is gained beyond the classroom.

Daniel has taken numerous courses through the Centre for Leadership in Learning. A holder of the Premier's Research Excellence Award, Daniel has taught the year-one science inquiry course and is now teaching it to peer tutors.

Harada is a new addition to McMaster's faculty. She was one of 10 finalists in TV Ontario's Best Lecturer in Ontario 2005, and regularly appears in the media to discuss mathematics in everyday life from stock market scams to survey results to marriage.