[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Semogas_Dyanne02.jpg” caption=”President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching recipient Dyanne Semogas. Photo credit: Deborah McIvor”]An assistant professor in the School of Nursing who was the driving force behind a course designed to make students cognizant of the plight of the homeless has won the McMaster University President's Award for Excellence in Teaching (Course or Resource Design).

Dyanne Semogas was named this year's winner of the award for her work with the innovative nursing elective course, Poverty and Homelessness, which was established in 2002.

She worked with both faculty and students to develop the course that combines the traditional McMaster tutorial model of learning with a service-learning strategy.

Students explore issues of social justice in the classroom, and apply their knowledge by serving community organizations that bring them into contact with the poor and marginalized of Hamilton.

From an enrolment of six in its inaugural year, the course has grown to include about 40 students, many of them from outside of the School of Nursing. The course is open to students from health sciences, as well as social sciences, business and humanities programs. Growing interest in the course has resulted in a waiting list for the past two years. Students and community leaders alike have praised Semogas for her inspiring teaching and commitment.

Believed to be the only course of its type in Canada, Poverty and Homelessness addresses health concerns of the poor or homeless, and the role of advocacy and politics in poverty.

The need for the course grew out of the McMaster University Student Outreach Clinic (MacSOC), a weekly volunteer service that provides the homeless in downtown Hamilton with food and clothing.

In addition to her role as coordinator of Poverty and Homelessness, Semogas has been a key member and academic head of MacSOC for the past seven years.

The President's Award for Excellence in Teaching was established in 1993 to recognize outstanding contributions to education. Each winner receives a citation and memento at Spring Convocation and a $5,000 honorarium. Their names and photographs will be included on McMaster's Wall of Recognition in Gilmour Hall.