“She’s the only professor where I feel I can follow along during lecture and never walk out going ‘what the heck just happened?’” 

“I’ve never had a teacher explain things in a course so unbelievably well … even the complicated stuff; he breaks everything down step by step, making it so easy to understand and never leaving us confused.” 

“She takes the time to know you, offers you advice, and makes you fall in love with the course material.” 

“I’m not even in Commerce, I took this as an elective with no previous accounting experience, but I’m bummed he doesn’t teach second-year courses because I would’ve taken them.” 

“In my opinion, it would be a simply crime if you fail to select her as a winner of the MSU Teaching Award.” 

Thousands of McMaster students shared outpourings of praise like this for instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) in their submissions for this year’s McMaster Students Union Teaching Awards.  

The instructor awards recognize extraordinary educators from each of the six faculties — Science, Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences — as well as the Arts & Science program, School of Nursing and department of Kinesiology.  

Based entirely on student submissions, the awards serve as a reminder that students recognize and appreciate not only their instructors’ teaching skills, but also their communication, approachability, enthusiasm and all-round commitment to student success. 

“What makes these awards special is that they come directly from the students,” said Provost and Vice-president (Academic) Susan Tighe. “One of the really important things you can do as an instructor is to help students feel seen and feel heard. And that can sometimes be challenging when you’re teaching very big classes. 

“What this tells me is they’re paying attention to those really important aspects and really making a big difference for our students.” 

Organized by the MSU’s Macademics, this year’s calls for nominations yielded upward of 4,000 student submissions each in the fall and winter terms.  

“It’s really heartwarming to read what students have to say about their profs,” say Macademics Student Teaching Awards coordinators Rinsy Gandhi and Ghuram Alzuabidi.  

“Our favourite part is reading some of these comments. Sometimes it makes you want to cry, knowing how much these professors care for their students.”  

Here are this year’s winners of the student-nominated awards, along with a sampling of what their students said about them: 

Shahrukh Athar | Faculty of Engineering  

From his energy in the classroom always keeping us curious about learning, to noticing when midterm season is stressing us out and giving comforting advice, he always wants the best for us. It is very clear that a lot of time and dedication goes into his planning of lessons and the overall course. He is eager to help students and responds very quickly to questions. He notices when things are working for student learning and quickly adapts. He is very approachable and really ensures students are understanding the material.

Overall, he made coming into the lecture hall fun and exciting each day and is by far my favourite professor. 

Michelle Cadieux | Faculty of Science 

As a first year, I came into university with the impression that professors were just instructors… people I’d see for an hour a week and never think about again. I’ve never come across a teacher who puts so much passion into what they do. It’s so evident that Dr. Cadieux’s heart is with her content and students when she delivers her lessons. Not only that, she is extremely knowledgeable and goes above and beyond to instruct students in a way that allows them to succeed. 

I love how engaging Dr. Michelle Cadieux is. Out of all the classes I have this semester … I have never found any as engaging as this one. Have you ever heard of a professor that has interactive web modules with funny skits, or tutorials that promote collaboration, or even manage to capture a student’s attention from the beginning until the end of the lecture and making them wish PSYCH with Dr. Cadieux was longer than 50 minutes? Dr. Cadieux’s enthusiasm for teaching makes my 4:30 pm Monday lectures with her even more enjoyable, and many students from a variety of programs here at McMaster University could also say the same. 

Krista Howarth | Department of Kinesiology 

She is my favourite professor I have ever had. She’s the only professor where I feel I can follow along during lecture and never walk out going “what the heck just happened?” She always asks for feedback and always listens and makes adjustments right away. She takes hours of her time holding additional office hours and even more on test weeks, she’s such an angel for our exam coming up, she said she wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to ask their questions so we can just email her and set up a meeting over the exam break.  

If you ever do bad on a midterm and are concerned she’s happy to sit down with you with your test and walk you through every question and talk about how you can move forward to improve your grade.  

I’ve never seen a more hardworking, kindhearted, genuine person and if anyone deserves this award it’s Dr. Howarth. I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t be biased when picking my courses next year, I’ll be taking as many of her classes as I can! 

“Teaching got me through the hard times” — Click here for Krista Howarth’s inspiring story 

Aadil Merali Juma | DeGroote School of Business 

Dr Merali is the best prof I have had this semester by far. Besides the fact that he teaches accounting — which is often regarded as the hardest first year commerce course — in such a clear and concise way, often relating the content to real-life examples that we come across in our day-to-day life, he is incredibly approachable and so helpful. He takes questions asked in class and integrates them back into the learning as opposed to just giving an answer, and not only that, if you still have questions he stays after class to chat, promptly responds to emails, and is very kind during his office hours.  

He understands that the content is confusing and difficult, and frankly (he said it himself) boring at times, but Commerce 1AA3 is the highlight of my week because of Dr. Merali. He genuinely wants us to succeed and it’s clear in the way he teaches. I’m not even in Commerce, I took this as an elective with no previous accounting experience, but I’m bummed he doesn’t teach second-year courses because I would’ve taken them. 

Caitlin Mullarkey | Faculty of Health Sciences 

She has made our entire class love the subject as much as she does (which is to say, a lot). She has been wonderfully accommodating of my needs as a student throughout the term. Her lectures this term were engaging and entertaining, but also informative.  

Her quizzes had fun scenarios with fake made up viruses that clearly showcased creativity and being interested in entertaining us (no one likes writing a quiz, but it’s nice when your professor includes something to make you smile on that quiz — like Eras Tour Virus!!!)  

She always responded to my questions on the discussion board on Avenue in detail and in a timely manner, which allowed me to study more effectively for each quiz. One of the greatest at this university. 

Erica Speakman | Faculty of Social Sciences 

Erica Speakman is an incredible professor, true to herself, and a very genuine person. She always has a welcoming smile when coming into class and she always makes it fun to learn. She constantly teaches the course material with clarity, makes it easy to understand, and allows the class to engage.  

She allows the class to give real life examples while she runs around the room to hear our answers. Not only is it funny to see … but it shows us that she truly cares and has motivation to teach us and it directly impacts our learning.  

If she did not show that she cared, we would not have the motivation to learn the content and she is one of the only profs I’ve had that actually motivates me to learn.  

Erica Speakman is also very approachable and she always makes sure your questions are answered. She has definitely made a massive impact on my time at McMaster so far and I hope to take more classes from her in the future. SHE DESERVES TO WIN!!!!!!!!!!! 

Mary Edward | Faculty of Humanities 

Dr. Edward is the best professor that I have had. She is so passionate about the work that she does, which is so important, as by teaching ASL, she is an important advocate for the deaf community.  

She approaches each class with kindness and excitement making the class excited to learn about the topic of the day. She is compassionate to the students and any struggles they are dealing with. I can’t say enough good things about her. 

Megumi Harada | Arts & Science  

I have never had a better instructor than Dr. Harada. She has managed to turn calculus — a subject I have struggled with tremendously — into my favourite class because of her incredibly engaging and interesting teaching.  

In the first week, she learned every single person’s name and continues to go out of her way to make everyone feel like a valuable member of the learning environment. Beyond the course itself, she is an exceptionally kind and compassionate person and I consider myself lucky to have gotten to meet her in the first place. 

Lynn Martin | School of Nursing 

Lynn Martin is a passionate and empathetic professor. She is very knowledgeable about the topics she teaches and obviously loves nursing. She is very empathetic to students’ needs and takes into account students’ personal circumstances when considering their performance in class. She engages different ways of teaching (ex. debates, Kahoots, mind maps, role-playing, Socratic thinking questions) to engage students in learning and is not afraid to ask us for feedback to improve her teaching.

Lynn Martin truly wants students to succeed in school and develop a passion for the career path they have chosen. 

Three teaching assistants — Nikita Holyev and Majdi Flah, from the Faculty of Engineering; and Jack Tang from the Faculty of Science — also received student-nominated TA awards. 

The MSU also awarded five application-based awards for instructors or TAs.

Here are this year’s recipients:  

Michael Justason | MSU Award of Distinction  
Leila Somani-Davis | Teaching Assistant of the Year Award 
Fei Geng | Innovation Award 
Jim Avik Ghoshdastidar | Merit Award 
Joshua Nederveen | Community Engagement Award