MSU Teaching Awards recognize outstanding profs and TAs

The McMaster Students Union recognized 16 dedicated and engaging profs, instructors and teaching assistants with this year’s MSU Teaching Awards.

The awards are presented each year to an outstanding instructor from each faculty, as well as from the School of Nursing, department of Kinesiology and the Arts and Science program. Considerations for the awards include the educator’s ability to communicate and their approachability, as recognized by their students in the nominations.

The awards also recognize teaching assistants who have demonstrated exceptional organizational skills, comprehensive knowledge of their subject, clear and exceptional communication skills, enthusiasm about the subject and teaching, ability to engage students and constructive and timely feedback.

Here are this year’s winners:

Excellence in Teaching

Ayesha Khan | Science

“My teaching is inspired by learning from those that continue to pursue their passions despite choosing paths that are at high risk of failure,” says Khan, an associate professor of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour. “I am reminded by my students to engage them in ways that make their learning matter not only for the academics but also to their daily lives.”

Sarah Clancy | Social Sciences

A social psychologist and assistant professor in the department of health, aging and society, Clancy recently received a MacPherson Institute Priority Areas for Teaching and Learning Research Grant to support a student-run social psychology conference to offer students hands-on research experience and inquiry at the undergraduate level. Clancy expertly guides final-year social psychology students through the steps of primary data collection, analysis and interpretation.

Claire Tuckey | Kinesiology

“Reflecting on the professors and instructors that I’ve had, the ones who love their jobs stand out the most,” Tuckey says. “Teaching through the lens of having fun, having a sense of humour, letting your students see your personality are all part of the art of teaching.” Students describe Tuckey, a PhD candidate, as approachable, kind, welcoming, funny and helpful

Meirav Jones | Arts and Science

Jones’ research examines the intersection between religion and political and legal thought, recovering religious roots of secular legal and political ideas, and critically approaching the secular establishment with a rethinking of the role of religion at its foundations.

Anna Korol | Engineering

Korol teaches in the health engineering and entrepreneurship stream of the iBioMed program, and develops new educational projects in the Michael G. DeGroote Health Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (MGDII Health ICE). Korol is committed to creating a sustainable structure for health technology innovation at McMaster. She works on forming interdisciplinary collaborations and student-industry partnerships that enrich the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the interface between health sciences and engineering.

Frances Tuer | DeGroote School of Business

Management professor and a winner of the teaching award in 2017, Tuer is an outspoken advocate for pragmatic, innovative teaching and learning. “What matters is that my students thrive because I create as close to possible ideal growing conditions for their human, social and intellectual capital, and also make them “hardy” so they can survive in tough conditions, bending but not breaking,” she writes on her website.

“I measure my success by the growth and change that I see in my students from first to fourth year and the role I had in both challenging and supporting them.”

Maria Pratt | School of Nursing

“I am very humbled and honoured to be this year’s recipient of the MSU teaching award,” says Pratt, an assistant professor and faculty lead for the BScN accelerated stream. “I am sincerely grateful to my students for recognizing my passion and love of teaching. They continually inspire and motivate me to improve my teaching practice with their feedback.”

Sheena Jary | Humanities

“I placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of the viewing the classroom as a community – a place where we respect and support each other,” says english and cultural studies PhD student Sheena Jary, who taught Reading and Writing Criticism in the Winter 2022 term, and facilitated the Faculty of Humanities’ leadership courses.

“I am proud to say that the students really came together this term. They were so kind as I got used to the hybrid classroom, so I felt a sense of peace as I was teaching. Winning the MSU Excellence in Teaching Award was a perfect way to end a lovely semester. Knowing that my students cared enough about me as a teacher that they would nominate and evaluate me is so validating, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Joshua Koenig | Health Sciences

Application-based awards

Jamal Deen | Lifetime Achievement Award

Seshasai Srinivasan | Pedagogical Innovation Award

Laura Facciolo | Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

Mayu Nishimura | Teaching Merit Award

Hamidreza Mahyar | Teaching Merit Award

Teaching Assistant Merit awards

Umaima Abbas BIOLOGY 1A03

Daniel D’Souza IBEHS 1EP6A