posted on June 8: Students applaud professor’s development of self-thinkers
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Butler.Richard.jpg” caption=”Richard Butler”]McMaster professor Richard Butler will receive an Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations' (OCUFA) Teaching Award for his “tireless passion for teaching and for teaching about learning” at an awards ceremony today (June 8) in Toronto.
A professor in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Butler teaches medical, nursing, occupational therapy and physiotherapy and science students. “His enthusiasm for and considerable knowledge about the inter-relationships between the disciplines of anatomy and physiology is an integral part of what makes him an excellent teacher,” says the OCUFA citation.
“Professor Butler's teaching philosophy stresses the students' need to learn how to think, how to think critically, and how to communicate ideas,” says OCUFA. “We are proud to honour Professor Richard Butler with a well-deserved OCUFA Teaching Award.”
Butler has already received four MSU Teaching Awards for the Faculty of Science and was the overall MSU winner for the University in 1990.
In 2000 he received the Teaching Excellence Award from the Faculty of Health Sciences and the President's Award for Excellence in Instruction.
The OCUFA citation quotes McMaster students who say: “Dr. Butler does not lecture, he makes you think. . .I had no idea that in my fourth year of university, that such a drastic improvement could be made to the way I process thought. Dr. Butler gave us ownership over our education.”
Another student is quoted as saying: “His time and efforts were well invested He helped develop us into self-thinkers, problem solvers not fearful of unanswered questions but rather excited and intrigued by them. . .the result will have a profound impact on whatever realm of society or science we should choose to apply it to.”
OCUFA president Henry Jacek, a professor of political science at McMaster, said “The recipients of the teaching awards are people who make a difference both to their profession, and in the lives of their students by ensuring the best in course development, instruction, and research.”
OCUFA represents 11,000 university professors and academic librarians from across Ontario.