Posted on June 9: Four outstanding educators honoured
For their outstanding contributions to McMaster students, Sue Baptiste, Patricia Solomon, Michael Brook, and Jim Waddington, have been crowned recipients of the 2003 President's Awards.
The President's Awards demonstrate the value McMaster attaches to its educational function and recognize those who, through innovation and commitment, have significantly enhanced the quality of learning by McMaster students.
The President's Award for Educational Leadership recognizes the contributions of an individual that more generally promote excellence in teaching and learning. The contributions in question may not influence any single course or program directly but have effects well beyond the nominee's own department or faculty.
The President's Award for Instruction recognizes the contributions of an individual to education through innovation, achievement or continuing excellence in classroom or personal instruction.
President's Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership
Sue Baptiste and Patricia Solomon
Two assistant deans in the School of Rehabilitation Science are this year's recipients of the President's Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership.
These two professors have provided visionary leadership in the development of a new curriculum for the Master's Program in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy. Together they ensure that the educational programs in the Faculty of Health Sciences are enriched through the delivery of well-designed interdisciplinary experiences.
They are recognized across Canada and internationally for their exceptionally creative and innovative leadership in problem-based learning at McMaster. Enthusiastic, inspiring, visionary and committed to excellence are among the words used to describe the leadership style of this dynamic duo.
Lively learning, fun and humour are three trademarks of Baptiste's teaching. Respected for her enthusiasm and energy, she is an innovative thinker and a creative scholar. She provides tutor training and development activities in problem-based learning to faculty members. The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists honoured her for her educational leadership in 2001.
Through sustained and effective leadership, Solomon has advanced student learning in McMaster's physiotherapy program. Her educational activities have had significant impact through publications, consultations, visitors to McMaster and workshops. Innovative curriculum development and educational research are the hallmarks of her success. She is actively involved in the Northern Studies Stream and in obtaining funding for evaluating interdisciplinary initiatives in the areas of HIV and AIDS.
President's Award for Excellence in Instruction
Michael Brook
Michael Brook is the kind of professor all students want to have. He likes to have fun in the classroom, he makes learning interesting and exciting, and he uses real-life applications in his instruction.
It's no surprise then that Brook has been nominated for the MSU Teaching Award seven times and last year won the MSU Faculty of Science Teaching Award. His energy, innovation and proficiency in teaching Level I chemistry to more than 250 students have earned him high marks on teaching evaluations. He has also taught a variety of other courses both at the graduate and undergraduate levels over the last 10 years and has earned student accolades for his instruction in these courses as well.
Students find him approachable, down to earth and funny. He possesses a sense of humour which enhances the classroom environment and he is well known for his ability to introduce a chemical or science-related topic from everyday life and use it to emphasize the importance and relevance of chemistry in everyday life.
Brook makes learning what it should be: the quest to further one's knowledge because one wants to. He has an uncanny ability to open his students' eyes to new and exciting areas of knowledge and to fuel their curiosity for chemistry.
In January, Brook himself became a student once again after winning a Killam Research Fellow award. Over the next two years he will take biochemistry courses and learn to use biochemical techniques at labs at McMaster and at U.S. universities.
Jim Waddington
An outstanding and popular undergraduate instructor, physics & astronomy professor Jim Waddington has taught introductory physics courses at McMaster for the past 30 years. He ranks consistently at the top of the department in his student evaluations.
Devoted to students at all levels, he is always accessible to them and ready to lend a helping hand.
Waddington has a special ability to make physics understandable, even to students who might struggle with it. He creates a learning environment that students find comfortable, encouraging and exciting. He makes connections in the material and explains concepts, theories and ideas in ways that are easily understood. A top-rated lecturer, Waddington has more recently adopted an interactive learning style within the classroom, a format that gets students more fully involved in learning. His classes help to dispel the myth that physics is hard and boring.
Nominated 12 times for an MSU Teaching Award, he won the Physics Club Teaching Award in 1989.
As a mentor and expert physicist, Waddington is a skilled guide of learning. He has involved a number of his undergraduate students in his research, which involves the study of nuclei with high angular momentum. As well, a number of his graduate students have progressed to establish remarkably successful careers.
