The Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing is delighted to announce 13 members of the Faculty earned peer- and student-nominated 2011 Teaching Awards. The awards were presented to the winners September 21, 2011, by Elizabeth Peter, Associate Dean, Academic Programs.
Below is a list of award descriptions and excerpts from the winners’ nomination letters.
Creative Teaching Award
The Creative Teaching Award recognizes excellence in teaching that challenges, stimulates critical thinking in students and fosters scholarship in nursing. This award is peer-nominated.
Winner: Erica Cambly
“[Erica] has been influential in the professional development of our undergraduate students and will continue to influence many more students throughout her career. She challenges them, stimulates them to think, inspires them to value scholarship, and to be scholars and researchers. She has many qualities that make her ideal for a creative teaching award.”
Winner: Sean Clarke
“Creativity in teaching is something Professor Sean Clarke embodies. His approach is to engage students in a critical dialogue about current issues in health care, and his constructive feedback enables students to develop a critical, scholarly perspective on current issues facing nursing in particular and health care in general.”
Sensitivity to Equity & Diversity Award
The Sensitivity to Equity & Diversity Award recognizes exceptional sensitivity to equity and diversity that enhances classroom teaching, curriculum design and the student experience. This award is peer-nominated.
Winner: Joanna Louis
“Ms. Louis made a sustained contribution to ensuring our course addressed equity and diversity effectively over the past four years. She demonstrates an excellent knowledge base in terms of access, equity and diversity practice. During the past two years, she extended her knowledge base by completing a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner course at Ryerson University. Her confidence and competence developed significantly, and she was able to share this with the faculty team.”
Winner: Pam Walker
“Pam brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with the Aboriginal population to her work with students. She has been involved in interviewing and preparing students for NUR480: Critical Perspectives in Global Nursing: An Elective Practicum prior to their placements. Pam was also Faculty advisor to a group of 12 NUR470: Integrative Practicum students going to Aboriginal placements for the final practicum. This was the first time the Faculty had so many Aboriginal placements in this course.”
The Mentoring Award
The Mentoring Award recognizes an outstanding contribution to enhance both student and faculty experience beyond usual activities through mentoring, availability for questions and consultations, and collegial involvement in scholarly activities. This award is both peer- and student-nominated.
Winner: Francine Wynn
“Francine Wynn has had a profound influence on us through the courses she has taught. Her outstanding ability to explain highly complex ideas and her firm scholarly engagement to both theories and nursing practice has radically changed our outlook on nursing. By applying theory, philosophical as well as political thinking, our understanding of the health care system in general, and nursing in particular, has significantly deepened.”
Excellence in Online Teaching Award
The Excellence in Online Teaching Award recognizes excellence in teaching using virtual modalities as demonstrated by the ability to stimulate student engagement, innovation, enthusiasm and critical thinking in online courses or online components of courses. This award is both peer- and student-nominated.
Winner: Willi Kirenko
“Willi provides a positive and productive online environment, while demonstrating outstanding professionalism and role modelling with an exceptional approach to learning that is supportive, respectful, creative, enthusiastic, evidence-based and student-centred. She exhibits effectiveness in fostering critical thinking and problem solving skills in a consistently timely nature.”
Teaching Assistant Award
The Teaching Assistant Award recognizes effectiveness in bridging the gap between instructor and students; for example, through the support of students preparing papers and through the provision of constructive feedback through grading. The award is both course instructor- and student-nominated.
Winner: Maki Iwase
“Maki has a unique approach to the TA role, as one quickly feels that she will do her utmost to provide support during the learning process. She made herself readily available for consultations, both before every class and upon request. When struggling with grasping complicated ideas, Maki’s meticulous explanations and her generous encouragement contributed significantly to enhance understanding.”
Teaching Excellence Award
The Teaching Excellence Award recognizes excellence in teaching as demonstrated by superlative communication skills, master of subject area, ability to stimulate enthusiasm and critical/analytic thinking in students, and the development of innovative teaching approaches. This award is student-nominated.
Winner: Denise Gastaldo
“Dr. Gastaldo demonstrates an awe-inspiring mastery of her subject, and she brings an engaging, critical, yet brilliantly clear and focused teaching style to the classroom and her interactions with students. She thinks outside the box in imaginative and innovative ways, and draws that forth in her students as a result. She is accessible, approachable, warm and witty all at the same time. Dr. Gastaldo has the capacity to communicate complex ideas, concepts and processes in ways that create manageable building blocks for students to work with.”
Winner: Karima Velji
“Dr. Velji created a stimulating learning environment. A particular strength is her ability to flush out differing opinions and vexing problems. By probing with key questions, she encourages a lively dialogue that is based on a critical analysis of the issue, the supporting evidence, and a thoughtful look at how real world clinical issues can be addressed. Dr. Velji’s belief that patients are best cared for by knowledgeable and engaged nurses inspired us to ensure we were well prepared for class and to critically appraise our own nursing practice.”
Entry-Year Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award
The Entry-Year Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award recognizes excellence in clinical teaching as demonstrated by outstanding professionalism and role modelling; exceptional approach to clinical learning that is supportive, respectful, creative, enthusiastic, evidence-based and student-centred; and effectiveness in fostering critical thinking and problem solving skills. Awarded to a clinical instructor directly engaged in supervising undergraduate students during a clinical placement in the entry year. This award is both peer- and student-nominated.
Winner: Jason Ross
“Jason’s enthusiastic approach to teaching proved to be supportive, creative and student-centred as he effectively promoted evidence-based nursing practice, and encouraged critical thinking and problem solving skills. As an inspiring and positive role model, Jason was able to customize his teaching strategies to suit the individual learning styles of each nursing student, thereby enabling each student to maximize their learning experiences while on the unit.”
Winner: Claire Steer
“Claire fostered a learning environment that was creative, enthusiastic and respectful. She always looked for ways to facilitate our learning whether it was encouraging us to observe a procedure, walking us through a difficult task or arranging in-services and presentations from other members of the health care team. In addition, Claire was extremely committed to evidence-based learning, and frequently fostered clinical thinking and problem solving in her teaching approach.”
Senior-Year Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award
The Senior-Year Excellence in Clinical Teaching Award recognizes excellence in clinical teaching as demonstrated by outstanding professionalism and role modelling; exceptional approach to clinical learning that is supportive, respectful, creative, enthusiastic, evidence-based and student-centred; and effectiveness in fostering critical thinking and problem solving skills. Awarded to a clinical instructor directly engaged in supervising undergraduate students during a clinical placement in the senior year. This award is both peer- and student-nominated.
Winner: Alix Duck
“In terms of teaching, Alix excelled because she was excited and dedicated to her roles as both a nurse and an educator. She was determined to show us how to perform best practice nursing interventions and provide excellent patient care. On a day-to-day basis, she made certain we had the opportunity to practice our nursing skills and encouraged independence. Alix is the reason I can now perform a thorough head-to-toe assessment, have a solid understanding of time management in nursing, and can apply critical thinking to any nursing situation. She also went beyond her role to ensure we were exposed to future opportunities in nursing.”
Excellence in Precepting: Graduate Award
The Excellence in Precepting: Graduate Award recognizes excellence in precepting as demonstrated by outstanding professionalism and role modelling; exceptional approach to clinical learning that is supportive, respectful, creative, enthusiastic, evidence-based and student-centred; and effectiveness in fostering critical thinking and problem solving skills. This award is both peer- and student-nominated.
Winner: Lianne Jeffs
“Dr. Jeffs is a strong role model with outstanding professionalism and quality of work. She takes innovative and exceptional approaches to supporting clinical learning, and her supportive and respectful approach stimulates critical thinking and problem solving skills in others … She never misses the chance to explain advanced research methods or introduce theory and evidence into conversations, and she provides an abundance of opportunities to get first-hand experience conducting research, analyzing data and developing leadership skills.”