Nominations for Awards for Excellence in Teaching now open

The Awards of Excellence in Teaching allows students, faculty and staff to reflect on their time at King’s and focus on a professor who stood out and made a difference in their education or their life.

“At King’s, we are blessed with outstanding faculty who are dedicated, talented teachers as well as world-class scholars. The King’s Award for Excellence in Teaching provides an opportunity each year to honour two faculty (one full-time and one part-time) who are exceptional. We welcome nominations and letters of support from our entire community - in particular our students - who wish to recognize the contribution of a faculty member to their King’s experience,” says Marilyn Mason, Vice-Principal, Enrolment Services and Strategic Partnerships.

First established for the academic year of 1995-1996, the awards are based on evidence of continued contributions to the academic development of students. All faculty, full- or part-time, with academic teaching responsibilities at King’s are eligible to be nominated,

The criteria for the awards include: being a full-time instructor with a minimum of five years of teaching experience at King’s or being a part-time instructor with a minimum of three years of teaching experience at King’s. Among the factors to be considered in selecting the recipients are: (1) classroom instruction (lectures, small groups, labs, etc.); (2) academic counselling, mentoring, tutoring, and advising of students; (3) course design; (4) curriculum development; (5) preparation of educational materials, (6) innovative teaching methods.

Nominations for this year’s awards can be made at https://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/award-of-excellence-in-teaching/ before February 13, 2020.

The Award Selection Committee is comprised of the President of the King’s University College Students’ Council, the Principal and the Academic Dean (or chosen representatives), two student members of the Faculty Council, two Alumni, two Faculty members, one Professor Emeritus and the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Services and Strategic Partnerships.

Dr. Brian Patton, a full-time professor in English and Kimberley Baltzer-Jaray, a part-time professor in Social Justice and Peace Studies were honoured in 2019.

Those receiving the King’s Award for Excellence in Teaching will be honoured at Spring 2020 Convocation. In addition to the Academic Excellence Award, the full-time recipient will receive a stipend and be will be invited to present the Annual Christopher Perrin Beatty Lecture, which takes place during the Student Awards Ceremony evening each winter. In the event that the full-time recipient is unavailable to fulfil this obligation, the committee will extend the invitation to the part-time recipient.  This important lecture was established by the Beatty family to honour the memory of their son Christopher Beatty, a 2007 alumnus who passed away in 2008 at the age of 23. 

This year, Dr. Patton spoke on the topic of “Britain, Brexit, and Bond…James Bond” about how the fictional James Bond character is tied to the ever-changing idea of what it means to be British.