We are delighted to announce the recipients of the 2021-22 University of Toronto Early Career Teaching Award and University of Toronto Teaching Fellowship. In addition to congratulating this year’s recipients, we would like to thank the nominators for their work in preparing submissions. We would also like to thank the members of the selection committee for their dedication to recognizing excellence in teaching at the University of Toronto.
The University of Toronto Teaching Fellowship provides funds for faculty members in the teaching stream focused on supporting pedagogical innovation and research. This Fellowship is a pathway for promoting emerging leaders across the University. The Fellowship is an opportunity for faculty members to undertake a two-year teaching and learning project centered on either curriculum review or renewal, or course redesign/development, working closely with the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI).
Cindy Blois
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Arts & Science
Professor Cindy Blois is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Arts and Science. She strives to foster student-centred learning environments, where each student has a voice, a sense of belonging and is supported to grow along their own unique path. Currently, Professor Blois is the coordinator of the calculus and linear algebra course for students in commerce and the social sciences. In this role, she is redesigning the course to meet students’ modern needs, ensuring that they are equipped to think creatively and work in a collaborative atmosphere, as they use mathematics to solve problems in the real world.
One of her main goals as a University of Toronto Teaching Fellow is to design and implement a sequence of experiential learning projects for this course, in collaboration with local non-profit, business, or government organizations. Closely intertwined with this work, she will also develop resources and training for the team of course instructors and teaching assistants, to ensure that they are continually supported as key contributing partners on this project.
Before joining University of Toronto in 2019, Professor Blois was a Dornsife Science Transformation Fellow at the University of Southern California, where she taught a large variety of courses and collaborated on a suite of exploratory collaborative learning activities for undergraduate statistics courses. She also co-founded the WoMentoring Group, an NSF-funded project to facilitate mentorship relationships among women graduate and undergraduate students in mathematics. This upcoming summer, Professor Blois is also co-creating a workshop funded by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) on Leveraging the MAA’s Instructional Practice Guide in Coordinating Large Multi-Section Courses.
Euson Yeung
Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
Department of Physical Therapy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine
As a physical therapist and educator for over 25 years, Professor Euson Yeung has observed the tremendous potential of equipping learners to tackle the ambiguities and complexities of clinical practice. His involvement in supervising physical therapy students early in his career sparked a keen interest in professional education, which subsequently led him to complete a PhD in health professions education. In his current role as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Physical Therapy, he is actively involved in curriculum development and teaching in the Master of Science in Physical Therapy program. As a seasoned educator, Professor Yeung has a particular interest in exploring how physical therapy education can best prepare learners for significant impact. His education scholarship centres around the pursuit of critical thinking and resilience in the face of the evolving challenges of today’s health care system. Drawing on his experience in renewing and designing curricula, his research explores the philosophies of education we have adopted, our current education practices, and tensions that arise as a result of misalignments between the two. His scholarly work not only informs his teaching practices but also plays a critical role in developing faculty development initiatives to support educators in helping learners make an impact now and in their future endeavours.