Vakil (left) and Ball

EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARDS
Students, colleagues laud talents of two professors

by Patty Pitts

Thea Vakil of the school of public administration and Dr. Jessica Ball of the school of child and youth care are this year’s recipients of the faculty of human and social development’s teaching excellence awards.

Vakil has been a sessional lecturer and public administration adjunct associate professor while serving in a number senior executive positions within the public service of B.C. She has assisted the school and its faculty in developing and redesigning several courses and developed a distance course exploring the future of the public sector.

One of her nominators wrote: “She demands a lot from her students both in terms of the volume of work and the rigour and discipline of thought that is applied to it. No matter how often you have her as a teacher, you inevitably begin a ‘Thea’ course feeling that the standards she has set seem unattainable. Yet you do achieve them, largely because Thea seems to believe you’re capable of it.”

Ball joined the school in 1996, initially as research associate and co-coordinator of the First Nations Partnerships Program. She’s now a tenured associate professor. A nominator for the award wrote that “Jessica … reflects the values of the faculty of human and social development—educational leadership and innovation in supporting the development of practitioners with a strong understanding of the relationship of theory and research to practice, the promotion of community-based teaching and learning, and support for students representing cultural diversity.”

Another student described Ball’s classes as “thought-provoking, challenging, exciting and comprehensive.”