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by Mike McNeney
The 2006 recipients of the UVic
Alumni Awards for Excellence
in Teaching are two classroom
leaders who focus on “take home
lessons” and positive learning environments.
Dr. Ed Ishiguro, retiring this
summer after a 29-year run at UVic
(including eight years as chair of
the department of biochemistry and
microbiology) is the recipient of the
UVic Alumni Association’s Harry
Hickman Award. The Hickman
is designated for full-time faculty,
librarians or artists-in-residence.
Kelli Fawkes, a senior lab instructor
in the department of chemistry, is
the winner of the Gil Sherwin Award
recognizing outstanding work by a
lab instructor, sessional instructor or
limited-term faculty member.
Ishiguro says he tries to give his
students “take home lessons”—a
phrase he picked up from his PhD
supervisor. “They’re things you keep
for the rest of your life—not just
another set of facts. I have students I
taught 25 years ago who tell me they
still remember something from my
class. I find that flattering because
that’s the whole objective in the
first place.”
He makes it a goal to cover the
basic concepts, using a variety of
illustrations and computer graphics
to get his points across. “It’s got to
be interesting or they won’t listen to
you. And you have to describe the
implications; you have to make them
think about it.”
It’s an ongoing challenge. Ishiguro
goes into his office after each
lecture and spends 10 or 15 minutes
reviewing what worked, what didn’t. “I’m still getting better at it—that’s
one reason why I don’t want to
retire.”
Former student Anna Burianova,
graduating this month with the Jubilee
Medal for Science, says Ishiguro
stays on top of the latest discoveries
in science and “presents materials in
creative ways that stimulate students’
interest. I can easily say that he is the
best professor I’ve had the pleasure
to be taught by at UVic.”
Much like Ishiguro, chemistry
instructor Fawkes tries not to “get
lost in the details, instead covering
material and topics that students will
use somewhere else.”
She joined the department in
1997, a year before completing her
UVic undergraduate degree with
a double major in chemistry and
anthropology. Since then, she’s established
a reputation for openness,
energy, and innovation.
She’s credited with overhauling
the lab/tutorial section of the second
year course, “Practical Spectroscopy.”
Her efforts have provided more
working space, better interaction
among teaching assistants and students,
and greater student access to
advanced instruments.
Above all, Fawkes is known for
being accessible, someone to whom
students can turn to when school
work seems overwhelming and confusing.
The key, she says, is to make
sure a friendly learning environment
comes before course content.
“If students see me as approachable
and friendly,” she says, “the
learning falls more easily into place.”
When the line-ups outside her office
door started getting a little too long,
she introduced a popular daily dropin
help centre last fall where up to
30 students gather to work through
homework problems.
Her nomination letters speak of
an “educator of the highest quality
who still understands that students
need an approachable and down-to-earth
mentor.”
Each Alumni Excellence in
Teaching Award recipient receives
a $2,000 cash prize from the UVic
Alumni Association and their portrait
photos are permanently displayed
in the McPherson Library.
Formal presentations of the awards
will be made at the Legacy Awards
dinner in November.
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