Learning from the best: Ontario Tech celebrates excellence in teaching

Ontario Tech University students have had their say in nominating their top teachers and innovative instructors for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Ontario Tech’s Celebrate Teaching! Awards recognize the quality of work exhibited by members of the university’s academy. Every year, Ontario Tech’s Teaching and Learning Centre receives hundreds of nominations for the awards.

Due to the impact of the pandemic, this year’s program focused on Student Choice awards in three categories: Teaching Assistant, Undergraduate Program Instructor and Graduate Program Instructor. The number of nominations submitted determined the winners.

2021 Celebrate Teaching! Award Winners

Faculty of Business and Information Technology 

• Rajinder Khurmi, Teaching Assistant
• Joshua Lowe, Undergraduate
• Julie Thorpe, Graduate

Faculty of Education

• Keisha Deoraj, Teaching Assistant
• Tricia Dwyer-Kuntz, Undergraduate
• Joseph Stokes, Graduate

Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science

• Sarah Watt, Teaching Assistant
• Salam Ali, Graduate
• Rachid Machrafi, Undergraduate

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

• Anshuman Sharma, Teaching Assistant
• Anwar Abdalbari, Undergraduate

Faculty of Health Sciences

• Rufeyda Cosgun, Teaching Assistant
• Syed Qadri, Undergraduate
• Adam Dubrowski, Graduate

Faculty of Science  

• John Nemec, Teaching Assistant
• Rupinder Brar, Undergraduate

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities 

• Lyndsay Woolridge, Teaching Assistant
• Tanya Karam-Zanders, Undergraduate

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“Ontario Tech University provides superior undergraduate and graduate programs that are responsive to the needs of students and the evolving workplace. Excellence in teaching is a central component of our dynamic learning environment. We are exceptionally proud of our course instructors and teaching assistants and join our students in saluting them for their ongoing innovation and commitment to excellence, particularly during this past year of primarily online course delivery.”
-Dr. Lori Livingston, Provost and Vice-President, Academic