'Immense energy and passion': Innovative U of T faculty recognized with Early Career Teaching Awards
No textbook is a substitute for an attentive and enthusiastic teacher.
Each year, the University of Toronto recognizes faculty members in the early stages of their careers who go above the call of duty to help their students learn. U of T Mississauga sociology professor Jayne Baker is among four winners of this year's award, along with colleagues Sohee Kang, Jamie Kellar and David Liu who have found inventive ways to encourage their students to engage with classwork.
Along with the recipients of other teaching awards, both internal and external, the four winners were celebrated at a ceremony at Massey College on Wednesday afternoon. Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr commended the award-winning faculty for their “immense energy and passion.”
U of T’s performance in university rankings, as one of the top public institutions of higher learning in the world, isn’t just due to its research output, but to the high calibre of its teaching, she said.
Baker, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga’s department of sociology, couldn’t attend the ceremony, but she has said that she wants her students to be as enthusiastic about sociology as she is.
“I never want them to think that they’re just a number,” she said. “I hope [my students] walk away with the ability to use a sociological perspective in their day-to-day lives. I love when my current and former students contact me with their observations about an article they read or show they watched, or a conversation they had with a family member; invariably, they’re excited about the sociological dimension of those observations. And I find that to be incredibly rewarding.”
Her research interests include how to maximize student learning and engagement, particularly in sociology. She uses her findings to tweak her own courses and contribute to curriculum development on a wider scale. She involved students in a review of her own second-year sociology of education course, looking for ways to include more gender and sexual diversity.
She’s now working with her colleague Nathan Innocente on a sociology textbook, which she describes as the first of its kind with a “digital-first” focus on interactive exercises and video.
This was the fourth year that U of T has recognized outstanding early-career teachers with the award, each worth $3,000. The award is meant for faculty members who are within the first five years of their academic appointment and have completed two years of teaching at U of T.
For more on the winners, read the full story on the U of T News website.