Five University of Toronto professors recognized for their outstanding innovative teaching

BY PAUL JUNOR

The announcement that five University of Toronto professors were recognized for their outstanding innovative teaching is truly empowering. Their names are: Funke Aladejebi, Keith Adamson, Angela Mashford-Pringle, Obidimma Ezezika,and Sherry Fukuzawa and it was revealed at U of T’s website :www.utoronto.ca.

The press release states that they have worked to enhance the student experience through community-engaged, land-based and experiential learning opportunities. The award is given to faculty in the early stages of their careers that exemplify teaching innovation, pedagogical engagement, and exceptional commitment to student learning.

These five professors were reflective of the diversity of experiences that U of T is proud of. Cheryl Regehr, vice-president, and provost of U of T states, “Embracing a diversity of perspectives and the innovations that flow for them is key to realizing U of T’s goal of achieving inclusive excellence and that often begins in the classroom. By demonstrating their unwavering commitment to enriching students’ academic experiences, each of this year’s Early Career Teaching Award winners is helping to ensure U of T is not only delivering an unmatched educational experience but is ultimately preparing graduates to make the sort of changes our world so desperately needs.” 

Funke  Aladejbi (Assistant Professor in the department of History, Faculty of Arts & Science) was recognized for his work in establishing a new certificate in Black Canadian Studies at University College. This certificate was initiated in the fall of 2021, and it used an interdisciplinary perspective to understand the complexities of the Black presence in Canada. Aladejebi states, “The goal has been, and continues to be, to make interventions in the ways that we talk about Blackness in Canada and ask critical questions about how we represent the Black Canadian experience.”

Keith Adamson (Assistant Professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work) was recognized for co-creating the course, “Social Work and Disability: A Client and Family-Centered Approach.” It received acknowledgment from the Ontario Hospital Association for its integration of families in the teaching process.

Adamson states, “We established a community on the very first day. The classroom has become an arena for disability advocacy for the clients and families, who come in to teach future social workers who will help people like them in the future.”  The press release describes Adamson’s philosophy as one that seeks to deconstruct hierarchies within health care and academic institutions through collaborations that value social justice, equality, and empowerment.

Angela Mashford-Pringle, the first Indigenous health lead at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health was recognized for her work in developing a U of T’s first-ever land-based learning course. She states, “Land-based learning is about getting out of the capitalism, consumerism, and individualism that we’re used to. It’s the idea of reconnecting to the environment that we live in.”

Obidimma Ezezika (Assistant Professor, teaching stream in the Department of Health and Society at U of T Scarborough) was recognized for the development of the course, “Innovations for Global Health,” in 2018. This course aims to integrate technological and social innovations in low and middle-income countries through an experiential pedagogy. For Ezezika, “Teaching is not just about the techniques and expertise you bring to the classroom, It’s about the compassion and value you have for students. You can’t have an impact unless you truly care about your students’ goals.”

Sherry Fukuzawa (Assistant Professor, teaching stream, in the Department of Anthropology at U of T Mississauga) was recognized for her co-creation of the course, “The Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island.” This is a community-engaged learning course in which students gain knowledge in cosmology, epistemology, medicine, and local points by traversing the Credit River and participating in The Moccasin Identifier project. Fukuzawa states, “It’s important to remember that Western educational systems are colonial institutions based on hierarchy. We want to introduce different knowledge systems and legitimize Indigenous knowledge systems and epistemologies.”