As a child, Simon Gadbois could spend hours in the woods, peeking into rabbit holes, poking around beaver dams, stalking squirrels. He鈥檇 return home with salamanders and frogs spilling out of his pockets and looking forward to the next day鈥檚 adventure.
鈥淟ike any kid, I was interested in animals鈥擨 was a sponge鈥攁nd that enthusiasm never went away,鈥� says Dr. Gadbois, an expert on wild 鈥渃anids,鈥� wolves, coyotes and red foxes. 鈥淗ow lucky is that?鈥�
His passion for wild animals is matched only by his passion to teach about them. A senior instructor of psychology and neuroscience, he has been awarded AV俱乐部鈥檚 top prize for teaching, the 2011 AV俱乐部 Alumni Association Award of Excellence for Teaching.
While he鈥檚 pleased with the award, he admits to being a bit baffled, too. Because, along with teaching the second-year class, Animal Behavior, he also teaches a research methods course, a required class for psychology and neuroscience majors.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 win a popularity contest with this one,鈥� he says, describing himself as a straight-ahead lecturer, not a showman. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those classes no one wants to take.鈥�
And that makes it all the more challenging to teach. 鈥淓verything is in the examples and anecdotes,鈥� he explains, 鈥渋ncluding telling them about the mistakes I鈥檝e made. When you鈥檙e designing a research study, there鈥檚 always that one variable you haven鈥檛 thought of. Because, in psychology and neuroscience, we鈥檙e not studying something that鈥檚 static, that鈥檚 just sitting there; we鈥檙e studying something dynamic.鈥�
A little later in the conversation, he comes up with an illustration of the 鈥渕issing variable.鈥� When doing his PhD in the mid-1990s on why the insubordinate wolves in a pack don鈥檛 breed, Dr. Gadbois was required to collect wolves鈥� urine鈥攚hich contains metabolites of a common stress hormone鈥攆or study. What he didn鈥檛 count on was that the winters would be so mild and, without snow, finding the urine was next to impossible. Becoming known as 鈥測ellow snow guy,鈥� he even considered renting snowmaking equipment from a ski hill and blanketing the woods as a way of solving his problem.
鈥淭he mistakes are really where we learn,鈥� he says, with a laugh. 鈥淧lus, you鈥檒l always get a good story.鈥�
Faculty of Management
- A. Gordon Archibald Teaching Excellence Award - School of Business Administration - Lei Huang听
- 1st Year MBA Professor of the Year (2011) - Jim Power
- 2nd Year MBA Professor of the Year (2011) - Shamsud Chowdhury鈥�
- Commerce Professor of the Year - Joan Conrod
- Outstanding Graduate Advisor -听 Jenny Baechler
- Outstanding Undergraduate Staff Advisor - Carrie Hunter
Faculty of Medicine
- AV俱乐部 Medical Alumni Association Residency Teaching Award: Colin van Zoost
- Lea C. Steeves Award for Excellence in Teaching of Continuing Medical Education: Douglas E. Sinclair (2010) 听听听
Faculty of Dentistry
- AV俱乐部 Dental Students Society Dr Wayne Garland Award 2011: Bruce Friis
- AV俱乐部 Dental Students Society Honour Award 2011: Mark Vallee
- AV俱乐部 Dental Students Society Honour Award 2011: Gorman Doyle
- W.W. Wood Award Fall 2010 for Excellence in Dental Education: Rick Raftus听听听
Faculty of Law
- Hanna & Harold Barnett Award for Excellence in Teaching First Year Law: Graham Reynolds
- The AV俱乐部 Law Students' Society and Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching: Constance MacIntosh 听听听
Faculty of Engineering
- Faculty of Engineering Professor Appreciation Award (First Year): Edward Yao听听
- Faculty of Engineering Professor Appreciation Award (Second Year): Sergi Iakovlev听
- Chemical Engineering Annual Professor Appreciation: Stephen Kuzak
- Industrial Engineering Annual Professor Appreciation: Claver Diallo
Faculty of Science
- AV俱乐部 Association of Psychology Students Excellence in Teaching: Heather Schellink
- Earth Sciences Award: Martin Gibling 听听听
- The Faculty of Science Award for Excellence in Teaching: Andrea Fraser听
- Dr. Forbes Langstroth Memorial Award, Physics & Atmospheric Science: Jordan Kyriakidis 听听听
- AV俱乐部 Excellence in Teaching 鈥� Neuroscience: Benjamin Rusak
- AV俱乐部 Undergraduate Neuroscience Society Professor of the Year: Jennifer Stamp 听
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching: Roberta Barker
Faculty of Computer Science
- Srini Award for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science: Alex Brodsky
Faculty of Health Professions
- Faculty of Health Professions Teaching Excellence Award 鈥� Anne Marie Whelan (College of Pharmacy)
- College of Pharmacy Jessie I. MacKnight Teaching Award 鈥� David Gardner
- Nurse Educator Appreciation Award 鈥� Colleen Kiberd
Others
- AV俱乐部 Alumni Association Award of Excellence for Teaching: Simon Gadbois鈥�
- AV俱乐部 Sessional and Part-Time Instructor Awards of Excellence for Teaching: Erin Wunker (English & Canadian Studies)听听听
- Outstanding Graduate Advisor:听 Jenny Baechler
- Outstanding Undergraduate Staff Advisor: Carrie Hunter
- Outstanding Undergraduate Faculty Advisor:听 Peter Wentzell
- Outstanding Peer Advisor: Sarah Bouchard
- The President's Graduate Teaching Assistant Award: Cheryl Watts (Sociology and Social Anthropology)鈥� Rachel Dingle (Department of Psychology) 鈥�Victoria Walker (Department of Chemistry)鈥ㄌ�
DISCUSSION: Do you have a favorite prof at Dal whom you believe is deserving of a teaching award? Give him or her a shout out by telling us why us why you thought he or she was such a good teacher.