Winners of the 2014-15 College of Arts & Science Teaching Excellence Awards

Loleen Berdahl

Loleen Berdahl, an associate professor of political studies, is the Teaching Excellence Award winner for the Division of Social Sciences.

Berdahl is a previous recipient of the Provost’s Outstanding New Teacher Award (2012) and the Provost’s College Award for Outstanding Teaching (2014). The project leader of the Survey and Group Analysis Laboratory at the SSRL, her research examines public policy and public opinion, with a current focus on Canadian policy.

Berdahl says she wants her students to be informed and engaged citizens who leave her classroom with more than just textbook knowledge. She tries to foster critical thinking skills that will benefit students for their entire lives.

“I greatly enjoy getting to know my students, and the most rewarding aspect of teaching for me is when I see a student work through and understand a key idea,” says Berdahl. “Witnessing that ‘aha moment’ is a great pleasure.”

Marie Lovrod

Marie Lovrod, assistant professor of English and Women’s & Gender Studies, receives the Teaching Excellence Award for the Division of Humanities & Fine Arts.

Lovrod’s research focuses on the role of domestic and state violence in youth/childhood trauma and resiliency, as well as on the broader intergenerational, cultural and social effects of violent economic practices in local, national and transnational contexts.

Lovrod says she tries to bring a collaborative learning model to the classroom in which her role is that of an experienced learner in a community of co-learners and researchers.

“I remain deeply committed to establishing an empowering classroom with students, where assumptions can be challenged and issues explored,” says Lovrod. “Therefore, I encourage students to make experiential connections to the issues they study, situating their own perspectives through critical social, political and historical analyses of contemporary contexts.”

Lovrod also received a USSU Teaching Excellence Award in 2007.

George Patrick

George Patrick, a full professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, is the recipient of the award in the Division of Science.

Patrick's research is interdisciplinary; he applies mathematics and computer algorithms to the analysis and simulation of physical systems in classical mechanics.

“The discipline of mathematics itself is in conflict with the practice of effective teaching,” says Patrick. “Mathematics says: abstract, deepen, generalize. Effective teaching says: simplify to the essentials; be an expert guide. Much of the value of an instructor of mathematics comes from making choices about what to include, what to simplify, and what to cut. I make choices so that the knowledge and skills that students must have are as much as possible transferred to the entire audience.”