Media Release

For Immediate Release

Sept. 1 , 2009

Saint Mary’s Philosophy prof honoured as one of Atlantic Canada’s top teachers

Dr. Shelagh Crooks, 2009 winner of the AAU Distinguished Teaching Award. Photo: Kelly Clark Fotography

For the third consecutive year, a professor at Saint Mary’s University has been named as one of Atlantic Canada’s best teachers.

Three of the region's top university educators were announced this week as the winners of The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU)'s regional awards for excellence in teaching and instructional leadership.

The award winners include Dr. Shelagh Crooks, Department of Philosophy, Saint Mary's University, Dr. Etienne Côté, Department of Companion Animals, University of Prince Edward Island and Dr. Ann Bigelow, Department of Psychology, St. Francis Xavier University.

The award for Dr. Crooks marks the third consecutive year that a professor from Saint Mary’s has won a prestigious teaching award from the AAU. Last year, Dr. Adam Sarty, a professor in the university’s Astronomy and Physics Department, won the AAU’s Anne Marie MacKinnon Instructional Leadership Award. In 2007 the award went to Dr. Edna Keeble from the Department of Political Science.

Dr. Crooks and Dr. Côté will each receive the 2009 AAU Distinguished Teaching Award recognizing outstanding teaching over a number of years. Dr. Bigelow will receive the 2009 AAU Anne MarieMacKinnon Instructional Leadership Award.

Dr. Crooks joined the Faculty of Arts at Saint Mary’s University in 1987 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1999. Throughout her tenure with the university, she has been repeatedly recognized as a educational leader within the university and within the Nova Scotia public school system. She has received the Saint Mary’s University Student Association Award for Excellence in Teaching, the inaugural Dr. Geraldine Thomas Educational Leadership Award, and served as the inaugural Saint Mary’s Teaching Scholar from 2006 until 2007.

In 2008, she was named the winner of the Reverend William A. Stewart, S.J., Medal for Excellence in Teaching.  The Medal is awarded annually by the Saint Mary’s University Alumni Association, in cooperation with the Faculty Union and the Students’ Representative Council, to recognize faculty members who make an extraordinary contribution to the education of Saint Mary’s students through teaching.

Dr. Crooks also developed a mentoring protocol for new faculty members, an ongoing teaching philosophy discussion group, and developed the instrument and procedures for student evaluation of teaching currently in use at Saint Mary’s.

As a winner of the 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award, Dr. Crooks will be honoured at a banquet held during the September meeting of the Council of the Association of Atlantic Universities. As part of the proceedings at the banquet, she will be asked to speak about the importance of good teaching or instructional leadership. She will also be invited to participate in a session at the annual AAU Teaching Showcase held each October.

The 18 member institutions of the AAU proposed nominees for the AAU Teaching Awards program. Winners of the annual awards must meet specific criteria such as using approaches to teaching that address the diverse learning needs of students as well as challenging the students to develop critical thinking and problem solving abilities.

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For More Information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca