FIFSW Teaching Awards
The Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work values excellence in teaching and contributions to its educational programs through curriculum development, innovation, and research on education.
The Faculty recognizes teaching excellence and contributions through three categories of teaching awards.
- FIFSW Teaching Excellence Award
- FIFSW Global Teaching Excellence Award
- FIFSW Supervision Excellence Award
FIFSW Teaching Excellence Award
An award may be awarded to recognize outstanding contributions to excellence and innovation in education through a combination of the following:
- Instruction in classroom, seminar, labs, field education
- Development of innovative teaching approaches
- Development and advancement of experiential and inclusive learning
- Supporting students outside the classroom including tutoring, advising and mentoring
- Course design and/or curriculum development
- Development of innovative educational materials
- Leadership in improving teaching
- Research on teaching
- Commitment to effective collaboration with colleagues and education partners
- Educational leadership within or outside the university related to curriculum development, teaching methodology, or research on education.
FIFSW Global Teaching Excellence Award
The FIFSW Global Teaching Excellence Award recognizes a member of the Teaching Faculty for outstanding contributions in:
- Modelling effective intercultural/global fluency
- Successfully operating and communicating within different cultural contexts in classroom settings for the purposes of developing global/intercultural fluency;
- Empowering and equipping students with the skills and experiences to communicate confidently across cultures in both academic and informal settings; creating conditions for a global learning environment that engages and welcomes participation from diverse perspectives, through curricular and pedagogical innovations.
- Demonstrating ongoing contributions and impact at the level of course design and delivery in the following areas:
- Interactional Diversity: Enhance intergroup interaction (across domestic/international students and among international students) for the purposes of developing global/intercultural fluency, a critical 21st century skill. Empower and equip University of Toronto students with the skills and experiences to communicate confidently across cultures in both academic and informal settings.
- Addressing Barriers to Inclusive Classrooms: Create the conditions for a global learning environment that engages and welcomes participation from diverse perspectives, through curricular and pedagogical innovations that facilitate the fuller participation of all students with the course content and with each other.
FIFSW Supervision Excellence Award
The FIFSW Supervision Excellence Award recognizes a member of the Teaching Faculty for outstanding contributions in:
- Demonstrating leadership qualities through inspiring, guiding, and empowering students to achieve excellence in scholarship, fostering a strong sense of academic integrity;
- Providing an environment that is supportive with particular attention to mental health and work life balance that is tailed to students’ individual learning styles, needs, and career/future aspirations;
- Enabling students to develop expertise in social work knowledge, theories, research methodologies, and knowledge dissemination towards advancing social work practice, policy, and/or education.
- Introducing students to the wider context of the discipline and relevant communities of scholars; and
- Promoting student participation in professional development and activities that position them for future careers within and outside academia;
- Leading a research environment that is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Nominations for any of these awards can be made by students, alumni, and faculty members. Nominations for each award should consist of the following:
- A letter from the nominator outlining reasons for the nomination based on the above criteria.
- A 2-page letter submitted by the nominee, summarizing their teaching philosophy and activities, previous awards received, teaching initiatives and any other information to be considered for nominated awards.
The letters must be addressed to Professor Eunjung Lee, Associate Dean Academic and submitted to the email: associate.deanfifsw@utoronto.ca by May 1, 2023.
- The Teaching Award Review Committee (chaired by the Associate Dean Academic) will review formal teaching evaluations and any other evidence relevant to the criteria and recommend the finalist(s) to the Dean.
Recipients of FIFSW teaching awards will have their names inscribed on a plaque and may have their names forwarded to appropriate U of T Teaching award competitions such as, Early Career Teaching Award (ECTA), Global Educator Award, President’s Teaching Award (PTA), Northrop Frye Award, SGS Graduate Supervision Awards