Some 20 years ago, Patrick Woodsworth, then the Director General, instituted a recognition program to acknowledge the outstanding work of faculty of the College. The Director General’s Awards for Teaching Excellence have honoured 64 individuals over the past 20 years, and the entire faculty membership in 2006-2007 in recognition of its extraordinary compassion and commitment during the academic year following the shooting tragedy.

There are some 600 dedicated faculty members. Each year, students and teachers alike nominate teachers and colleagues that exemplify the qualities of the Teaching Excellence Award: teachers who embody teaching excellence through their outstanding teaching performance in the classroom, lab and/or field work, but also those who have gone above and beyond to really make a difference in the lives of their students and their colleagues.

After a rigourous process overseen by the assistant deans in the three academic sectors, the following were announced at the post-Ped Day reception on October 17, as the recipients of the 2013-2014 Teaching Excellence Awards:

Inti Chauveau from the French Department
Joelle Dayan from the Psychology Department
Cynthia De Luca from the History Department
Boris Lorkovic from the Electronics Engineering Technology Program

Inti Chauveau is a native Montrealer with a mixed linguistic background. Son of a French mother and Spanish father, he is fluent French, Spanish, English and German. Languages and the arts are his passion. He graduated from McGill in honours French literature with a minor in English literature. His M.A. in French literature focused on the semiotics of pleasure, in Baudelaire’s major poetry work, Les Fleurs du Mal. Inti began teaching at Dawson in 2004 and is an active member of the French department.

Joelle Dayan has been teaching in the Psychology Department at Dawson College since 2000. Prior to her work at Dawson she taught at John Abbott College and at Concordia University. She conducted her post-doctoral research at UQAM from 1999-2001 in the area of intergroup relations (Host Society values regarding immigrant acculturation). She obtained her Ph.D in Psychology in 1999 at Concordia University, where she conducted research in the area of intergroup friendships and self-esteem development in immigrant children.

Cynthia De Luca began working at Dawson at the Academic Skills Centre in 2009 and became faculty in the Department of History in 2010. Since then the College has become her second home. She assisted two other History teachers on the Department’s first trip abroad to Greece and Turkey in 2012, and was the faculty advisor to Dawson’s Model UN students as she accompanied them to Penn State University for PUNC in 2014. She is currently on professional development leave.

Boris Lorkovic has been at Dawson since the AEC programs initiated the “Manpower Project” in 2002. He completed his Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering at Concordia University, and while he began his career in electromagnetics and radio frequency, Boris has since changed gears and is now a network specialist. Though Boris is obviously in touch with his technical side, he is also has a very musical side, which he explores as an avid bass guitar player. This year, he’s taken on the role of chairperson of his department.