Teaching Excellence Award recipients honoured at Ped Day cocktail
As this year’s Ped Day activities drew to a close, the day was capped off with the traditional cocktail event in the Reception Hall. A highlight of the evening was the honouring of this year’s Director General’s Teaching Excellence Award recipients before an audience of their peers.
Each year, students and teachers alike nominate teachers and colleagues that exemplify the qualities of the Teaching Excellence Award: those who embody teaching excellence through their outstanding performance in the classroom, lab and/or field work, but also those who have gone above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of their students and colleagues.
After a rigourous process overseen by the assistant deans in the three academic sectors, the following teachers are the recipients of this year’s Teaching Excellence Awards:
Raymon Fong of the 3D Animation & Computer Generated Imagery program
Raymon is not only considered a great teacher by his students and peers, but is also a Dawson alumnus. After graduating with honours from the Illustration & Design Program, Raymon spent 15 years in industry before returning to Dawson to teach in the 3D Animation & CGI program.
Cory Legassic of the Sociology Department
Cory came to Dawson with a background in Equity Studies in Education, as well as in Feminist Studies. He started working with students when employed by Katimavik, before coming to Dawson initially as a New School Facilitator. He has since taught courses in Humanities, Sociology, Methods and New School at Dawson, for which he is currently acts as coordinator.
Eric Van der Wee of the Humanities Department
Eric has been teaching at Dawson since 2010, after teaching for 14 years at the secondary level. He describes his position in the Humanities Department at Dawson as the “best job ever”. Eric can attest to the fact that his coursework often overflows into his life outside of Dawson, where his courses are discussed around the dinner table and that his children even enjoy sitting in on his lectures.
Ray Claudio Pino of the History Department
Relatively new to Dawson’s History Department, Ray has already left quite an impression on his students and colleagues. Though his background includes passions as diverse as journalism and filmmaking (he graduated from the Film Studies program at Ryerson before continuing his education in History), his expertise lies in the history of international relations, where he has specialized in Modern Italy and Germany.
Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients!
