2019 Teaching Prize Winners Announced
By ben drake
We are very pleased to announce our latest faculty award winners, Dr. Margot Filipenko and Dr. Sam Rocha, who are the recipients of the Killam Teaching Prize, and Mr. Stephen McGinley, recipient of the Sessional & Lecturer Teaching Prize.
The Killam Teaching Prize is awarded annually to faculty nominated by students, colleagues and alumni in recognition of excellence in teaching. Winners are recognized at the graduation ceremonies.
The Sessional & Lecturer Teaching Prize is awarded in recognition of the significant contribution that Sessional and Lecturer faculty members make to our programs. The prize is awarded annually to outstanding educators.
Learn more about these inspirational educators:

Dr. Margot Filipenko
Language & Literacy Education (LLED)
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Dr. Margot Filipenko
Language & Literacy Education (LLED)
Dr. Margot Filipenko is a highly regarded literacy and early childhood educator, innovator, and educational leader. The combination of years of practical experience in early childhood contexts, deep commitment to teaching, and her theoretical understanding of child development, children’s literature, and language and literacy development, is a rare asset. She is genuinely invested in her students’ learning, strategically drawing on individual interests and funds of knowledge in class. She is extremely generous with her time; she freely and informally shares her ideas and materials with teacher candidates, colleagues, and graduate students, which serves an important mentorship function in our Department and Faculty.

Dr. Sam Rocha
Department of Educational Studies (EDST)
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Dr. Sam Rocha
Department of Educational Studies (EDST)
Dr. Sam Rocha brings his commitment to scholarship in philosophy of education to students across the entire spectrum of teaching in the Department of Educational Studies and across the Faculty. He guides students’ engagement with the profundity of educational relationships and encounters in ways that expand their understanding of what it means to teach and to learn. As many of his students have remarked, Dr. Rocha’s classes have not only changed perspectives, they have changed lives. His unparalleled pedagogical generosity, seamlessly integrating the humanities and the arts, continues to draw students into a supportive and inclusive community of scholars.

Mr. Stephen McGinley
Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP)
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Mr. Stephen McGinley
Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP)
Mr. Stephen McGinley, a 12-month lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), is an exemplary, dedicated and skilled teacher educator who aligns constructivist philosophy with effective and appropriate pedagogy. He listens carefully to his students’ ideas and feedback, and always challenges them to be critical of the practices they employ and encounter. As a faculty advisor, Mr. McGinley has been responsive, empathetic, and very clear with his advisees about what is required. He has built strong relationships and collaborations with colleagues from a variety of institutions locally, nationally and internationally as well as major stakeholder groups that impact pedagogy.