Dean's Teaching Award - Contract Lecturers (CUPE 1 and 2) Recipients

2023 Recipients

Jennifer Ajandi

School of Social Work, Faculty of Community Services

Dr. Jennifer Ajandi is truly deserving of this award as an exemplar critical educator who thrives in the role of a mentor to her students. With 15 years of experience as a Contract Lecturer, activist in the community, and previous elected Public School Board Trustee, education and equity is at the heart of her work. Students’ well-being is at the center of her teaching, while engaging in difficult discussions and challenging dominant discourses in practice. She goes above and beyond what is expected of an instructor, listens, and facilitates shared knowledge building in the classroom.

Michael Dick

School of Professional Communication, The Creative School

Michael Dick is a remarkably talented, dedicated and innovative contract lecturer who has inspired and mentored students across the university who have taken ProCom courses with him. Michael goes beyond expectations through, for example, the integration of technology-enhanced experiential learning into ProCom courses and through his leadership of ProCom’s Community of Practice. Michael’s tireless commitment to developing inclusive and rich online learning environments positively impacts the experience of thousands of TMU students every year.

Mark Feigenbaum

School of Business Management, Ted Rogers School of Management

Dr. Mark Feigenbaum is an extremely talented and knowledgeable instructor. He has taught for over 25 years, with six years at the Ted Rogers School of Management and one year in the Professional Master’s Diploma (PMDip) in Accounting program. He enjoys teaching first-year courses as much as senior classes and graduate programs. He is a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois and the District of Columbia and a Chartered Global Management Accountant in the United States. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant in Ontario and has been awarded the designation of fellow of the institute.

Rajeshwari Iyer

Department of Chemistry and Biology, Faculty of Science

Dr. Rajeshwari Iyer has been a Contract Lecturer in Chemistry at TMU for the past 27 years. Dr. Iyer has a wealth of experience as a University teacher having taught many chemistry courses at the undergraduate University level. She has experience in curriculum development and innovative educational methods to foster learning.

Dr. Iyer’s cosmopolitan background has given her a concrete understanding of the needs of University students, serving as a model for young women entering Science. She has a sensitive approach to teaching students with diverse learning styles in their nurturing of a well-rounded education.

Rosamund (Roz) Owen

School of Image Arts, The Creative School

An IMA sessional instructor for over a decade, Roz Owen has fought to sustain and modernize the 1st Year Film Program, championing our in-school processing lab along with state-of-the-art digital processes, helping make IMA the envy of many film schools. She has consistently organized festivals of her students’ work, raising funds for prizes and donations for the school. Roz often mentors senior students and has created projects bringing the School of Performance together with IMA. Her feature drama “Trouble in the Garden” won festival awards and nominations in Canada and beyond, bringing valuable recognition to the University.

Patrick Saavedra

Internationally Educated Professionals, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education

Patrick Saavedra has taught at The Chang School for over a decade, mostly teaching internationally trained architects the materials-and-methods of Canadian construction. Patrick literally teaches outside the box (that is the classroom) – taking students to visit buildings-of-note to learn in-situ and into architects’ offices to be exposed to employers. He has even placed many of our learners into professional positions. This is extremely remarkable for a part-time CUPE instructor; to give this level of commitment to the students as it requires Patrick to conduct these activities during unpaid daytime hours and weekends.

Past Recipients