Faculty Teaching Chairs
The Faculty Teaching Chair program was established to provide leadership in cultivating teaching excellence at Ryerson. Each Faculty selected one Faculty Teaching Chair through a process that considered the applicants’ interest and skill in teaching and learning. The Faculty Teaching Chairs participated in a Leadership Institute sponsored by the Learning and Teaching Office (LTO), serve on an advisory committee for the LTO, and chair a Faculty Teaching Committee composed of representatives from each of the Schools and Departments in their Faculty.
This exciting new program will foster Faculty-specific peer collaboration and develop resources to enhance the student and faculty teaching and learning experience.
Responsibilities
- Chairs a Faculty Teaching Committee comprised of school/department representatives
- Provides Leadership in cultivating teaching skills for faculty members and TA/GAs
- Promotes excellence in teaching
- Develops an action plan and annual outcome report for the Dean and Director, LTO
- Participates in the Leadership Institute led by LTO
- Forms part of the advisory committee to the LTO
- May be a member of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee
- Provides leadership and development on Teaching Dossiers to faculty and DAC
- Collaborates with the designated Faculty Professional Librarian
Characteristics
- Tenured, mid career (RFA)
- History of interest and skill in teaching and learning
- Knowledge of excellence in teaching within the department (possible award winner and may have successfully led teaching related initiatives)
Activities
- Helps provide core programs with the LTO (NFO, UTDP, ISW)
- Cultivates an evidence informed approach and promotes the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
- Evaluates grant proposals related to teaching & learning initiatives
- Advises faculty members on classroom teaching issues, classroom management, best teaching /learning practices etc.
Meet the Teaching Chairs
Tetyana Antimorova, Faculty of Science - Physics
Dr. Tetyana Antimirova is an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Ryerson University. Her current interests include Physics Education Research, Curriculum Development, Science Education and Outreach, and her present research is focused on the impact of educational technologies (clickers, real-time data acquisition, video-based motion analysis, tablet PC, computer simulations) on student learning. In her own classes, Dr. Antimirova strives to create activity-based, student-centered learning environments assisted by a variety of technology tools. She has organized faculty training workshops and seminars, and given invited presentations at many national and international conferences.
Dr. Antimirova is the Chair of the Division of Physics Education of the Canadian Association of Physicists, a member of the Committee on International Physics Education and Ontario Representative of the American Association of Physics Teachers.
Marsha Barber, Faculty of Communication & Design - Journalism
Marsha spent many years at CBC, where she was a senior producer at CBC's flagship newscast: the National. Before that she was a documentary producer at The National, specializing in investigative pieces for which she won several awards. Marsha also worked as a producer for The Journal.
Before joining CBC, Marsha worked for CTV and TVOntario and did freelance work for the Globe and Mail, Canadian Press, the Toronto Star, and other outlets. Marsha trains reporters and producers for CBC and other networks and also runs journalism training and media training workshops internationally. Marsha's Master's degree is in Adult Learning and her research interests include a focus on effective teaching.
Don Kinder - Library
Don Kinder is the Library Teaching Chair at Ryerson and Coordinator of Library Instruction and Reference Services in the Library. He is also the liaison librarian for the Nursing, Midwifery and Health Services Management programs. He holds a Master's degree in library science from the University of Western Ontario. Don is involved in many learning and teaching initiatives at Ryerson and has worked closely with the Learning and Teaching Office on numerous projects. He has been a member of the Senate Learning and Teaching Committee for a number of years and currently chairs a sub-committee on information literacy. Don is particularly interested in collaborating with faculty in embedding information literacy into the curriculum. He also has a long-standing interest in student success and has been instrumental in the development and delivery of library research components into a number of student success courses at Ryerson. Don has been actively involved with the Ontario Library Association for over a decade and has served as president the Ontario College and University Library Association. He was the recipient of the Ontario Library Association's Academic Librarian of the Year Award in 2005.
Mary Foster, Ted Rogers School of Management - Marketing
Professor Foster received her BA and MA from the University of Toronto and her MPhil and PhD from Columbia University. She is currently the Director of the Management Education Research Institute and Associate Director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies. Her research interests include ethnic diversity, women in management, management education, and the non-profit and voluntary sector. She has been given a best paper award and has received several SSHRC grants to support her work. She has published her research findings in scholarly journals and has presented at refereed conferences. Prior to joining academe, she worked in the voluntary sector as a senior executive and in the marketing research and management consulting field. Foster has 20 years experience providing strategic consultation and marketing research expertise to non-profit and public sector organizations as well as to private sector companies.
Eric Kam, Faculty of Arts - Economics
Medhat Shehata, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science - Civil Engineering
Linda Cooper, Faculty of Community Services - Nursing
Dr. Cooper is a Professor in the school and has held several positions in clinical practice and education. Her research foci include young children’s exposure to community violence, evaluating the use of creative strategies in the classroom, and mentorship. Current research studies include: examining street youth exposure to violence, an exploration and evaluation of student experience with an esthetic assessment tool, and an intervention study examining mentorship. Linda currently teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs, with an emphasis on theoretical foundations of nursing practice and nursing knowledge development. Linda also acts as a faculty advisor to graduate students and is involved in graduate student supervision. She is actively involved in the Registered Nurses Foundation of Ontario (RNFOO), acting as Vice-President and chair of the Awards and Scholarships Committee, and Sigma Theta Tau International.