Professor and alumnus Greg Evans (ChemE) has received a 3M National Teaching Fellowship from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. The award is Canada’s most prestigious recognition of excellence in educational leadership and teaching at the university or college level.
“One of the things that makes it special for me is that this year three of the winners are in engineering education, which is one of my passions,” Evans said. “I’m very honoured to be in such good company and it’s wonderful to see engineering education gaining profile in Canada.”
Evans’ teaching philosophy involves changing the traditional role of professor from the stereotype he calls “sage on the stage,” toward becoming a “guide on the side.” In class, he encourages his students to generate solutions as a group rather than look to him for the correct answer, and to relate classroom concepts to practical situations.
Evans is the inaugural Director of the Collaborative Program in Engineering Education, which has created a community to promote engineering education research and to share best practices in effective teaching and learning. Evans is also the chair of the Canadian Engineering Education Association’s 2017 annual conference, to be held in June at U of T.
The 3M Fellowship is the latest accolade to honour Evans’ leadership and innovations in teaching. He has received the University of Toronto’s Joan E. Foley Quality of Student Experience Award (2008), the Northrop Frye Award (2013), and most recently, the President’s Teaching Award (2015), U of T’s highest teaching honour. He has also been awarded the Engineers Canada Medal for Distinction in Engineering Education (2010) and the OCUFA Teaching Award (2015).
Read more about Evans’ esteemed teaching career on U of T Engineering News.