Six Carleton professors named as finalists for Capital Educators’ Awards

Ottawa – Carleton University is pleased to announce that six Carleton professors have been named as finalists for the 2009 Capital Educators’ Awards.

The Capital Educators’ Awards were created in 2001 by a group of business and education leaders who wanted to raise the profile of public education and recognize and celebrate the dedication and achievements of local educators. Managed by the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI), the Capital Educator’s awards are a partnership between Ottawa’s four school boards and five universities and colleges.

The awards honour 20 outstanding educators who excel in teaching and instill confidence and passion for learning in their students. They also recognize teachers who use innovative teaching strategies, create a positive learning environment and act as a positive role model and/or have made a difference in someone’s life.

Award recipients will be announced at a gala dinner and ceremony called EduGala on May 21 at Algonquin College.

The six finalists are:

Jeff Dawson

Jeff Dawson uses innovative teaching practices in his classroom such as having his students prepare newspaper articles about intriguing scientific stories. His research explores how insects fly using real insects and model wings as well as flapping devices (robots). He is investigating how insects’ wings move during flight to achieve a high degree of manoeuvrability, how wing shape affects lift and drag and what aerodynamic tricks insects use to stay in the air. He’s also exploring how insects use sensory information to avoid predators and how animals adapt to extreme environments. His research could lead to the development of small, autonomous flying vehicles for search and rescue, surveillance and even space exploration.

Michelle DeVidi

Michelle DeVidi is a reference librarian at the MacOdrum Library and a contract instructor in the Department of Law, where she teaches two undergraduate courses. In addition to her work at Carleton, she is a PhD candidate in the School of Information Studies at McGill University, where her research deals with information ethics, law and policy in the post 9-11 period. She believes it is crucial for students to have both the technical and intellectual skills to locate and critically examine the information required for their research projects. She has mentored students in both law and information studies and takes great pride in the many accomplishments of her students.

Susan Downie

Susan Downie takes a personal, one- on-one approach with her students to help them learn how to research. Her own graduate studies included work in both Greek and Latin, in addition to art, historical and archaeological training. She excavated at the Minoan harbour site of Kommos, Crete, and participated in several study tours of Greece, lecturing on architecture, sanctuaries and religion from the Bronze Age to late Classical periods. Her area of academic expertise is Greek history (both political and social) from the Late Bronze Age to the fifth century BC. Her doctoral thesis (2004) examined the uses of hero cult for political propaganda at the Panhellenic sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia and her current research continues to focus on the interaction of politics and religion in the Archaic and Classical Greek world.

Isaac Otchere

Isaac Otchere is very passionate about teaching finance and is sincerely interested in the intellectual and professional development of his students. He strives to make his finance courses more interesting, informative and, above all, relevant to his students. Students engage in follow-up assignments that require them to apply concepts learned in class to solve real-world business and financial problems. “Students who take my courses develop generic and discipline-specific skills that will help them in their careers,” says Dr. Otchere. He has made numerous presentations at finance conferences, has published extensively in finance journals and is an active reviewer for several academic journals. He also consults for the World Bank and the IMF/African Institute. Dr. Otchere has received a number of teaching and research awards.

Avi Parush

With an academic background in cognitive experimental psychology, Dr. Parush has devoted his career to influencing the design of workplaces and tools people use in order to make their lives easier, safer and more beneficial. Whether it’s in teaching statistics to psychology students or human factors methodologies and techniques to students and industry professionals, he challenges his students to go beyond the information given and apply their understanding in new contexts. Dr. Parush currently devotes his research to people and technology in health care with the objective of reducing medical errors, increasing patient safety and improving quality of care. He is part of a dedicated team of researchers at Carleton’s Patient Safety Research Group.

David Wood

David Wood is co-ordinator of the program for the Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (CTESL) at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies. He has extensive experience in teacher education and language teaching in Canada and abroad and has published teaching materials and served as a consultant to several levels of government on language education issues. His research interests centre around language teaching and how we acquire a language.