Teaching awards galore: Shining the light on SFU's Physics department

SFU’s Department of Physics is cracking the code on teaching excellence.

Three instructors from the department were recently recognized with SFU’s and Canada’s top teaching awards, including university lecturer and associate dean Sarah D. Johnson (2023 3M National Teaching Fellowship), professor Nancy Forde (2022 SFU Excellence in Teaching Award) and lecturer Joanna Woo (2022 SFU Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award). Last fall, professor Jeff McGuirk was recognized with a 2022 Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching award.

The secret to their success? According to the award winners, their department’s practices around valuing and supporting teaching played a big role.

“I put in a lot of work into my teaching, all three of us do, and I’m not sure I would still be here if the department didn’t value teaching as much as it does,” says Johnson.

Meaningful assessment and celebration of teaching

For Forde, participating in her department’s tenure and promotion committee encouraged her to prioritize teaching. 

“There can be a tendency to just look at research in the tenure and promotion processes so when I was asked to really consider research, teaching, and service separately, I realized, wow, this department really cares about teaching. The message this sent was clear: you can't put your effort solely into research and think you're going to be the top performing person in the department. I have always felt strongly about teaching and students but seeing the committee’s approach was like getting permission to pursue that.”

Department of Physics Chair Barbara Frisken, who chaired the 2019 Teaching Assessment Working Group, adds that putting together award nominations for instructors is also a key part of how her department appreciates and values teaching.

“We see who the exceptional teachers are through our tenure and promotion committee process, so the award nominations can really flow from there. Maybe I do put in a little more work than other chairs, but it is so worthwhile. Even just nominating somebody, whether they win or not, makes them feel like their work is appreciated and encourages them to keep striving,” says Frisken. 

A culture of collaboration

Johnson points to the department’s collaborative approach to teaching as a source of energy and inspiration for her practice.

“Nobody really owns any one course in physics, we take turns teaching them, which means when we redesign them, it’s not just one person doing it on their own—many people work together and share in the planning. And it’s not just the teaching faculty, but the research faculty, too. Doing this work together is so much more enjoyable and just really rewarding—it helps all of us improve our teaching.”

Frisken add that the department has a teaching Wiki and a shared course archive. The Wiki includes general teaching information as well as pages for each course, identifying who has taught it previously, resource links, past enrollment, and any other information that might help an instructor teaching it for the first time. Faculty are asked to upload course materials to the archive to benefit future instructors.

A team effort towards a common goal 

For Woo, one of the things she values about her department is her colleagues’ willingness to share ideas and experience.

“When I first started, I was assigned Sarah as a mentor by the department chair at the time, which really helped me navigate what was a new system for me. I had a lot of questions about teaching when I first arrived and all the faculty in this department were really generous with their time in helping me figure them out. It is great to be teaching in a place where people help raise each other up because at the end of the day we are all here for the same thing: helping students access a discipline that we all love and are excited about.”   

In addition to fellow instructors, Woo notes that the department’s teaching technicians are a core part of their team, including David Lee who recently won the SFU staff excellence award for his work performance supporting teaching and outreach in physics. 

“We know that physics in particular is a discipline that women and people of colour often feel isn’t open to them. We want to change that. We want all students to know this is a department dedicated to creating learning spaces where all learners thrive and my hope is that these awards signal that commitment to students,” says Johnson.