Students' Union names university's top teachers

As a new school year begins, the University of Calgary Students’ Union (SU) honours the professors, instructors and teaching assistants it recognized last spring through its annual Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA).

Awards and honourable mentions were given to 39 exceptional members of the university community to highlight their commitment to student success over the past academic year. TEA is one of the many programs funded in part by the SU’s Quality Money program.

The awards are the SU’s campus-wide recognition program to give undergraduate students the chance to honour and thank those instructors, professors and teaching assistants who have supported and made a lasting and positive impression on their students. All nominees and winners are determined exclusively by students, and the awards were presented on April 22, after the end of the 2025-26 term.

The SU received more than 1,000 nominations and shortlisted 135 educators. Winners received an Apple Award and a framed certificate. The SU also donated $5,000 to the Taylor Institute for Teaching & Learning in recognition of the contributions made by the award winners and to support the professional growth of instructors to address the changing needs of students.

From the start, the awards were intended to give undergraduate students the opportunity to provide feedback on the quality of the university instruction they receive. The funding that TEA provides is not only used to host the awards ceremony, but also to offer further training and workshops to UCalgary instructors and facilitate an environment where high quality of teaching becomes a standard for all students.

As the SU finalizes negotiations with the university on the future of Quality Money, it looks forward to honouring another crop of educators next year.

Learn more about the SU TEA program.

Award recipients

Teaching Excellence Awards – Teaching Assistants

Matthew Chu

Tyler Hiltermann

Kaylin Husband

Wesley Joyce

Aimee Koristka

Katelyn Le

Jonah Nelson

Teaching Excellence Awards

Dr. Tiffany Boulton (Cumming School of Medicine)

Dr. Aliya Kassam (Cumming School of Medicine)

Dr. Victoria Fast (Faculty of Arts)

Dr. Brittany Lindsay (Faculty of Arts)

Jessica Ruffolo (Faculty of Arts)

Dr. Lucia Vojtassak (Faculty of Arts)

Coleman Vollrath (Faculty of Arts)

Dr. Saied Jalal Aboodarda (Faculty of Kinesiology)

Dr. Howard Kislowicz (Faculty of Law)

Dr. Carol A. Kroeker (Faculty of Nursing)

Dr. Joe Harrison (Faculty of Science)

Dr. Ann Quinney (Faculty of Science)

Dr. Mayada Khalil Shahada (Faculty of Science)

Krista Osborne (Faculty of Social Work)

Justin Knibbe (Haskayne School of Business)

Dr. Hussein Ahmed Warsame (Haskayne School of Business)

Dr. Ricardo Moya-Barbera (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape)

Dr. Maryam Badv (Schulich School of Engineering)

Dr. Ismael Foroughi (Schulich School of Engineering)

Dr. Schuyler Hinman (Schulich School of Engineering)

Catherine Burwell (Werklund School of Education)

Teaching Excellence Awards – Honourable Mention

Dr. Jalel Azaiez

Dr. Maureen T. Duffy

Allen Habib

Dr. Craig Jenne

Rosalind Kang

Danika Lipman

Mr. Grant Maheu

Tina Petrick

Jerrod M. Smith

Prof. David V. Wright

Hall of Fame Award

Dr. David R.M. Pattison, PhD (Faculty of Science), who has been bestowed three TEAs during his UCalgary tenure.