Board of Governors Teaching Chair
The Board of Governors Teaching Chair is a two-year position awarded once each academic year (with two-course relief per year). It recognizes faculty who are exceptional teachers who will further the enhancement of teaching excellence at the University of Lethbridge. In addition to working on their teaching-related project, Teaching Chairs also co-chair on the Teaching and Innovation Advisory Council.
Candidates apply through the office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic). As part of the application, candidates submit a teaching-related proposal for the duration of their term.
Deadline
The deadline for receipt of the completed electronic application package is the second Friday of November.
How to Apply
Please get in touch with the Teaching Centre for a personalized Outlook file folder to upload the application package.
Current Board of Governors Teaching Chairs
July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2028
July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2027
Aaron Taylor is Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Drama Department at the University of Lethbridge. He is the editor of Theorizing Film Acting (2012) and co-editor of Screening Characters (2019), and the author of numerous articles on screen acting and on the relationship between cinema and comics. From 2019 to 2023, he was a University of Lethbridge Board of Governors Research Chair (Tier 2), and a Teaching Fellow from 2017 to 2019. Since beginning his career at the University of Lethbridge in 2007, he has delivered a considerable number of peer-reviewed and public presentations on the scholarship of teaching and learning, including the ULSU Last Lecture (2015). He is the proud recipient of a USC Teaching Honor Roll Award of Excellence (2003, UWO) and a participant in the 2014 Hokkai Gakuen University Exchange Program. Designing significant curricular endeavours—including the current minor in Creative and Professional Writing, the proposed BA Cinema and Media Studies program, and the development of at least fifteen unique undergraduate courses—he is honored by the chance to further cultivate the University’s tradition of teaching excellence, and to foster new learning opportunities for both present and future students.
Past Recipients:
Comments from Past BoG Teaching Chairs:
Wayne Lippa– BoG Teaching Chair, 2024-2026
It has been an honour and a privilege to have been the first Instructor awarded a Board of Governor’s Teaching Chair. The Teaching Centre has had a very special place in my career for over a decade, and I was happy to be given another chance to work with the incredible people in it who create initiatives to support and further great teaching on campus. Teaching is so important at the U of L, and I strongly encourage everyone to get involved with the Teaching Centre in some way.
Chris Mattatall – BoG Teaching Chair, 2023-2025
“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other” (Hoffer, 1955). This aphorism has the potential for great hope as well as great concern, depending, of course, on whom people turn their attention. Turning a university community’s attention toward what constitutes excellence in teaching is the work of our Teaching Centre and the Board of Governor’s Teaching Chair. As such, it was my privilege to work with our Teaching Centre, our team of Teaching Fellows, and colleagues across the university who share this passion for excellence in university teaching, to create and highlight resources that help educators teach well. We worked to advance and support the work of our Teaching Fellows, to build up our SPARK symposium, to promote the scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the annual SoTL conference in Calgary, to strengthen our mentorship program, and to survey students to see what they valued in their university teachers. As a team we also worked diligently to formally recognize excellence in teaching by weighing carefully multiple nominations for the University of Lethbridge Excellence in Teaching Award and Board of Governors Teaching Chair positions.
Olu Awosaga - BoG Teaching Chair, 2019-2021
"It was a great privilege to serve as the Board of Governors Teaching Chair (BOGTC) for 2 years (2019-2021). I learnt many lessons from my interactions with staff and friends of the Teaching Centre over this period. When COVID-19 hit in the early part of the Spring 2020, the University of Lethbridge was forced to transition from an in-person to an online mode of course delivery. The Teaching Centre took up the challenge to train faculty and staff on the use of technology to deliver successful online lectures using asynchronous, synchronous, or blended formats. The pandemic also served as the catalyst for my pre-existing intention to create more flexibility for learning activities in a conducive & supportive environment, as well as flexibility in teaching approaches, such as the Blended & Flipped Classroom methods. This gave more responsibility and opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning at the UofL. We were able to complete my BOGTC research project."
Jan Newberry - BoG Teaching Chair, 2011-2013
"What I will remember most about my time as Board of Governors' Teaching Chair and as an active part of the Teaching Centre was how the work gave me a new perspective on the campus as a whole. My project was the development and piloting of a first-year experience course (Liberal Education 2850). This course was designed as part of the campus-wide Recruitment and Retention Project, and its goals included producing a student cohort, introducing liberal education and highlighting services to support academic success. Dan Kazakoff (Dhillon School of Business) and I successfully applied for Teaching Development Fund support for the class. Planning and organizing the course included focus group meetings with staff and faculty members from across the campus. I learned so much about the campus and the people who work here, including many who receive little or no recognition for their support of our core mission. The focus of the course is mapping as a metaphor for exploring and coming to be an active citizen of the campus community. I know that having the opportunity to organize and offer the course in spring 2013 made me a better citizen as I came to know and participate in the campus more fully. More than 15 instructors from across faculties at the University of Lethbridge contributed lectures, and staff from Facilities, Counseling Services, the Health Centre, the Cash Office, Scholarship and Finance, the USLU, the Learning Strategist, Advising, the Applied and Coop Offices all helped too. I couldn’t have taught this course without Tyler Heaton and Brad Reamsbottom and the support of the entire Teaching Centre."
Robin Bright - BoG Teaching Chair, 2010-2012
"As Board of Governors' Teaching Chair (2010-2012), my focus was on highlighting exemplary teaching practices throughout our campus! I feel very fortunate to have been involved in helping to institute The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) program at the University of Lethbridge-a peer-based model providing participants to fous on learning styles, collaborative learning, feedback models and facilitation skills. Five members of the Teaching Centre Board, including myself, volunteered for the Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW), a five-day 40-hour workshop held at the University of Lethbridge. These workshops provide recognition through an international certificate valued at Canadian and international post-secondary institutions. Since my tenure as Teaching Chair, the ISW has been offered three times on campus assisting instructors to develop their teaching skills in a variety of disciplines, and The Teaching Centre looks forward to providing the workshop every August to new and experienced faculty!"
Shelly Wismath - BoG Teaching Chair, 2007-2009
"I enjoyed and benefited from every minute of my time as the Board of Governors' Chair in Teaching. My experiences included working on the teaching environment at the U of L to the wonderful opportunity to read and study new areas, design and teach new courses, and carry out research on the subject of teaching and learning."
http://www.cs.uleth.ca/~wismaths/pandppage/