SACKVILLE, N.B. – Mount Allison University English and Canadian Studies professor Dr. Christl Verduyn has been named a 2018 3M National Teaching Fellow.
The award, created by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher in 1986, recognizes exceptional teachers in higher education across the country. Ten recipients are named each year.
“I am thrilled and honoured to become part of the community of 3M educators and to do so as a member of the Mount Allison community,” Verduyn said in a news release from the university. “I am really excited about the possibilities, opportunities, and projects in teaching and learning that lie ahead in both of these communities, and beyond. I thank my many students and colleagues, present and past, for their support and interest.”
Verduyn has taught at Mount Allison since 2006 and is also director of the university’s Centre for Canadian Studies. She has received both of the university’s highest faculty honours — the Paul Paré Medal, recognizing research and scholarship, and the Tucker Teaching Award.
She has worked diligently to introduce her students to different aspects of Canada. She has brought authors from various backgrounds and communities to campus. She has also developed and taught a myriad of courses in Canadian and Québécois literatures, Canadian studies and multiculturalism, and women’s studies, as well as special topics courses on select authors and issues.
Her philosophy of teaching centres on respect for and inclusion of difference in all its dimensions — from gender, language, culture, and class to ability and opportunity.
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and President of Academy I from 2007-2009, Verduyn was also recently named to the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian studies.
