The Ian Greene Award for Teaching Excellence is an annual merit-based award given to one professor and one teaching assistant from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). The award is an opportunity to recognize the and reward faculty who have demonstrated excellent ability in teaching and supporting their students.
It is named after School of Public Policy and Administration professor Ian Greene. The award was created by his former students in recognition of his outstanding drive and effort to teach and make learning a unique experience.
2024 Award Recipients
Natalie Neill
Professor
Department of English
Dr. Neill was recognized for her ability to deliver engaging lecture content, her care and respect for her students, and her commitment to making sure students have their voices heard.
Student Testimonial
Dr. Neill’s nominator described her as “the most compassionate professor whom evidently cares about her students’ success.” She strives to “always ensure everybody’s voice is heard,” which made students truly “want to participate in her classes.”
Hiba Ibrahim
Teaching Assistant
Writing Department
Ms. Ibrahim was recognized for her innovative and academically-supportive method of leading tutorials, as well as her personable and approachable nature.
Student Testimonial
Ms. Ibrahim’s nominator wrote that “Hiba set up our classroom in a way that made you want to participate and share your ideas and also allowed you to learn from your peers.” Her students express that it is clear that she cares for “both our academic progress and wellbeing.”
How to Nominate
All LA&PS students are eligible to nominate ONE professor and ONE TA of their choice. Students do NOT have to nominate professors and/or TAs that taught them in the same academic year the award is being given in, but they do have to be current, practicing faculty.
How Recipients are Selected
The standing Ian Greene Director will form an adjudication committee consisting of 5 LA&PS students (not serving in the Executive/Director team) to review all the nominations submitted after the nomination period. After thorough deliberation among the committee members, the winners will be selected. When evaluating potential recipients, the members will not just consider the number of nominations a given nominee receives, but also the quality of feedback students leave for them.
Student-led Research Project
SCOLAPS is currently undertaking an informal, student-led research project to qualitatively analyze the written nominations submitted for this year’s award.
This project involves an AI-assisted thematic analysis covering two broad areas: (1) identifying the broad qualities that students associate with teaching excellence and (2) identifying how students tend to respond to having excellent teachers.
We intend to find various insights into what we, as students, associate with teaching excellence at York, and share the findings with the university community to encourage and celebrate teaching excellence.
