A cross between a midwife and a truffle hound — that’s how Killam Teaching
Prize winner Christine Parkin describes her role as teacher.
“Both aspects need to be there,” says Parkin, a senior instructor in the English
Dept. “I help create the conditions for the students’ intellectual birth and
then I try to root out the best they’re capable of.”
Parkin, a UBC alumna and a teacher for 40 years, is one of 24 faculty members
to receive University Killam Teaching Prizes during Spring Congregation.
Using texts ranging from Winnie-the-Pooh to Othello, Parkin
teaches advanced composition, technical writing, children’s literature and introduction
to drama.
A faculty member since 1974, she brings a diverse set of skills to her job.
Besides being a teacher, she has also been a lawyer and an actor.
The law degree has made her a stickler for detail, she says, a standard she
puts to use in her technical writing course. Her love of theatre fuels her drama
teaching and her own acting abilities allow her to be “a bit of a comedian.”
As she describes how she encourages their work, Parkin’s sensitivity toward
her students is obvious.
“It’s an act of courage to write,” she says. “When you hand in a piece of
work, you’re exposed and vulnerable. I try to give as much positive feedback
as possible.”
One student credits Parkin with empowering aspiring writers.
“She’ll look you straight in the eye and say, `You can do it,’ and you feel
that you could become the next C.S. Lewis.”
Parkin says it’s been a joy and a privilege to teach because teachers touch
people’s lives forever. “It could never be seen as a trivial occupation.”
Killam Teaching Prize winners are selected by their faculties on the basis
of recommendations from colleagues and students. Each award winner receives
$5,000 from endowment sources. Where there are co-winners, the prize is shared.
Recipients bring creativity and enthusiasm to the classroom.
-
Students say Law Prof. Claire Young makes tax law fun and breathes
life into a subject many of them dread. -
The way English Prof. Jerry Wasserman teaches Canadian theatre
prompted one student to describe him as “having the wisdom of a Buddhist
monk, the enthusiasm of a four-year-old and the presence of a rock star.” -
Forestry’s R. Jonathan Fannin has been known to bring a lump of
soil to class to explain theories of soil mechanics. -
Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Marc Levine is noted for earning students’
respect by treating them as colleagues. -
Eunice C.Y. Li-Chan, Food Science, is an active member of the Women
in Science group, acting as a role model for female science students.
Other Killam Teaching Prize recipients for 1998 include:
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences: F. Brian Holl, Plant Science. Faculty
of Applied Science: Michael Jackson, Electrical and Computer Engineering;
Philip Hill, Mechanical Engineering. Faculty of Arts: George McWhirter,
Theatre, Film and Creative Writing; Lyn MacCrostie, Arts One; Bruce
Miller, Anthropology and Sociology. Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration:
Ruth Freedman, Finance. Faculty of Dentistry: co-winners Donal McDonnell
and Colin Price, Oral Biological and Medical Sciences. Faculty of
Education: Rita Irwin, Curriculum Studies; Marion Porath, Educational
Psychology and Special Education. Faculty of Graduate Studies: Richard Ericson,
Green College. Faculty of Medicine: Margaret McCuaig, School of Rehabilitation
Sciences; Carol-Ann Courneya, Physiology, Dr. Richard Arseneau,
Medicine. Faculty of Science: Carol Ann Borden, Botany; Chris Orvig,
Chemistry; Chris Waltham, Physics.
