Shannon Dea, recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award, 2018

Philosophy

Dea
Associate Professor of Philosophy Shannon Dea has been called a 鈥渃hampion of the Women Studies program.鈥 One of her graduate students noted, 鈥淚 definitely feel like I鈥檝e learned and still learn a lot from Prof Dea. Nearly every day I鈥檝e left a class of hers, my head feels like it鈥檚 just buzzing and brimming with new information and ways of thinking about aspects of the world I hadn鈥檛 considered before.鈥 Colleagues commented that, 鈥渋n a nutshell, Shannon does the unexpected in her teaching. She uses the unexpected and untraditional for several reasons, including: it keeps the learning atmosphere interesting, and it allows her to personally model risk and innovation to her students.鈥 Another colleague acknowledged that 鈥渞isk-taking, of course, is only valuable if the risks are worthwhile, and all of Professor Dea鈥檚 risks both aim at improving student learning and the student experience, and are studiously informed by evidence and research.鈥 Shannon Dea has previously been the proud recipient of the 2016 Arts Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2012 Province of Ontario's Leading Women Building Communities Award.