December 9, 2009. “I’ve known I wanted to be a teacher since I was three years old,” declares Kim Matthews, Vanier Humanities teacher and the recipient of the Vanier College 2008-2009 Teaching Excellence Award. “It’s all I ever wanted to do.” Given that kind of precocious ambition and determination, it’s not surprising that Kim Matthews was honoured with the Teaching Excellence Award, which normally would have gone to a teacher with twenty-five years of experience. But in spite of being at Vanier barely three years, it’s clear that her enthusiasm, her teaching techniques and her rapport with both her students and her colleagues have earned Kim their profound admiration.

“I think it is absolutely suitable that Kim should receive this award,” states fellow Humanities teacher Brian Aboud. “Kim has an acute sense of the craft of teaching.She has grasped the essence of the craft- the nature of a mutually rewarding, stimulating and exciting intellectual experience in the classroom involving teacher and student. She is impassioned by and dedicated to the objectives and purposes of humanities teaching and she seeks to meet those objectives through care in course delivery and through pedagogical creativity. This is clear to me from her contributions at curriculum committee meetings and from the personal conversations and exchanges I have had with her.”

Upon coming to Vanier, Kim Matthews joined the Women’s Studies Program and helped mount a display and coordinated the design of a poster to commemorate the massacre of women at the Polytechnique. “Kim has become a respected member of the Women Studies’ Program,” says coordinator, Arlene Steiger. “She shares her experience and insight and is always an advocate for the recognition of student talent. Students absolutely occupy center stage in Kim’s Vanier life.”

Students definitely hold Kim Matthews in very high regard. “Her material helps with many other classes and changes your point of view in many ways,” states student Kimberley des Alliers Roosen. “It helped me to be a better person in many ways. Every time my classmates and I left the class we all had a smile on our face because we enjoyed the class discussions.”

Minal Patel elaborates further, “Her classes were thought-provoking. She never forced her views on anyone but rather opened our eyes to both sides of an argument.” Clearly, Kim Matthews makes a lasting impression on her students. “Kim Matthews managed to make all the students think and challenge their own perspectives,” says Sochinda Chan. “I know that what I learned in her class will remain throughout my life.”

Teaching Excellence Award 2008-2009 News release
Teaching Excellence Award 2008-2009 News release FR