Geography teacher, Myriam Mansour, receives the 2016-2017 Vanier College Teaching Excellence Award

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An outstanding teacher inspires both students and colleagues and this is certainly the case of Myriam Mansour, the recipient of the 2016-2017 Vanier College Teaching Excellence Award. Throughout the 20 years that Myriam Mansour has taught at Vanier College, she has continually developed innovative teaching methods to encourage success among her students and promote an interest in the subjects they study. Creativity and caring have been at the heart of her teaching and the projects she has initiated or supervised.

The list of her past responsibilities is long: organizer of the Social Science Festival, member of Academic Council, Coordinator of the Social Science Resource Room, Curriculum Coordinator of the Department Social and Cultural Sciences, member of the Women and Gender Studies Committee, Coordinator of the Sustainability Major and Coordinator of the Vanier collective Gardens, to name but a few.

When Myriam gets an idea for a project, a course or a program, she immediately finds like-minded teachers with whom to work, and her patience and good humour make her a welcome partner for realizing new ideas. Hence, Myriam has worked with teachers from a wide range of disciplines to use the community gardens as a teaching tool, to develop two courses that involved educational trips and to spearhead the creation of the Vanier College Sustainability Major.

In 2014, she worked with the French Department's Catherine Duranleau to develop Le Nord: Territoires et Imaginaires – a course that culminated with a 9-day trip to explore the Quebec North Shore. In 2016, she teamed up with Brandee Diner and Quentin van Ginhoven from Environmental and Wildlife Management to develop The Tropics: Opportunities and Challenges a universal complementary course centered on sustainability that also incorporated a 9-day trip to Belize.

"Myriam's enthusiasm for teaching, her passion for her subject, her boundless energy and her generosity of spirit are what make her such a successful and well-loved teacher," says colleague Lourdes Meana who supported Myriam's nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award. "Myriam is one of those lucky people who found her calling; who loves what she does beyond any award."

Congratulations to Myriam Mansour.