Vanier College Chemistry teacher Sylvie Tardif receives the 2013-2014 Teaching Excellence Award

Vanier College Chemistry teacher Sylvie Tardif has received the 2013-2014 Vanier College Teaching Excellence Award. Sylvie Tardif received the award for her dedication to her students and extensive contributions to their academic success at Vanier College.

Sylvie Tardif is well-known for her passion for chemistry and her ability to instill in her students a love of the subject and a desire to learn more. Thanks to her creative approaches to teaching chemistry and her dynamic classroom demonstrations students are inspired and readily engage with her and the course material. Her humour and her ability to relate chemistry to real world examples and situations liven up her classes and keep students alert and keen.

At the heart of her teaching is a total mastery of chemistry. Her past experience as a researcher at McGill University and Merck Frosst Canada and her numerous scientific publications provide her with such complete understanding of her subject matter that her teaching appears almost effortless. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Sylvie always arrives three or four hours before her classes and meticulously prepares all her courses with problems and additional notes that she hands out to her students.

“Dr. Tardif is constantly pushing us to excel in her classes by gaining a deeper understanding of her subject and not just relying on memorization,” student Tamar Sawatsky, Honours Health Science. Always open to discussion and indeed generating it in class, Sylvie is there to answer all questions. “There are no stupid questions,” she says, “and I never leave a question unanswered. I force them to learn to think and to use what they have learned.”

But Sylvie’s influence extends beyond teaching. Her compassion, her warm and caring guidance, and her ability to reach out to students and respond to their needs have made long-lasting positive impressions on her classes. “A lot is happening in their lives – family, work, first love – a lot. They know they can come and talk to me. I tell them if they have no one to turn to then call me or come and see me.”

Sometimes the problems are personal but many times they relate to the pursuit of university studies or career choices and students appreciate her selfless mentoring of them. “Dr. Tardif offered me incessant support and encouragement, and her confidence in my ability to succeed is a continuous source of empowerment. She has been a mentor and has offered excellent academic and career advice when solicited,” says student Fatima Boulmalf who graduated from Vanier in June 2014 and is currently in Pre Med at McGill University.

“For me teaching is a calling, not a job,” says Sylvie Tardif. “It’s stimulating to be surrounded by students who try to go beyond and to do better and it’s meant a lot to me to know that it’s my students who nominated me for this award. They wrote letters and I was very touched and even cried when I read what they said”

Congratulations to Sylvie Tardif who was honored at a reception held recently at Vanier College.