BISC Graduate Students Earn Faculty of Science Teaching Excellence Awards

Emmanuel has TA'd multiple BISC courses and has mentored over a dozen students on a one-to-one basis. He strives to create a comfortable, judgement-free environment that allows active engagement and assessments and puts students in driver's seat, so to speak, to let them explore and discover as he guides them. He has contributed to student learning by engaging with students in multiple ways, implementing weekly quizzes and Kahoots to make sure students stay up to date, offered extracurricular tutorial sessions, and even ran "mini field-trips" to give students hands-on learning experience.

BISC students wrote that Emmanuel "is an amazing TA [...] very funny and nonjudgmental when answering questions," "piqu[ed] my interest," that he had contributed to creating "one of the best learning experiences I've had in years." He even earned the title of being one of his student's "favs."
His time and effort have unquestionably helped generate more passion and interest amongst his students, peers, and mentees, and continue to positively impact students, long after classes end.

Philippe Fernandez-Fournier TA'd BISC 309 twice, through the particularly chaotic tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2021 and in Spring 2023. Philippe helped update and redesign the course Canvas page, implementing quizzes, lectures, and tutorials. His changes to the course have been well-received by students and have persisted, even when he was not TA'ing. His enthusiasm, warm and approachable presence, and up-beat attitude helped keep students’ spirits high even during challenging times during the semester. Philippe also delivered multiple lectures himself, which were met with excitement from students. One wrote, "his research was also very interesting [...] I wish I had an opportunity to work with him in his lab!"

Philippe's efforts make learning engaging, relatable, and diverse. Utilizing "the element of surprise," he kept students on their toes and their heads in the game. He showed students that their input was valuable by keeping lines of communication open and being respective to feedback. He helped students find their passion and "fall back in love" with biology, and there is no higher praise than that.