Dr. Matthew Sigal awarded 2019 Barry Beyerstein Award for Excellence in Teaching

SFU Psychology Lecturer Dr. Matthew Sigal has been selected as the recipient of the 2019 Barry Beyerstein Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award has been given annually based on nominations from students. Within the department, his teaching courses include PSYC 210 (Introduction to Data Analysis in Psychology), PSYC 301 (Intermediate Research Methods and Data Analysis), PSYC 201 (Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology), and PSYC 391/715 (a special topics course on Data Communication).

While Dr. Sigal has only been teaching at SFU since 2018, he has received strong praise from students regarding his teaching style. It is clear from student feedback that his patience, enthusiasm, and passion has helped them tremendously in their understanding of the course material.

 “Dr. Sigal has changed Statistics for me. I am currently in his 301 class and I’ve struggled greatly with this course prior and ended up dropping. However, Matt’s teaching style has resonated with me and he’s always available for extra help which has led me to thrive in this course,” says one of the student nominators.

“He is very passionate and approachable. He makes the intimidating subject of statistics way less daunting. He always makes himself available for his students when they need extra assistance and his energy is infectious,” notes another student.

The 2019 Barry Beyerstein Award for Excellence in Teaching is a testament to Dr. Sigal’s dedication in ensuring that he delivers the course content in a way that works best for his students. Aside from his well-organized lectures, one student also emphasizes that, “he truly cares about students’ performance in class. I can feel that he is trying his best to make everyone successful.”