Professors / en New book by ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ law professor Kent Roach examines the injustice of wrongful convictions in Canada /news/new-book-u-t-law-professor-kent-roach-examines-injustice-wrongful-convictions-canada <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">New book by ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ law professor Kent Roach examines the injustice of wrongful convictions in Canada</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/roach-book.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SYQl0T8B 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/roach-book.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ImkPZRSq 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/roach-book.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VFoSlPWI 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/roach-book.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SYQl0T8B" alt="A composite of the cover of Wrongfully Convicted and Kent Roach"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-04-21T15:46:27-04:00" title="Friday, April 21, 2023 - 15:46" class="datetime">Fri, 04/21/2023 - 15:46</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>In his latest book, ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ law professor Kent Roach outlines Canada's history of of wrongful convictions and how the legal system can better safeguard justice (photo of Roach by Faculty of Law)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nina-haikara" hreflang="en">Nina Haikara</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6902" hreflang="en">Justice</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/books" hreflang="en">Books</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-staff" hreflang="en">Faculty &amp; Staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/professors" hreflang="en">Professors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/society-and-law" hreflang="en">Society and Law</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://www.law.utoronto.ca/faculty-staff/full-time-faculty/kent-roach"><strong>Kent Roach</strong></a>, a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto,&nbsp;has spent decades sounding the alarm on wrongful convictions in Canada.</p> <p>His new research underlines the dangers of wrongful convictions based on false guilty pleas or imagined crimes that never happened.</p> <p>ā€œIn judgments, the courts recite ā€˜the factsā€™ ā€“ but sometimes the legal system gets ā€˜the factsā€™ wrong, and the wrongfully convicted and their families suffer as a result,ā€&nbsp;Roach says.</p> <p>His latest book ā€“&nbsp;<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Wrongfully-Convicted/Kent-Roach/9781668023662"><em>Wrongfully Convicted: Guilty Pleas, Imagined Crimes, and What Canada Must Do to Safeguard Justice</em></a>&nbsp;ā€“ bookends his trilogy on Canadaā€™s criminal justice system with previously published books on Canadian policing and the case that saw Gerald Stanley acquitted in the 2018 killing of Colten Boushie.</p> <p>All three books, published in the span of less than five years,&nbsp;strongly advocate for policy change and reform.</p> <p>Roach's 2019 book&nbsp;<em>Canadian Justice Indigenous Injustice</em>&nbsp;was shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing. And&nbsp;<em>Canadian Policing: Why and How It Must Change</em>, published last year, was a finalist for both the Balsillie and Donner prizes for public policy books.</p> <p>His&nbsp;books also grapple with injustice towards Indigenous people in Canadaā€™s justice system.</p> <p>ā€œWrongful convictions affect the so-called ā€˜usual suspectsā€™ ā€“ and in Canada, the ā€˜usual suspectsā€™ are too often Indigenous, racialized, socio-economically marginalized or suffering with mental health challenges,ā€ Roach says.</p> <p>Another thread in his work is the necessity of&nbsp;police reform. He says police can still use aggressive and deceitful ways of questioning suspects that are not always prohibited by judicial regulation of police interrogation techniques.</p> <p>Roach adds that one of the lessons to be learned from&nbsp;<em>Wrongfully Convicted&nbsp;</em>is that police should not be so aggressive when interviewing people who are vulnerable, have cognitive challenges, or are suffering from addiction or mental health issues. He notes that police need to consider alternative suspects and be aware of stereotypes that associate groups and individuals with crime.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œPolice are subject to a very natural&nbsp;human tendency of zeroing-in on a suspect and interpreting evidence so that it confirms the suspect's guilt&nbsp;ā€“ while disregarding evidence that points in another direction, such as&nbsp;an alternative suspect,ā€ he says.</p> <p>Though not perfect, computerized case-management tools can help, Roach says, adding such tools are currently underutilized but can provide case-linkage and analysis to help guard against tunnel vision or confirmation bias.</p> <p>ā€œIf we wait for the courts to correct these errors, it's too late. The courts alone cannot produce good policing.ā€</p> <p>In 2007, Roach was appointed research director of Ontarioā€™s public inquiry into systemic concerns in pediatric forensic pathology in the wake of revelations that former forensic pathologist Charles Smith had performed flawed child autopsies that resulted in wrongful convictions.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/MicrosoftTeams-image%20%282%29_0.png" width="400" height="600" alt="Amanda Carling"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Amanda Carling&nbsp;(photo by Jesse Johnston)</figcaption> </figure> <p>In&nbsp;<em>Wrongfully Convicted</em>, Roach&nbsp;revisits the cases that were the result of Smithā€™s misleading forensic evidence.&nbsp;A section of the book examines ā€˜imagined crimesā€™ that never happened ā€“ such crimes constitute one-third of the wrongful convictions recorded in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wrongfulconvictions.ca/">Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions</a>&nbsp;that Roach co-founded with MĆ©tis lawyer&nbsp;<strong><a href="/celebrates/faculty-law-staff-member-amanda-carling-recognized-support-indigenous-students">Amanda Carling</a></strong>, a 2012 graduate of the JD program at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's Faculty of Law.</p> <p>Roach and Carling co-taught a seminar on wrongful convictions at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ,&nbsp;which&nbsp;<a href="/news/canadian-registry-wrongful-convictions-highlights-failures-criminal-justice-system">led to the development of the registry</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œSmith had suspicions directed towards young, single mothers and racialized men. The system, which is designed to be a check on mere suspicions, didn't stop Smith's,ā€ Roach says.</p> <p>He notes there are more recent cases of ā€˜imagined crimeā€™ wrongful convictions. In fact, three more cases involving such imagined crimes will soon be added to the registry with the help of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ JD alumni&nbsp;<strong>Jessie Stirling</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Joel Voss</strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Sarah Harland-Logan</strong>.</p> <p>The&nbsp;registry was launched this past February&nbsp;with 83 cases. The three new cases will bring the total to 86 ā€“ two cases involved Black parents&nbsp;wrongfully convicted in the death of their child&nbsp;and another case of a woman with intellectual challenges who is unhoused.</p> <p>Roach explains that both the registry and his new book are designed to raise awareness that wrongful convictions are not just a historical or U.S. problem.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œI want Canadians to know that&nbsp;we too&nbsp;have problems in our criminal justice system. The registry is just the tip of the iceberg," he says.</p> <p>"The real question is, how large is the iceberg? We really wonā€™t know that until we have a better system than we do now.ā€</p> <p>Earlier this year, just days before the registryā€™s launch, the&nbsp;federal government introduced legislation to create a federal commission to review potential cases of wrongful conviction.</p> <p>Roach led the research on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/ccr-rc/mjc-cej/index.html">A Miscarriages of Justice Commission</a>&nbsp;report in November 2021, which advocated for the creation of an independent federal commission to consider cases of wrongful conviction.</p> <p>He says the announcement of a permanent federal commission to investigate allegations of wrongful convictions is an important next step in addressing the issue.</p> <p>Roach notes that the proposed commission will need to be properly funded and staffed to be able to help people, and will need to be made aware of the realities of wrongful convictions ā€“&nbsp;including false guilty&nbsp;pleas and crimes that never happened.</p> <p>"We also need to find a way to compensate the wrongfully convicted more quickly and humanely for the terrible injustices done, in all our names," he says.</p> <p>ā€œIt's a long, hard climb to reverse or remedy a wrongful conviction."</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 21 Apr 2023 19:46:27 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301281 at Ten ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ social media stars to follow /news/ten-u-t-social-media-stars-follow <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ten ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ social media stars to follow </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/listicle.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8XET9XzL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/listicle.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=mi7Xa4tl 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/listicle.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=J3EfEWAE 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/listicle.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8XET9XzL" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-02-06T17:06:26-05:00" title="Monday, February 6, 2017 - 17:06" class="datetime">Mon, 02/06/2017 - 17:06</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ has many interesting faculty, students and alumni who offer interesting takes on politics, life and the economy (photo by ThoroughlyReviewed.com via Flickr) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/social-media" hreflang="en">Social Media</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty" hreflang="en">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/students" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/professors" hreflang="en">Professors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/twitter" hreflang="en">Twitter</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/instagra" hreflang="en">Instagra</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/youtube" hreflang="en">youtube</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/facebook" hreflang="en">Facebook</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>University of Toronto's sharpest minds and wittiest wordsmiths are taking to Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to share their expert insights and unique perspectives with communities inside and outside the university.&nbsp;</p> <p>Here are just a few to&nbsp;follow:&nbsp;</p> <h4><u><strong>Sabrina Cruz&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/NerdyAndQuirky/videos"><strong>NerdyAndQuirky</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Even before her first year at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ, Cruz was a YouTube star. The&nbsp;<a href="/news/four-schulich-scholars">Schulich Leader</a>&nbsp;has over 100,000 subscribers and millions of views.</p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong>&nbsp;you like funny takes on pop culture, history and science</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lf9WwBIrdF8" width="560"></iframe></p> <h4><u><strong>Dr. Mike Evans </strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL-IWPkXQn3JYYYsPnpGlIg"><strong>DocMikeEvans</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Evans is an associate professor at University of Toronto's medical school. His&nbsp;popular YouTube videos on health education attracted the likes of Apple who <a href="/news/doc-mike-evans-hired-apple">recruited him</a> to work on a digital health care project.</p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong> you want to learn more about health and wellness in a fun and entertaining way</p> <h4><u><strong>Danielle Martin </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/docdanielle"><strong>@docdanielle</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Martin, an author and assistant professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, tweets about big ideas around innovation in health and medicine.</p> <p><strong>Follow if: </strong>youā€™re interested in learning how to make health care better</p> <h4><u><strong>Jonathan Sun&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jonnysun?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor"><strong>@jonnysun</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Engineering alumnus Sun is a&nbsp;<a href="http://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/jonathan-sun-engineer-architect-social-media-sensation/">jack of all trades</a>&nbsp;but is best known for his odd, yet hilarious, Twitter account&nbsp;which has inspired him to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jomnybook.com/">write a book</a>.</p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong>&nbsp;you need a good old-fashioned laugh</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">why do birds<br> suddenly appear<br> every time<br> you are near<br> just like me<br> they long to be<br> creeping u out with their beady eyes</p> ā€” jomny sun (@jonnysun) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonnysun/status/821183089019863041">January 17, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <h4><u><strong>RenĆ©e Hložek </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/reneehlozek?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor"><strong>@reneehlozek</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Astrophysics professor <a href="/news/popular-science-u-t-new-astronomer-astrophysicist-brings-science-people">Hložek</a> takes to Twitter for insight into our place in the universe.</p> <p><strong>Follow if: </strong>youā€™re into space talk and social justice</p> <h4><u><strong>Aisha Ahmad </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/ProfAishaAhmad"><strong>@ProfAishaAhmad</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Ahmad, an assistant professor at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarboroughā€™s department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs, weighs in on the most pressing issues facing Canada and the U.S.</p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong> you want thoughtful insight and good reads on the latest news</p> <h4><u><strong>Adrian Phiffer&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/officeofadrianphiffer/?hl=en"><strong>@officeofadrianphiffer</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Architect and lecturer at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design&nbsp;<a href="/news/rethinking-design-age-social-media-u-t-architect">uses Instagram</a>&nbsp;as a way of showcasing the work of his design firm while highlighting the creativity of his students.</p> <p><a href="/news/rethinking-design-age-social-media-u-t-architect">Read more about Phiffer's star power</a></p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong>&nbsp;youā€™re a design nerd whoā€™s looking for inspiration from up-and-coming architects</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;">&nbsp;</div> </div> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BP0N32nAcu4/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by Office Of Adrian Phiffer (@officeofadrianphiffer)</a> on <time datetime="2017-01-28T17:08:53+00:00" style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;">Jan 28, 2017 at 9:08am PST</time></p> </div> </blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script> <h4><u><strong>Jeffrey Dvorkin </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/jdvorkin"><strong>@jdvorkin</strong></a></u></h4> <p>At a time when the media is considered the official ā€œoppositionā€ by the Trump administration, commentary from people like Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough, is all the more important.</p> <p><strong>Follow if:</strong> you care about the future of journalism and freedom of the press</p> <h4><u><strong>Joshua Gans </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/joshgans"><strong>@joshgans</strong></a></u></h4> <p>Gans, Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor of strategic management at U&nbsp;of T's Rotman School of Management, offers a snarky take on business and current affairs.</p> <p><strong>Follow if: </strong>you like to smirk while reading the latest on the Trump saga</p> <h4><u><strong>Sarah Kaplan </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/sarah_kaplan"><strong>@sarah_kaplan</strong></a></u></h4> <p>As director of the <a href="/news/institute-gender-and-economy-launched">Institute for Gender and the Economy</a>, Rotman School of Management Professor Kaplan takes on the worlds of business and equality and the ways they intersect.</p> <p><strong>Follow if: </strong>youā€™re fired up from the Womenā€™s March&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Do you have a favourite ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ tweeter, YouTuber or instagrammer? Let us know! &nbsp;</em></p> <p>(photo at top by <a href="https://thoroughlyreviewed.com">ThoroughlyReviewed.com</a> via Flickr)&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 06 Feb 2017 22:06:26 +0000 Romi Levine 104278 at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ celebrates exemplary teaching /news/u-t-celebrates-exemplary-teaching <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ celebrates exemplary teaching</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jawg12CX 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ADuv2yIR 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8Ox4COiR 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards_27-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Jawg12CX" alt="Photo of 2016 President's Teaching Award recipients"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-16T11:41:34-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 11:41" class="datetime">Wed, 11/16/2016 - 11:41</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's Jonathan Rose (left) Alison Gibbs and James D. Thomson (right) are the recipients of the 2016 President's Teaching Award</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/president-s-teaching-award" hreflang="en">President's Teaching Award</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/president-meric-gertler" hreflang="en">President Meric Gertler</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/provost-cheryl-regehr" hreflang="en">Provost Cheryl Regehr</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/education" hreflang="en">Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/professors" hreflang="en">Professors</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-education" hreflang="en">innovation in education</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One tries to make sense of the world through statistics. The other is a coding wiz. And the third focuses on explaining the relationship between plants and animals.</p> <p><strong>Alison Gibbs</strong>, an associate professor (teaching stream)&nbsp;in the department of&nbsp;statistical sciences;&nbsp;<strong>Jonathan Rose</strong>, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering;&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>James D. Thomson</strong>, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, received&nbsp;the 2016 President's Teaching Award&nbsp;ā€“ the University of Toronto's highest honour for excellence in teaching.&nbsp;</p> <p>While the three&nbsp;come from different backgrounds, they share a devotion to their students.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s not about teaching. Itā€™s about learning,ā€ Gibbs said.</p> <p>Gibbs and Thomson are from the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. Rose is from the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. All three&nbsp;were honoured Tuesday night at a ceremony&nbsp;marking the 10th anniversary of the first university-wide teaching award. ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ President <strong>Meric Gertler </strong>and Vice-President and Provost <strong>Cheryl Regehr </strong>presented the awards.</p> <p><img alt="photo of president and provost with Thomson" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2537 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards-embed3.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>President Meric Gertler (right) and Provost Cheryl Regehr (left) present Professor James D. Thomson with the award (photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Thomson co-teaches an introductory biology course on adaptation and biodiversity that&nbsp;is so popular that enrolment often exceeds the seats in Convocation Hall. To accomodate the 1,900 students who typically sign up, the class has&nbsp;morning and evening sessions.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thomson has also taken students as far as Vietnam to study flowers and pollinators, and he&nbsp;wrote a textbook called&nbsp;<em>The Struggle for Existence</em>,&nbsp;a nod to Charles Darwin.</p> <p>Known for his dry sense of humour, he tries not to recycle jokes for students.</p> <p>ā€œIf some little witticism occurs to me while Iā€™m phrasing a sentence, Iā€™m willing to take a bit of a flier and throw it in. Usually, those pretty much fall flat,ā€ he said with a laugh.</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-james-thomson">Read more about Thomson</a></h3> <p><img alt="photo of Rose with students" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2538 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-President%27s%20Teaching%20Awards-embed4.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Professor Jonathan Rose at the 2016 President's Teaching Award ceremony with some of his students&nbsp;(photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Rose encourages his computer engineering students to tackle practical problems&nbsp;ā€“ and many have by developing prototypes of useful apps. He teaches <a href="http://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/~jayar/ece1778.2016w/project-videos-reports-code.html">a graduate-level mobile app development course</a> that has led students to build more than 110 prototypes. Last yearā€™s projects include an app designed to help autistic kids find suitable playmates and another that translates Russian opera lyrics for singers who canā€™t read Cyrillic.</p> <p>ā€œHe cares really deeply for students, not only at the top of the class but also students at the lower end of the class,ā€ said <strong>Braiden Brousseau</strong>, a PhD candidate in computer engineering and one of Roseā€™s teaching assistants. ā€œHe goes out of his way so many times to make sure no one is left behind.ā€</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-jonathan-rose">Read more about Rose</a></h3> <p><img alt="photo of Gibbs at lectern" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2535 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-16-alison-gibbs-embed.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Alison Gibbs, associate professor of statistics (teaching stream) speaking at the award ceremony Tuesday (photo by Johnny Guatto)</em></p> <p>Gibbs&nbsp;is leading the charge to renew the statistics curriculum at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ. She&nbsp;has developed a capstone course pairing up fourth-year statistics students with&nbsp;research students in other fields.</p> <p>She&nbsp;says the key to good teaching is to see the material through the eyes of students. Whenever sheā€™s lecturing, she draws on practical examples to show the power of statistics ā€“&nbsp;and, sometimes, the&nbsp;blind spots.</p> <p>ā€œWhen you look at the world through data ā€“&nbsp;the worldā€™s a fuzzy place. Itā€™s like looking at the world through rippled glass,ā€ she said. ā€œBut then the idea of statistics is to help you try to make sense of what you can say about whatā€™s hiding behind the glass, and what you canā€™t say.ā€</p> <h3><a href="/news/innovations-teaching-alison-gibbs">Read more about Gibbs</a></h3> <p>The Presidentā€™s Teaching Award winners receive an annual professional development allowance of $10,000 for five years. They are also designated as members of the University of Toronto Teaching Academy for a minimum of five years.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/u-t-honours-great-teaching-research">Read more about the President's Teaching Award</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:41:34 +0000 ullahnor 102431 at