It’s been a big week for Adrian Chan.
The Carleton engineering professor was announced as a recipient of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship, Feb. 9.
“The 3M award is perhaps the most prestigious recognition of great teachers in Canada,” said Carleton president Roseann Runte via email.
The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) selected Chan as one of 10 winners to be honoured at their annual conference in Montreal in June.
Chan said he was excited about the news, but admitted it was a lot to take in.
“When you look at the list of past recipients, including those received here at Carleton, it’s quite a group to be associated with,” he said. “It’s an honour. But it’s a bit overwhelming initially.”
Chan is a “well-deserving recipient,” Runte said.
“We are most fortunate to have him at Carleton. He is a caring professor, a fine lecturer and a brilliant researcher,” she said.
Chan said it’s nice to finally receive some positive feedback.
“It’s kind of re-invigorating,” he said. “It gives me some reassurance that things are going well. As well as the encouragement that I can continue to stretch myself, with innovative teaching, and keep pushing myself to learn.”
That innovative teaching is made possible by the foundation that Chan said he builds in the classroom. Since joining the engineering faculty at Carleton in 2003, Chan has focused on creating a learning environment of mutual respect.
“To me, it’s about the three pillars of a good community: respect, responsibility, and trust . . . I need to be able to trust my students, and my students need to be able to trust me,” Chan said. “We each have different roles, but we both have a responsibility in learning.”
Right now, Chan said his responsibility is to his research. He said he wants to break down stereotypes that great teaching and great research are mutually exclusive.
“I’m actually not teaching this term. I’m very focused on my research right now,” he said. “Part of me, winning this award, wants to focus even more on my research to prove that just because you teach, doesn’t mean you can’t do research.”
Chan said he struggles to balance his many roles: researcher, father and husband. But at the end of the day, he said those roles have helped him in his teaching as well.
“Teaching is a lot like potty training. A lot of crap happens, but your end goal is for whoever you’re teaching to learn independence. Their success isn’t your success, and their failures aren’t your failures. In the end, they’ll get it.”
