Recognizing DeGroote teaching excellence

Congratulations to Yaqin Hu, assistant professor of Accounting and Financial Management and Michael Wu, assistant professor of Marketing, for winning S. J. Basu Teaching Awards, and Teal McAteer, associate professor of Human Resources and Management, for receiving an MSU Teaching Award.

The S.J. Basu Teaching Award is awarded annually and recognizes teachers who model the teaching qualities of the late Dr. Sanjoy Joe Basu. Additionally, the MSU Teaching Award, awarded annually by the McMaster Student Union, is based solely on student submissions.

We asked Yaqin, Michael and Teal a few questions to find out what teaching excellence looks like in their classrooms, as well as what it meant for them to receive these awards.

Yaqin Hu, assistant professor, Accounting and Financial Management

How did it feel to win this award?

Grateful and humbled.

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about as an educator over the years?

Learning is not only about how students learn, but also about how we teach. At business school, accounting is not often the favorite subject because it is not “easy.” It can become technical and disconnected. Soon after I started my teaching career, it quickly came to my mind that all students can be good at and love accounting, if we teach them in the correct way. This belief has been with me over the years.

Is there a teaching principle or belief that serves as your personal North Star?

Do my best.

Can you offer an example of a time you felt your teaching had an impact on a student?

I once had 56 student comments in one teaching evaluation telling me how they liked accounting. It was 2016. I was a PhD student. That’s the first time I taught in my career. That’s also the year I received my first teaching award.

What have your students taught you that you didn’t expect to learn?

I had students who worked part-time, took family responsibilities, fought health battles, faced financial challenges and more. Do not make any assumptions about a student being late for lectures, asking for an extension or falling asleep in class. We all come from different scenarios. We all do our best.

Michael Wu, assistant professor, Marketing

How did it feel to win this award?

Tremendously honoured.

What originally drew you to teaching?

The talented, kind and clever individuals you get to interact with have always been the best part of teaching.

Is there a teaching principle or belief that serves as your personal North Star?

Teach students how I would want to be taught if I was sitting in their position.

Can you offer an example of a time you felt your teaching had an impact on a student?

I’m still not quite sure exactly what impact I may have had — you’d probably get a better answer from my students. However, I’ve certainly been humbled by some of the thoughtful stories or anecdotes shared with me.

What have your students taught you that you didn’t expect to learn?

I’ve been privileged enough for some students to have shared their journeys to DeGroote with me. I still think about many of those stories and lessons learned by them each day.

Teal McAteer, associate professor, Human Resources and Management

How did it feel to win this award?

Incredible to be awarded for something that I love to do! Teaching is when I am in “flow state” — my happy place. So imagine how amazing it is to be given such a huge thank-you for something that is an absolute joy.

What originally drew you to teaching?

As corny as it sounds, I knew I was going to be a teacher since I was a little girl. Whenever I learn something new, I always want to share it with others — especially practical life skills. When particular learnings have been powerful in my own life, I have a natural urge to want to share those learnings with others. Teaching as a vocation seems like a calling to me — my purpose!

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about as an educator over the years?

I don’t think I realized as an educator in my early years how learning styles are so different for every human. As an educator now, I will never give up helping a student/client to grasp a learning that is meaningful for them. I also now know that there is no one right way to teach — I’m constantly trying to reinvent how I connect with students/clients until I see that look in their eyes that they’ve connected with something important and useful in their lives.

Is there a teaching principle or belief that serves as your personal North Star?

Absolutely! Transformational Learning — that education is not just about acquiring facts, but about undergoing a shift in consciousness whereby I help students/clients to use the course material to critically examine and alter their deeply held beliefs, assumptions and worldviews.

Even more importantly I focus on the equation S+T=R — Situation plus Thinking = Response. Given each and every situation in life, how you think will determine how you respond/behave.

Can you offer an example of a time you felt your teaching had an impact on a student?

In my Leadership Development course, which is based on Transformational Learning, students write private reflections about what they learned. Many have made statements like “she pushed me to know myself”; “The leadership coaching allowed me to see why I couldn’t develop healthy and sustainable relationships”; “I found my authentic voice”; “I used the learnings to communicate better in interviews”; and “I use this stuff everyday in my personal and professional lives”.

What have your students taught you that you didn’t expect to learn?

Over the years my students have taught me to always be true to self — to be authentic and to never be afraid to be the real me!