Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Richardson for winning the UTM Teaching Excellence Award for 2020! Dr. Richardson was recognized as an innovative teacher for her work on scaffolded learning, experiential learning, and trauma-informed pedagogy. Both students and colleagues commended Dr. Richardson’s efforts to make classes that are built around forming community (often getting students to work together); to cultivate opportunities for students to learn actively through doing things (she regularly takes students to museums and temples); and making sure that everyone is also having fun (she has organized art-making workshops and even an Odissi dance workshop).

Dr. Richardson also works to develop discipline-specific conversations around teaching through her work with the Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, where she is the host for a new teaching related podcast, called The Circled Square.  For this podcast she interviews colleagues from other Universities, Colleges and disciplines, about their Buddhism related teaching (see http://teachingbuddhism.net/).

See more at https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/news/2020-utm-teaching-excellence-award-winner-sessional-instructors-dr-sarah-richardson

Khenpo Kunga Sherab was selected as the Senior Doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program at New College.  Since 2009 he has served as academic advisor for a number of professors and graduate students in Canada and the United States. His doctoral research focuses on the long cultural history of practices invented by Tibetans between the 13-20th centuries to identify incarnate enlightened minds among children as the basis of the trülku (sprul sku) institution. You may have seen him on the UToronto Classical Tibetan YouTube channel. Congratulations, Khenpo!