“At their best, giant classes can be effective and inspiring—a way to get the best teachers in front of the most students. But according to Carl Wieman, who won the 2001 Nobel Prize as a physicist at Colorado, such successes are rare . . . . After his Nobel, Wieman could easily have focused on lab work or training a cadre of elite graduate students . . . . But Wieman uses his clout to secure invitations to talk to his fellow scientists—about teaching . . . .

Wieman moved his base to the University of British Columbia this year while continuing some of his work at Colorado. He says he was determined to continue his work at a large public university — the kind of place where future K-12 teachers are trained.”

Nobel laureate Carl Wieman leads UBC’s Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, a $12- million venture that is working with eight UBC science departments to scientifically measure and systematically improve undergraduate education.

“Like a growing number of professors at elite American institutions, Neil Gross, 36, an assistant professor of sociology at Harvard University, has answered Canada’s call. This fall he will join the sociology department at [the University of] British Columbia as a tenured professor.

Many Americans taking senior positions at British Columbia come from top-tier public research universities, like Eric Margolis, a philosophy professor from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Jessica A. Wang, a historian who left the University of California at Los Angeles. Others, like Mr. Gross, come from elite private institutions where tenure clocks are long, and full professorships are rare. According to Darrin Lehman, associate dean for research at British Columbia, about 25 professors have recently signed on from American institutions.”

“When Dan Rather arrived in Vancouver last fall to do a story about the notoriously troubled Downtown Eastside, he was armed with piles of research provided by journalism students at the University of British Columbia.

‘This was not a case where the school lent its name to it and we did most of the work,’ Rather said during an interview last week from New York. ‘[The students] did a lot of the work.’

The result of that collaboration, A Safe Place to Shoot Up, profiles the not-so-photogenic side of Vancouver with visuals you won’t see in any tourism brochure or Olympic marketing campaign.”

Daniel Pratt of the Dept. of Education Studies was named one of the 2008 3M Teaching Fellows. The award, now in its 23rd year, was established by 3M Canada in collaboration with the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a recognition of the inspirational power of great professors.

“Dr. Nirvair Levitt of Vancouver is one of 10 family physicians—one from each province—to be recognized in Winnipeg today by the College of Family Physicians at its annual awards ceremony. Levitt, who is also a clinical associate professor, family practice, at the University of B.C., and the nine other doctors are being recognized for ‘providing exceptional care to their patients, making meaningful contributions’ to their communities and dedicating themselves to educating new family doctors.”

Dr. Nirvair Levitt, was voted best teacher two years ago by UBC medical students.

2007|08 The University of British Columbia