MEDIA RELEASE — Mar 2, 2010

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Canadian Mathematical Society

OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to award the 2010 CMS Excellence in Teaching Award to Professor Jennifer Hyndman, Mathematics Program, University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). The Award will be presented at the Society's 2010 Summer Meeting in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The award recognizes sustained and distinguished contributions in teaching at the undergraduate level at a Canadian post-secondary education institution. Nelson Education, a major Canadian publisher for students and educators, is a proud sponsor of this unique national Award.

In announcing the award, Tony Lau, President of the CMS, noted that “Professor Hyndman is an outstanding educator and this award recognizes her proven excellence as a teacher, her unusual effectiveness in the classroom, and her commitment and dedication to teaching and to students.”

For Professor Hyndman, teaching is not a job but a passion. “She deeply cares that students really understand, and she believes that the best way to achieve this understanding is by having the students play the part of teacher themselves. Her role then becomes that of mentor, critic, and teacher of constructive criticism techniques” said Lee Keener, a close colleague at UNBC.

Professor Hyndman is deeply involved with all aspects of teaching. Her first year assignments have students exploring the UNBC campus, and her fourth-year projects combine mathematics and a creative activity outside the student's comfort zone, resulting in paintings, poetry, music, plays and musicals. Furthermore, she has made a significant contribution in the area of curriculum development in addition to staging numerous high school and university level workshops.

“Her impassioned commitment to education and her contribution both inside and outside the classroom make her an ideal recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award” noted Peter Taylor, Chair of the CMS Education Committee that administers the award.

Professor Hyndman’s success as a teacher and her educational accomplishments were also recognized in 2003 when she received the UNBC Teaching Excellence Award.

Professor Hyndman hones her craft as a teacher by being a student in dance classes and competing in dance festivals.  There she is reminded that a good teacher is passionate about what she does, expects great things from her students, and keeps the learning environment dynamic. She has recently, and for the first time, performed in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker.

Jennifer Hyndman earned her Bachelors of Mathematics with a Minor in Dance from University of Waterloo in 1986, her M.A. in 1989 and her Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Colorado at Bolder.  She was one of the founding faculty of the University of Northern British Columbia and developed many of the courses still taught in the Mathematics Program. She is a Full Professor and currently Chair of Mathematics at UNBC.

Professor Hyndman’s research interests are in natural duality theory, quasi-equations and finite basis theory, lattice theory, and mathematics education.

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