EngSoc, Featured

Professor Al-Hammoud Wins Teaching Excellence Award

Every term a professor, lecturer, or laboratory instructor who has done an exceptional job of going above and beyond for their classes is selected to receive the Waterloo Engineering Society’s Teaching Excellence Award. This award is given to an instructor who has shown immense dedication to ensuring their class’ success, has employed unique and unconventional teaching methods, and has allowed opportunities for experiential learning. The winner is selected based upon the number, and quality, of student applications received as well as information collected through the course critiques.  This term, based on exceptional student nominations and overwhelmingly positive course critique scores, Professor Al-Hammoud was selected as the winner.

When her CivE 105 class was polled about Professor Al-Hammoud, we got a huge number of responses most of which couldn’t be included because there isn’t enough space! There were common themes in all of the responses: her students can genuinely tell how much she cares about their success; almost every response included this answer. Also, it is evident that she goes above and beyond to ensure everyone understands. Above all, it seems students truly appreciate her enthusiasm for the course. Here are a few submissions:

“[She] explains one concept in multiple ways until the students understand. Really takes the time to get to know every student. Always available if you need help. Very friendly and positive. Gives clear and concise answers to questions and makes sure you understand the concepts. Best professor I have ever had.”

“Rania demands attention and responds with energy and an interactive lecture, even using props. She is easy to talk to if you have questions and is extremely generous in her office hour scheduling. You feel that she wants everyone to succeed and that she truly enjoys what she is doing and has a passion for her area of expertise.”

“She cares about her students, holds help sessions even on weekends to ensure that her students have all the tools needed to succeed and she goes above and beyond when explaining new concepts with examples and detailed notes.”

“There are a lot of profs that simply don’t have a good attitude or don’t care when it comes to teaching, and it definitely shows. Rania goes above and beyond when it comes to not only ensuring we understand the material, but will adapt to our level of understanding and adjust her teaching methods appropriately.”

“The amount of effort and time she put into making the course really relatable and understandable to real life engineering applications is evident.”

“She makes the class interactive. There is discussion during iClicker questions and she’s always open for questions during the lecture.”

“She never makes you feel unwelcome when it comes to asking questions or asking for help, and it’s obvious how much time and effort she puts into being a great teacher.”

Congratulations Professor Al-Hammoud, and thank you for your outstanding teaching contributions! Professor Al-Hammoud’s name will be added to the Engineering Society’s Teaching Excellence Award Plaque located outside of the CnD in CPH. If you have a instructor that you feel has done an exceptional job in making one of your classes engaging, interesting, and all around great, don’t forget to nominate them next term for this award! Nominations are accepted every term!

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