Professor Robert Irish (ISTEP), who serves as EngSci’s Associate Director for Years 1 & 2, has received the University of Toronto’s highest honour for teaching for his sustained excellence in teaching, educational leadership and innovation.
Recipients of the President’s Teaching Award become members of the University’s Teaching Academy for a minimum of five years, sharing their expertise through public lectures, workshops, conferences, and new faculty orientation.
Previous to his current role as Associate Director, Irish led the development of EngSci’s Praxis I & II courses, in which he taught from 2008 to 2023. His approach offered a supportive environment where students were challenged to move from “where they are” to “where they can be”. More than simply teaching his students a subject, he helped them develop holistically and step into their own authority as tomorrow’s engineering leaders. His work closely aligns with the faculty’s mission to develop engineers who understand their responsibility to contribute to a sustainable world and consider equity, diversity and inclusion in their decision making.
As Associate Director, Irish cares deeply about the student experience and transition from high school to university. He holds regular focus groups to understand the teaching and learning experience of EngSci students and uses that feedback and his commitment to teaching excellence to help all EngSci instructors deliver high quality education.
“The role of EngSci’s Associate Director for Years 1 & 2, is to support continuous improvement to ensure that our curriculum meets our pedagogical goals and provides the rigorous broad and deep foundation that is central to our program,” says Professor Natalie Enright Jerger, Director of the Division of Engineering Science. “Professor Irish brings not only a deep understanding of engineering education to this task but also sincere care about the ethical and equity issues associated with administering the program. I congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition.”