The best educators and master gardeners have a lot in common. Students, like the most enviable plants, flourish when they are expertly tended and nourished.
This year, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) celebrated seven such educators with 2025 CTL Teaching Awards at the President’s Celebration of Teaching, Research, and Service Achievement on November 19 at Darke Hall.
So, what fuels these outstanding educators? Keep reading to meet the 2025 recipients and discover what excites them most about teaching right now.
Brent Ghiglione, 2025 President’s Award for Teaching Excellence
This award honours an exceptional educator whose outstanding commitment to teaching and learning sets the standard for excellence across the U of R.
“For me the most exciting part of teaching is seeing students 'come alive’ when they start to see their hard work come together to shape a piece of music and to make it their own. For our B Mus Ed students seeing all of their technical and practical learning emerge so it is more than words and exercises…rather a way in which they can guide their students to realize their full potential.”
Brent Ghiglione
Associate Professor and Director of Bands,
Music Department, Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance
Emily McNair, 2025 Award of Excellence in Experiential Learning
This award recognizes outstanding achievement by educators who create exceptional hands-on learning opportunities and demonstrate leadership and innovation that benefit undergraduate and graduate students.
“What inspires me is watching students transform over a semester. Their voices get stronger, their ideas get bolder, and they start trusting themselves. Experiential learning lets them step into their power, and it’s a privilege to witness.”
Emily McNair
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs, Hill Levene School of Business
Faculty Advisor for the Hill JDC West and ICBC student competition teams.
Dr. Gale Russell, 2025 Provost’s Award for Innovation in Teaching
This award celebrates faculty members with excellence in pedagogical innovation who push teaching forward through creative, inclusive, and forward-thinking ways that enrich student learning.
“For me, teaching is about providing students with opportunities to explore, learn about, and make sense of their relationships with the (internal and external) world. I think of the subject area that I teach as just one of many vehicles through which this learning can take place, with each different vehicle bringing new perspectives, beliefs, and kinds of knowledge. As a teacher, I believe it is my role to encourage students to find ways to bring in the various perspectives, beliefs and kinds of knowledge that emerge from their vast experiences with other vehicles of learning into my classes, thereby valuing what they bring to the subject area, while at the same time adding to what the subject area is and can be. I am most excited about teaching when a student or a class is able to reconcile and make space for and use of those different perspectives, beliefs, and kinds of knowledge in their ways of approaching and thinking about the specific content of my courses.”
Dr. Gale Russell
Associate Professor and Program Chair, Secondary Education
Faculty of Education
Lexie Heit and Sarah Ilori, 2025 New Faculty Teaching Award of Recognition
This award recognizes a new faculty member who has shown remarkable early-career excellence, growth, and dedication to teaching. Two recipients were recognized this year.
Lexie Heit
“What excites me most about teaching right now is the incredible amount of innovation happening in education. There are so many new strategies and methods being explored, and it feels like we’re in a moment where creativity in teaching is truly being celebrated. I’m especially energized by the growing network of support available like podcasts, communities of practice, and shared resources that connect educators and highlight approaches we may not have considered for our own courses. It’s inspiring to see how ideas move between disciplines and how small shifts in practice can make a significant difference for learners.”
Lexie Heit, RN, BScN, MN
Instructor
Faculty of Nursing (Saskatoon)
Sarah Ilori
“What excites me most as a teacher is witnessing how far students grow from the first day of nursing school. Seeing them begin to confidently link concepts, think critically, and trust their intuition is genuinely inspiring. Their progress reminds me why this work matters."
Sarah Ilori, MPH, RN (NP)
Lecturer
Faculty of Nursing (Regina)
Dr. Samantha Lawler and Dr. Vanessa Mathews, 2025 Award of Excellence in Public Education and Outreach
This award honours outstanding achievement by academics who have made substantial and sustained contributions to the greater community through public education, engagement, and outreach. Two recipients were recognized this year.
Dr. Samantha Lawler
“My job is to learn cool things about space and then teach those cool things to other people. That is incredible! The best possible job for me! I am grateful to teach a topic that is extremely easy to get other people excited about, no matter if they are university students, casual CBC listeners, politicians, elementary school kids, or farmers who find space debris in their fields. I am also incredibly grateful to live in a place where it's easy to show people the (mostly) unpolluted night sky, and to enjoy it myself. Seeing that beautiful sky is what keeps me fighting to protect dark sky access, primarily using the tool of public education.”
Dr. Sam Lawler
Associate Professor
Astronomy (Campion College), Faculty of Science
Dr. Vanessa Mathews
“I think of the classroom as a space to spark interest and develop skillsets that bridge connections between the university and the broader public. In order to test concepts and experiment with new ideas, I encourage my students to engage directly with the city as a laboratory. To build capacity, I create spaces for my students to share their ideas with the public in the form of collages, games, poster presentations, and student papers. It excites me when I see my students' answering questions from a city planner during a public presentation, or when I see or hear their ideas circulating in the media. There is so much value in the process of learning. I love to see them shine.”
Dr. Vanessa Mathews
Associate Professor
Geography and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Arts
Check out all the awards supported through the Centre for Teaching and Learning.
About the University of Regina
At the University of Regina, we believe the best way to learn is through access to world-class professors, research, and experiential learning. We are committed to the health and well-being of our more than 16,600 students and support a dynamic research community focused on evidence-based solutions to today’s most pressing challenges. Located on Treaties 4 and 6—the territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda peoples, and the homeland of the Michif/Métis nation —we honour our ongoing relationships with Indigenous communities and remain committed to the path of reconciliation. Our vibrant alumni community is more than 95,000 strong and enriching communities in Saskatchewan and around the globe.
Let’s go far, together.