UPEI English Professor Wins Top Atlantic Award for Instructional Leadership
The high quality of teaching at the University of Prince Edward Island has been recognized for the second time in two months. The Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) has just selected Dr. Wendy Shilton, an Associate Professor in the UPEI Department of English, as the 2005 winner of the Anne Marie MacKinnon Instructional Leadership Award. This follows the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education announcement, in May, that named Chemistry Professor Brian Wagner as a national 3-M Award winner.
Dr. Shilton holds a PhD in English from the University of Toronto. She joined the faculty at UPEI in 1996. In addition to teaching courses in writing and English literature, she has spent the last seven years as coordinator, and champion, of the University Writing Council. The council works to ensure that "learning to write" and and#145;writing to learn" are top of mind for instructors and students in every department; from computer science, to music, to organic chemistry. She has also played a pivotal role in the establishment of an interdisciplinary Minor program in University Writing at UPEI.
"This award is a great honour, and it offers important validation of the efforts of many, not just one, in building a culture of critical literacy across campus," says Dr. Shilton. "UPEI has a long and unique history of commitment among Canadian universities toward developing the role of writing in the learning environment. This award recognizes the vision and dedication of that institutional leadership and promises lively, continued support for future innovation."
"UPEI is proud that the AAU has honoured Wendy Shilton with the Anne Marie MacKinnon Instructional Leadership Award," says Vianne Timmons, Vice-President of Academic Development. "It recognizes her professional and personal dedication to the highest standards of university teaching and celebrates her considerable ability to inspire both colleagues and students to share her vision."
Outreach to educators outside the UPEI campus has been an important part of Dr. Shilton's work. She has given numerous writing workshops to PEI high school instructors and has collaborated with the PEI Department of Education to foster a more seamless transition in language arts from high school to post-secondary programs. She is co-author of an interactive CD-ROM in basic writing skills for McGraw Hill, and she is currently working on a composition text, Cultures and Contexts: Writing for Intercultural Understanding, under negotiation with Nelson Canada. Her achievements will be recognized by the Association of Atlantic Universities at a ceremony in Newfoundland in September.
