Dr. Etienne Côté named 2009 AAU Distinguished Teaching Award Winner

The Association of Atlantic Universities announced their annual regional awards for excellence in teaching and instructional leadership today. Among the three award winners is the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI's Dr. Etienne Côté.

Dr. Côté, who teaches Veterinary Cardiology at the Atlantic Veterinary College, was named a 2009 AAU Distinguished Teaching Award winner. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding teaching over a number of years and is presented to individuals considered by the association to be the region's top university educators.

'Dr. Côté is an outstanding teacher who demonstrates a tireless commitment to continuously improving learning for his students,' says Dr. Donald L. Reynolds, Dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI. 'We are proud to have him recognized in such a deserving manner.'

Dr. Shannon Murray, a national 3M award-winning professor from UPEI, nominated Dr. Côté for the Association of Atlantic Universities Award for Teaching Excellence.

Congratulations, Dr. Cote.

Dr. Etienne Côté teaches Veterinary Cardiology at the University of Prince Edward Island's Atlantic Veterinary College, but more than that: as he says, he is always conscious of the essential 'unspoken curriculum of compassion and communication with colleagues, staff, and an animal's human family' that is needed to form truly good health care providers. For Dr. Côté, teaching veterinary medicine has as much to do with training good communicators and compassionate practitioners as it does with the science of animal physiology. One of Canada's foremost experts in Veterinary Cardiac Medicine, Etienne is deeply concerned to connect his classroom to the world. He operates by analogy, modeling in his attentive and respectful attitude to his students the kind of behavior he hopes these future veterinarians will learn. Three hundred and fifty-eight new veterinarians - and their patients - are the better for it.

Most impressive is the stable of innovative strategies he has adapted or invented to engage his students and help them understand the material. From the post-it note version of the Stop/Start/Continue midterm check-in to 'Cardiology Jeopardy,' 'Cardiology Karaoke,' and a board game for Board Exam preparations, he is always searching for ways to help his students -no matter what their learning styles - master the very difficult and important material he is responsible for teaching. So when he was bothered by the disconnect for third-year students between their classroom learning and real veterinary practice, he adapted a format from one of his own professors to offer biweekly 'Cardiac Grand Rounds.' Now attended by crowds of faculty as well as enthusiastic students, the sessions bring these future veterinarians into the smell of hay and horses for a real experience of disease recognition and diagnosis. His award-winning textbook, Clinical Veterinary Advisor: Dogs and Cats, a record-setting best seller at a recent North American Veterinary Conference, ensures that his influence extends beyond the UPEI campus.

Dr. Côté is the recipient of the Pfizer-Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teaching Award, the Merial Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching, and the Janet Pottie Murray Award for Educational Leadership. UPEI is very proud that his dedication and scholarly approach to the classroom have been recognized with the AAU Distinguished Teaching Award.