Professor Jim Wallace (MIE) has been named as a recipient of the 2012 President’s Teaching Award, U of T’s highest honour for teaching. He also now becomes a member of the prestigious U of T Teaching Academy.
Other U of T winners include Senior Lecturer Karen Reid, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science and Professor Ian Silver, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine. Recipients were nominated by a committee chaired by the Provost. Their appointments to the Teaching Academy were approved April 19 by Academic Board.
Professor Wallace served as Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE) from 1998-2003. As Chair, Professor Wallace spearheaded the creation of the Mechatronics and Information Engineering programs and initiated the teaching mentor program for new faculty.
He has developed innovative and effective new courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the area of energy systems. Most recently, he led the development of an existing course, MIE 515 Alternative Energy Systems into an online course – the first online undergraduate course in the Faculty.
Professor Wallace’s teaching has also benefited from his research program. As the Director of the Engine Research and Development Laboratory at U of T, he has more than 30 years of experience conducting research on the topics of internal combustion engines, combustion and fuels. These research projects have provided a wealth of knowledge and examples that have been incorporated into the courses he teaches.
He has enjoyed a stellar reputation for teaching among students and colleagues since he joined the academic staff. He received the SAC-APUS Teaching Award just a few years into his teaching career and has over the years received several education awards from the Society of Automotive Engineers, the MIE Teaching Award (2010) and the Faculty Teaching Award from U of T Engineering in 2011.
“Jim Wallace is an outstanding educator with an unwavering dedication to teaching excellence, a leader in curriculum innovation and an inspiring mentor of students and colleagues alike,” said Dean Cristina Amon, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.
“He has been one of our Faculty’s most committed and talented teachers for more than three decades. I am thrilled that he has been recognized with the prestigious President’s Teaching Award,” Dean Amon said.
The President’s Teaching Award was established in 2006 to recognize sustained excellence in teaching, research on teaching and the integration of teaching and research. Awardees receive an annual professional development allowance of $10,000 for five years. Recipients are also designated as a member of the Teaching Academy for five years.
In its seven-year history, two other U of T Engineering faculty have been honoured with the President’s Teaching Award: Professor Yu-Ling Cheng (ChemE), Director of the Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (2008) and Professor Susan McCahan (MIE), Vice-Dean, Undergraduate (2007).
