Sherwin Tjia

Lydia White

Linguistics Department

David Thomson Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision & Teaching

I imagine that many people who embark on an academic career do not do so particularly because of the teaching side of it, but I discovered almost immediately that teaching is something I really enjoy. This is true at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Indeed, it is very hard to identify my favourite class to teach; I have enjoyed them all and found all of them stimulating, regardless of size or content area. When you teach, you also learn, especially from questions and discussion in class, and from interactions with students on an individual basis. As far as graduate supervision is concerned, there are many different functions that one must fulfill, including research guidance, mentoring, and practical advice. I particularly enjoy helping students to develop, focus and refine their ideas, so that the originality of their research and its importance to the field becomes transparent.