On Campus
The gallery up the hill
PHOTO: Owen Egan |
|
Classroom 217 of the Otto Maass Chemistry Building underwent a makeover in honour of a onetime chemistry professor, Leo Yaffe. Chemistry professor David Harpp says that 217 "was a favourite room of his to lecture in when he was here." Harpp suspects that Yaffe, a fellow who took teaching and learning seriously, probably liked the fact that, because the door to the room was located at the front of the class, students couldn't sneak in or out easily during a lecture.
Money raised for the room has resulted in spanking new desks, blackboards and ceiling repairs. Yaffe's portrait will hang in the room. Money left over from the fundraising will go towards supplementing the Faculty of Science's Leo Yaffe teaching prize. Most of the recipients of the prize turned up for a ceremony to mark the official opening of the Leo Yaffe Room.
Yaffe was a renowned researcher in the area of nuclear chemistry, but he was a fine teacher too. When he became an administrator, Yaffe continued to teach in order to underline the importance he gave to the activity. As a departmental chair, Yaffe was careful to recruit new faculty for their teaching skills, as well as for their research know-how.