By Cassandra Hendry
For a professor to win the Provost’s Fellowship in Teaching Award, one of Carleton’s most coveted teaching awards, they have to excel in numerous aspects of the university environment. Applications include teaching evaluations, letters from current and past students, and support from fellow faculty members; all in all, an intensive process.
And neuroscience prof Kim Hellemans did all of this, and won, while at home juggling a very important commitment.
“It’s nice to be recognized despite the fact that I’m on maternity leave,” she says.
Hellemans’ win doesn’t come as a surprise to many. The acclaimed neuroscience prof received scores of letters from her students, including one from a student she taught 10 years ago.
“While I have had contact with hundreds of teachers in the classroom and on the wards over my years as student, Dr. Hellemans ranks in the top one per-cent,” wrote former student Dr. Pamela Liao, now a clinician in Toronto.
Another letter from a current student explains how she went from being on academic warning to a straight-A student. Through her mentoring, the student remarked that Hellemans “never fail[ed] to make me feel like an individual student instead of just a student number.”
So how does a professor become so beloved? Hellemans says the answer is twofold: a passion for teaching and how you treat your students.
“I treat all students as equals. Yes I’ve been at this for many years, but I don’t talk down to them and I try to encourage my students to come talk to me in my office and not be intimidated,” she says.
“We don’t even need to talk about the subject matter, I just want to get to know them. It personalizes the learning experience a bit more.”
Her love of the craft and strong bonds with students have made Hellemans a beacon of mentorship in the neuroscience department. Another current student summed this up by writing that Hellemans has “truly turned the department into a community of student support and collaboration.”
In her own words, Hellemans says one of the most touching moments of her career at Carleton was when she attended her first student convocation this year and watched as a dozen of her students crossed the stage.
“I knew all these students and all their stories, and I knew where they were going, where they’ve come from and their struggles,” she says.
“I think that contributes to the sense of community with our undergraduates. They really feel they have a neuroscience identity.”