Our “Meet the Faculty” interviews provide a window into the work lives of faculty across the University of Waterloo. Faculty members talk about the day-to-day joys and struggles, and share tips for getting the work done and staying mentally and physically healthy in academia.

Judith Koeller is a lecturer with the Dean of Math office and the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing.

What do you teach?

I teach Classical Algebra and Linear Algebra for math majors. I also teach online in the Masters for Math Teachers program. And I’m working on a course with Peace and Conflict Studies on the peace implications of math. A lot of professions have some kind of ethical training—there are things that have to be reported and protection for whistleblowers. Some fields in math, like CPAs, have professional associations. But for many math and CS graduates, but there are a lot of social implications to their work without much clarity around ethics and whistleblowing. This course will get students thinking about what kind of ethical issues they might face in their careers.

What else do you do on campus?

I do a lot of service through the Centre for Education in Math and Computing. We create math contests for grades 7-12 that are written around the world, and visit a lot of schools to get students thinking about what they can do with math. I’ve visited schools in five or six countries as well as across Canada.

I’ve also served on the FAUW Equity Committee, responding and advocating for policies on campus for equity seeking groups. Through that I’ve become a facilitator for the University’s Making Spaces workshops, which specifically advocate for LGBTQ+ people.

What is it about your work that you’re really passionate or excited about?

When I connect with a young kid who really has an interest in mathematics and a lightbulb goes on that maybe they could pursue that in more depth than they realized. Sometimes it’s a kid who doesn’t think about themselves as being strong in math, but maybe there’s a particular problem that they do really well at and they see themselves in a different way. That’s really exciting.

Continue reading “Meet the Faculty: Judith Koeller” →

Our “Meet the Faculty” interviews provide a window into the work lives of faculty across the University of Waterloo. Faculty members talk about the day-to-day joys and struggles, and share tips for getting the work done and staying mentally and physically healthy in academia.

Naila Keleta-Mae is an assistant professor in Communication Arts who teaches courses in the theatre and performance program and the speech communication program.

What do you teach and research?

My research is focused on Black expressive culture in North America with an emphasis on Black women’s cultural production, including music, videos, performances, plays, and poetry. I teach a range of courses: from Theories of Theatre and Performance, to Gender and Performance, to Public Speaking. I also teach an Arts First course called Black and Free that is about how Black people have expressed their freedom in North America even in the midst of the violent institutionalized anti-Black racism that has plagued the continent for centuries.

What does a good day at work look like?

Teaching students a range of materials that challenge them to develop their critical self-reflexivity skills, expand their worldviews, and consider the possibilities of their agency. Having time to write and writing academic prose in a way that nods to the work of Audre Lorde in terms of its concision, accessibility, and content. I remember reading Lorde’s Sister Outsider long before I went to grad school and being aware that she was offering me other ways to think about the world, my place in it, and what I could do. I’ve aspired to do the same with my writing ever since.

Continue reading “Meet the Faculty: Naila Keleta-Mae” →

Our “Meet the Faculty” interviews provide a window into the work lives of faculty across the University of Waterloo. Faculty members talk about the day-to-day joys and struggles, and share tips for getting the work done and staying mentally and physically healthy in academia.

Ian VanderBurgh is a lecturer and director of the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) in the Faculty of Math.

What is the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing and what do you do as director?

CEMC is the outreach arm of the Faculty of Mathematics. We do activities in elementary and secondary schools to promote mathematics and computer science to students and teachers: contests, school visits, workshops and conferences, and an online master’s program for teachers.

My role is to help other people do what they love and need to do, and to try not to get in the way. And help solve problems when they need to be solved.

What do you teach these days?

Most of my teaching comes in our Master of Mathematics for Teachers, which is an online, part-time, professional master’s program for active high school teachers—and occasionally undergrad classes.

What other roles do you have on campus or in the community?

On campus, I am the chair of the University’s Complementary Teaching Assessment Project Team. We’re looking at ways of assessing teaching other than student course perception surveys. That’s been a great experience for me so far and it’s an important thing for the University to be looking at. I’m heavily involved in undergrad admissions for Math as well.

Outside of the University, I’m the pianist for the Grand Philharmonic Choir and also accompany the Wilfrid Laurier Concert Choir sometimes, too.

Continue reading “Meet the Faculty: Ian VanderBurgh” →

Our “Meet the Faculty” interviews provide a window into the work lives of faculty across the University of Waterloo. Faculty members talk about the day-to-day joys and struggles, and share tips for getting the work done and staying mentally and physically healthy in academia.

We’re starting with Kim Hong Nguyen. Kim Hong is an assistant professor in Communication Arts and a faculty representative for Waterloo Women’s Wednesdays.

Kim, what do you teach and research?

My research and teaching explore the relationship between equity, power, and identity in public controversies related to communication practices. I teach students how our communicative practices and interpretative frameworks intersect with race, gender/sexuality, class, and other visible identity markers. I write about controversies that raise new questions about how to perform and talk about identity. Controversies that interest me are ones that focus on the use of one word, a trope, an expression, or a cultural practice and create questions about who can say, do, and perform them.

What are you passionate about in your work?

Though I might not be the best public speaker, I am passionate about communicating well and all that that entails. This means I want all of my students to communicate well, but also learn how to be good, forgiving listeners. I hope my teaching provides them a space to explore what that means and a space to practice. This also means that my research explores how the public communication practices of visible minorities are interpreted and tries to identify the different frameworks that allow for that public communication to be seen as effective and not effective.

Continue reading “Meet the Faculty: Kim Hong Nguyen” →