In March 2018 I learned that I had won the OUSA Award at McMaster. OUSA is the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance; it represents eight Ontario universities, each of which makes an award to one instructor per year. In 2017-18, OUSA focused its awards on professors who worked to make course materials affordable and accessible, highlighting the burden that textbook costs place on students with the hashtag #textbookbroke. The award recognized my work in creating the OER Essentials of Linguistics for my Intro Linguistics classes.
I received the award at a ceremony organized by the MSU on March 21. There was also an OUSA ceremony in Toronto on April 4, which I was unable to attend because I had to teach a class. At the MSU ceremony, I was reminded that students genuinely value the work that professors do. I’m grateful that my students trust me as a partner in their learning, and grateful to receive this award recognizing one element of the work I do that supports their learning.
Catherine Anderson, McMaster University 