The race is on! Nominees announced in TVO's Big Ideas Best Lecturer Competition IV

    TORONTO, Oct. 30 /CNW/ - Enthusiasm. Wit. Charisma. Clarity. These are
just some of the qualities cited by students and alumni who have nominated
their college and university professors from across the province in TVO's Big
Ideas Best Lecturer Competition IV.
    This year's competition has attracted a record number of nominations. As
Big Ideas Best Lecturer Competition producer Wodek Szemberg says: "We received
an initial 285 individual student nominations for 160 professors. Of these,
125 professors from 24 schools remain in the competition, confirming that the
search for Ontario's best lecturer, now in its fourth year, is gaining
widespread support among Ontario's academics." (Note: 35 professors have
chosen not to continue in the competition for reasons such as maternity leave
or sabbatical.) This tally of nominations exceeds the previous record of 258
individual nominations in the competition's first year.
    Schools with professors nominated for the first time this year include
Algonquin College, Mohawk College, Niagara College, Durham College and the
Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). The teaching specialties of the
nominees range from sports administration to information technology, sociology
and anthropology to civil law and geography. New specialties this year include
image arts, nursing, and hospitality and tourism.
    Sponsored by TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, the Best Lecturer Competition
was created to recognize the best and brightest lecturers at Ontario's
colleges and universities. The competition invites Ontarians to nominate
professors whose love of learning has helped to stimulate imaginations, open
eyes and push boundaries in institutions of higher learning across the
province. Big Ideas is TVO's popular televised lecture series, offering
lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics that range across politics,
culture, economics, art history and science.
    To spur on friendly competition between university and college campuses,
the winner not only receives much deserved recognition and bragging rights,
but also a $10,000 TD Insurance Meloche Monnex scholarship for their school.
    Last year, Professor Christopher diCarlo took home the title of Ontario's
Best Lecturer, garnering the $10,000 TD Insurance Meloche Monnex scholarship
for the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa.
    The next stage of the competition invites nominees to submit a tape of
their lecture for consideration. Following review of these tapes, 20
semifinalists will be chosen from the nominees. Then, a panel of judges will
choose 10 finalists, who will then be invited to deliver complete lectures on
TVO's Big Ideas beginning February 28, 2009. Viewers will be invited to grade
each of the finalists and cast their vote for Ontario's next Best Lecturer.

    About TVO

    TVO is Ontario's public educational media organization and a trusted
source of interactive educational content that informs, inspires and
stimulates curiosity and thought. TVO's vision is to empower people to be
engaged citizens of Ontario through educational media.

    About TD Insurance Meloche Monnex

    TD Insurance Meloche Monnex is proud to be the presenting sponsor for the
fourth edition of TVO's Big Ideas Best Lecturer Competition. TD Insurance
Meloche Monnex is a dedicated supporter of Ontario university alumni,
providing high quality home and auto insurance to its members.
    A complete list of the participating nominees follows. For more
information, including contestant bios, student quotes and full contest
details, please visit tvo.org/bestlecturer.

    Nominees - Big Ideas Best Lecturer Competition
    (Listed alphabetically by school.)

    Algonquin College

    Tony Davidson
    School of Media and Design

    Susan Haslip
    School of Business

    Lisa Shaw-Verhoek
    School of Health and Community Studies

    Brock University

    James Allard
    Department of English Language and Literature

    Tauri Caputo
    Faculty of Business

    Santo D'Agostino
    Department of Mathematics

    Patrick Ounlert
    Faculty of Business

    Harry Peery
    Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology

    Mario Pizzacalla
    Department of Applied Linguistics

    Murray Wickett
    Department of History

    Phil Wilson
    Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology

    Canadore College

    Rod Carley
    Communication Arts

    Carleton University

    Matt Bellamy
    Department of History

    Robert C.Burk
    Department of Chemistry

    R. Lynn Campbell
    Department of Law

    Darryl Davies
    Department of Sociology and Anthropology

    Jeff Dawson
    Department of Biology

    Harold Goldman
    Department of History

    Norman Hillmer
    Department of History

    Matthew Holahan
    Department of Psychology

    Wayne Horn
    School of Mathematics and Statistics

    Vincent Kazmierski
    Department of Law

    Guy Lacroix
    Department of Psychology

    Richard Mann
    Religion, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

    John D.Milton
    Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

    Mark Phillips
    Department of History

    Esther Post
    Department of English Language and Literature

    Michael Runtz
    Department of Biology

    Tom Sherwood
    Religion, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

    John Stead
    Department of Psychology

    Michael Wohl
    Department of Psychology

    Pamela Wolff
    Department of Chemistry

    Durham College

    Paul deSouza
    School of Business, IT and Management

    Lakehead University

    Apichart Linhananta
    Department of Physics

    Susan Sajna-Hebert
    Department of Psychology

    Loyalist College

    Paula Buskard
    Health and Human Studies

    Sandra Hibbard-Ramsay
    School of Media Studies

    Hayashi, Harvey
    School of Media Studies, Architecture and Building Sciences

    Vicki Ryckman
    Centre for Justice Studies

    Eric Tippelt
    Skills Training

    Don Todd
    School of Biosciences

    Mohawk College

    Shelley Lang
    Public Safety and Security

    Valerie Webber
    Mathematics Department

    Niagara College

    Peter Sacco
    Criminal Psychology

    Crispin Shaftoe
    School of General Studies

    Nipissing University

    Bill Dew
    Department of Biology

    Denyse Lafrance Horning
    School of Business and Economics

    Herminio Teixeira
    Faculty of Arts and Science

    Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD)

    Francis Broun
    Faculty of Liberal Studies

    Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
    (OISE/UT)

    Suzanne L. Stewart
    Adult Education and Counselling Psychology

    Njoki Wane
    Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education

    Queen's University

    Robert Lovelace
    Department of Global Development Studies

    Jordan Morelli
    Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy

    Dean Tripp
    Department of Psychology

    Ryerson University

    Patrizia Albanese
    Department of Sociology

    Wendy Cukier
    Diversity Institute in Management and Technology, Ted Rogers School of
    Management

    Edward James Cunningham
    Department of Philosophy

    Rachel Dodds
    Hospitality and Tourism Management, Ted Rogers School of Management

    Charles Falzon
    School of Radio and Television Arts

    Steven A. Gedeon
    Information Technology Management, Ted Rogers School of Management

    David Hunter
    Department of Philosophy

    Karim Ismaili
    Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology

    Mustafa Koc
    Department of Sociology

    Ed Slopek
    School of Image Arts

    Kileen Tucker Scott
    School of Nursing

    Krishnan Venkatakrishnan
    Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

    University of Guelph

    Jamie Gruman
    School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

    Patrick Parnaby
    Department of Sociology and Anthropology

    Stephen Powell
    School of English and Theatre Studies

    Martin Williams
    Department of Physics

    University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)

    Ilon Kletskin
    Faculty of Science

    University of Ottawa

    Gene Assad
    Civil Law Section, Faculty of Law

    Jennifer Kasper
    Department of Geography

    Deborah Landry
    Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences

    University of Toronto Mississauga Campus

    James Appleyard
    Department of Management

    Lee Bailey
    Department of Economics

    Monika Havelka
    Department of Biology

    Dax Urbszat
    Department of Psychology

    University of Toronto Scarborough Campus

    Oren Amitay
    Department of Psychology

    Chris Bovaird
    Department of Management

    Gerald Cupchik
    Department of Psychology

    Marc A. Fournier
    Department of Psychology

    Raymond Grinnell
    Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences

    Clare Hasenkampf
    Department of Biological Sciences

    Steve Joordens
    Department of Psychology

    Janelle LeBoutillier
    Department of Life Sciences

    Garry Leonard
    Department of Humanities

    Chris Pennington
    Department of Humanities

    Ted Petit
    Department of Psychology

    Konstantine Zakzanis
    Department of Psychology

    University of Toronto St. George Campus

    Jason Anderson
    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Barbara Ann Ballyk
    Faculty of Medicine

    Claudio Colaguori
    Department of Sociology

    Glenn Gulak
    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Shawn Lehman
    Department of Anthropology

    Andrew Lesk
    Department of English

    Leonid Livak
    Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

    Nick Mount
    Department of English

    Doug Richards
    Faculty of Physical Education and Health

    Shawna Rooke
    Faculty of Nursing

    Anne Simmonds
    Faculty of Nursing

    Paul Stevens
    Department of English

    Michael J. Wiley
    Faculty of Medicine

    University of Waterloo

    Greg Andres
    Department of Philosophy

    Andrew Hunt
    Department of History

    University of Western Ontario

    Anton Lawrence Allahar
    Department of Sociology

    Jerry Battista
    Department of Medical Biophysics

    David Bentley
    Department of English

    Tom Haffie
    Department of Biology

    Abdelkader Ouda
    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Adam Parachin
    Faculty of Law

    Robert Solomon
    Faculty of Law

    Wilfred Laurier University

    Franklin Ramsoomair
    School of Business and Economics

    Deborah Reyner
    School of Business and Economics

    York University

    Chris Cavanagh
    Faculty of Environmental Studies

    Jerome Durlak
    Faculty of Arts

    Michele Johnson
    Department of History, Faculty of Arts

    Gus Kandilas
    School of Kinesiology and Health Science

    Dalton Kehoe
    Faculty of Arts

    Kathryn McPherson
    Faculty of Arts

    Mitzi Grace Mitchell
    School of Nursing, Faculty of Health

    Myriam Mongrain
    Department of Psychology

    Merv Mosher
    School of Kinesiology and Health Science

    Julia Richardson
    School of Administrative Studies, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and
    Professional Studies

    Karolyn Smardz-Frost
    School of Arts and Letters, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional
    Studies

For further information: Anne Rubenstein, TVO Communications, Tel: (416)
484-2881, Email: arubenstein@tvo.org