Students laud historian for his contagious enthusiasm and caring
BY REBECCA KENDALL
The last thing history professor Bill Cormack wants is to give the impression that he thinks he's more deserving of this year's College of Arts Teaching Award than any of his colleagues are.
“Often there's a sense when you read about others who have received teaching awards that they've pioneered new courses or ways of using technology, and I don't fit into that category at all,” he says. “Having said that, I was very pleased to be nominated. And I'm happy to have won.”
Cormack says what he lacks in technical proficiency or in mastery of pedagogical theory he more than makes up for in personal interest.
“I think one's own enthusiasm accounts for a great deal. When you give a lecture that you think is really cool and you're covering material you really care about and are interested in, it's almost a given that students will get more out of it.”
The little things that are sometimes undervalued are the things Cormack excels in.
Many former students who supported his nomination remembered how he made the effort to learn their names, how he brought the past alive in such a way that they switched their major to history, or how he simply made time for them.
PhD candidate Brodie Richards, who received a College of Arts Teaching Award in 2004 as a graduate teaching assistant, noted that Cormack spent part of his Thanksgiving weekend reading Richards's research proposal and funding application and writing a letter of support.
“Dr. Cormack showed extraordinary attentiveness and care regarding the details of my program,” wrote Richards. “Countless conversations, happily not always academic, marked the first two years of supervision.”
Cormack says he worries about education becoming depersonalized.
“I want to keep my students connected,” he says. “You don't want them to feel as if it's a factory. You want them to feel as if they're getting an education and that we care about them.”
It's his ability to make students feel cared about that earned him kudos from BA graduate Elizabeth Grant. “I was not just a student or just a number,” she wrote. “In Dr. Cormack's classes, I felt special, and I felt happy to be there and at the University of Guelph.” She also lauded his “contagious enthusiasm that would sweep the class.”
Cormack, who joined the Department of History in 1998, says he doesn't understand why that warrants an award. After all, he says, he's just doing what he loves.
“If they gave an award for something not as fun, like marking term papers, that would be something you'd have to earn. An award for doing something you love is . . . .” He pauses. “Well, it's very nice.”
Cormack holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Calgary, a master's from Carleton and a PhD from Queen's. He taught at Queen's, the Royal Military College of Canada and the University of Saskatchewan before coming to U of G.
“Bill is part of a long tradition of teaching excellence that characterizes the Department of History and, indeed, the College of Arts in general,” says Prof. Jacqueline Murray, dean of the college. “As humanists and creative practitioners, we tend to focus on the individual learning of each student. Bill excels at making history compelling and alive for students.”
Cormack says he came from a family where talking about history was standard. “In our family, it was part of a cultural interest.” His sister is currently chair of history at the University of Alberta.
His special interest lies in French history from 1789.
“It's a very exciting and romantic period. It's all very dramatic because the struggles are about such essential issues, and I find that very exciting. When I teach things that I think are intrinsically fascinating and intrinsically important, I think the students can see that I like it, and it rubs off. No matter how impressive a performance you put on, students still benefit from a direct connection to an instructor who is also engaged in the discipline.”
