Prof. Joan Davison Conrod Receives the 2017 Management Teaching Excellence Award

 

Congratulations go to Prof. Joan Davison Conrod, for receiving the Dalhousie Faculty of Management 2017 Management Teaching Excellence Award. 

The Management Teaching Excellence Awards are presented annually to faculty members from the Faculty of Management’s Rowe School of Business and Schools of Information Management, Public Administration, and Resource and Environmental Studies who, in the opinion of their students and peers, display the qualities of superior teaching, excellent understanding of the subject area and interest in the needs of the students.

Inspiring, compassionate, enthusiastic, and visionary, Joan’s dedication to providing a rich and productive learning environment is legendary.  She has mastered the art of teaching and dispensing knowledge.  Students fortunate to have been in her classroom, recall her charismatic approach to the study of accounting, years after they crossed the stage to receive their degree.  Everyone has a “Joan” story.  My story dates to December 2001 when Joan answered my call for help while she was shopping with her family at Home Depot. 

In a recent virtual interview, Joan said that it was a great honour to be chosen to represent teaching excellence. 

Prof. Conrod:

I decided in high school that I wanted to be a teacher – a high school teacher! I was passionate about English and History.  My decision was final – I was going to be a teacher and a writer.

My father, a chemist, took a dim view of that career choice. He wanted me to take Science at university.  Better jobs in Science. It was a classic teenage standoff:  My father wanted Science, I wanted Arts.  I took Commerce! Ha!

Fortunately, I discovered accounting, a language all its own. I loved it.  After I finished my degree, I earned a professional designation, and was given an opportunity at Dalhousie to teach as a very junior instructor.  I worked very hard at it.  The outcome of those efforts was finding my calling. Teaching at Dalhousie turned into the career I always wanted – the “teacher and writer” of my dreams.