TD Canada Trust Award Winners for 2008

Scott Powell and Stephen Spector have won this year’s TD Canada Trust distinguished teaching awards, given annually to two SFU Business instructors. The awards, worth $3000, are based on teaching-related activities such as course development and preparation of teaching materials and on nominees’ statements and student comments.

Fun and games don’t normally spring to mind when considering SFU’s executive MBA program. But a playful approach to learning is big part of what earned adjunct program instructor Scott Powell a 2008 TD Canada Trust distinguished teaching award.
Student nominators all commented on the finance instructor’s effective and stimulating use of games, puzzles, quizzes and competitions to help them understand complex concepts.
“We learned we could create a market for anything, such as trading the cumulative age of the class and forming predictions and strategies,” says one student. “He truly brought a unique, fresh, real-world approach to teaching every class.”
“I’m a big believer in appealing to different learning styles, so games tend to be simulations,” explains Powell. “For example, we learn about financial derivatives by physically trading something that doesn’t exist such as the amount of pocket money in the room.”
Powell doesn’t teach at SFU for the money – he runs a successful financial training firm with offices in Vancouver and New York. “I do it for the love of teaching and making a difference,” he says. “Executive MBA students are such a delight to teach and so hungry to learn. That’s what keeps me doing it.”

Business accounting instructor Stephen Spector hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be an undergrad at SFU in the mid-70s. “The most successful courses I had were from instructors who made learning fun,” he says, “and they instilled in me a desire to pass on that same attitude.”
It’s an attitude that resonates with students, who appreciate Spector’s ability to make difficult concepts come alive with amusing examples, and a key reason for his 2008 TD Canada Trust distinguished teaching award.
“He always says ‘learning is supposed to be fun’, and he realizes it through his teaching approach and communication style,” says one student.
The award is a gratifying affirmation for Spector, who switched careers after 20 years as a certified general accountant (CGA) with CGA-Canada to become an SFU Business instructor in 2002.
“I use corny jokes, I try to learn students’ names and I try to connect on an individual level,” says Spector. “And I always try to present concepts so that they’re not overwhelming or patronizing.”
Spector was recently named president of the CGA Association of B.C. “I have the best of both worlds,” he says. “The CGA has helped me in my career and this is my way of paying back as a volunteer.”

By Diane Luckow