Teachers who inspire (and not just the students)

One of the most inspiring teachers I’ve heard speak is Dr. Frank Robinson from the U of Alberta‘s Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics. He’s just won one of Canada’s prestigious national 3M teaching fellowships (faculty from the U of A, by the way, have won more than any other university). Were I back at the U of Alberta, I think I’d be wanting to sit in on his course on a regular basis just to watch him teach.

This part of the article about the 3M winners in Macleans magazine made me smile…

A compact, wiry man with a police officer’s moustache, Robinson could be called slight were it not for a quiet, off-the-wall kind of charisma—one that finds expression in asking the sorts of questions that, initially at least, appear to come from the absurdist end of agriculture. “Why do cattle eat their placenta? Do they like the taste or is it peer pressure?” Or try: “Can horses fake pregnancy?” Or: “How many cows would it take to power your home theatre system?”

Congrats, Frank!