Dr. Jocelyn Thorpe awarded with prestigious UM Teaching Excellence Award
St John’s College is proud to announce that Dr. Jocelyn Thorpe has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Dr. And Mrs. H.H. Saunderson Award for Excellence in Teaching! This prestigious award recognizes a UM educator who has demonstrated teaching excellence and made significant contributions to the advancement of teaching and learning at both the UM and national or international level.
This award will be formally presented to her at the 2025 Fall Convocation. As part of the honour, she will also deliver a presentation at UM’s New Faculty Orientation and/or through the Teaching and Learning Certificate program.
Thorpe, a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Fellow of St. John’s College, was attending a teaching workshop when she received the news. “I had a feeling I’d find out that day,” she recalls. During a break, she checked her email, and there it was! Her friend, Dr. Christine Stewart was nearby to celebrate with a congratulatory hug.
Nominated by Dr. Adele Perry, Thorpe’s application included a teaching dossier, a statement of educational leadership, and letters from colleagues, students and former students. “People didn’t have to share with me what they wrote, but many sent me their letters, and it really was lovely to hear from students how my teaching has affected their lives,” she says.
Since joining UM in 2012, Thorpe has developed a dynamic, student-centered approach to teaching. She prefers not to rely on traditional lectures. Instead, she brings in real-world examples such as current events, films, or plays that make course concepts tangible and relevant.
“You can understand the world through these ideas, but you can also understand the ideas by connecting them to the world,” she says.
Whether she’s encouraging students to do creative projects or attend a film screening, Thorpe emphasizes course work that gets students interested.
“When something matters to students, they’re more likely to remember it. They take pride in their work, they share it with others, and it becomes meaningful to them.”
She also draws a comparison between teaching and coaching basketball.
“You wouldn’t just show someone how you shoot the ball and expect them to know how to shoot. They have to practice. Teaching isn’t about showing off your skills; it’s about helping students build their own.”
Over time, she has grown more comfortable with making mistakes in the classroom. “I used to worry that if a student said something problematic, everything would fall apart. Now, I know I can go back the next class and say, ‘Here’s how I wish I’d responded.’ It’s another kind of teaching moment, showing that if the goal is to learn, then making mistakes is part of learning.”
That mindset of learning as a shared, evolving process is what drives her teaching today. She focuses on helping students build lasting skills, rather than cramming in as much content as possible. “It’s about learning how to learn, how to approach text, and how to ask better questions. That’s what stays with people.”
And stay with them it does. Former students frequently return, sometimes years later, to tell her just how much her classes meant. One former student, now a high school teacher, recounted the impact of her Introductory to Women and Gender Studies course. Another, now in graduate school, recalled every reading and concept from Thorpe’s class. Both times affirmed her passion for teaching.
Thorpe is also proud to be the co-founder of Decolonizing Lens, a film and discussion series she created in collaboration with Kaila Johnston of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and Julia Lafreniere of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The series showcases Indigenous filmmakers and fosters dialogue on decolonization and storytelling. This June, she will attend ImagineNATIVE, the world’s largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, to discover new works and draw inspiration for upcoming Decolonizing Lens events.
Currently on research leave, Thorpe is preparing to deliver a workshop to help educators develop their teaching philosophies and build teaching dossiers. She also looks forward to incorporating new storytelling techniques she picked up at a recent workshop into her classes.
Dr. Thorpe’s dedication to making education relevant, reflective, and inclusive has left a lasting impact on her students and colleagues alike. St John’s College congratulates her on this well-deserved recognition and looks forward to seeing the impact of her work in the years to come.