Teaching and Learning Certificate program celebrates 2025 graduating class
TLC provides early-stage faculty with new perspectives to enhance their teaching
The 2025 graduates of the Teaching and Learning Certificate (TLC) program gathered with their mentors and invited guests to celebrate and receive their certificates September 24.
Jackie Hope, TLC Program Coordinator, welcomed attendees. “Today, we gather to celebrate a remarkable journey,” she said. “The TLC program is more than a certificate; it’s a community of educators who have dedicated themselves to deepening their practice, embracing mentorship and reflecting on what it means to teach with purpose.”
The TLC certificate program is offered through The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. At its heart is the Centre’s commitment to ensuring that teaching at the University of Manitoba is informed by evidence-based practices and grounded in compassion, inclusion and innovation.
The program combines workshops, mentorships and classroom observations to help faculty develop the knowledge, skills and reflective practice that enable them to increase their competency level in the teaching-learning process.
Centre Director, Dr. Erica Jung, thanked graduates for dedicating their time and energy to the program. “You are all busy folks—you have not only your work here but also your own lives, so to add this program demonstrates a commitment and desire to help students with their learning, and I really want to congratulate you for that.”
Dr. Xiaoxiao Du, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education, was one of this year’s 12 graduates. She shared insights at the event of her experience in the program.
“I believe the TLC is the right place to be, to learn, to grow – because there is a supportive community, there are experts, mentors, developers, but most beautifully, are the fellow peers I go to for positive, professional relationships,” she said.
She also encouraged her peers to embrace differences and uncertainty. “Continuously promote multiple ways of knowing, being, thinking,” she said.
TLC graduate Dr. Juliana Marson, Assistant Professor in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, spoke about how the program helped her to make her classes more student centred, and the joy and excitement she felt with each positive change.
“The TLC program, and expressly with [mentor] Cintia’s guidance, helped me transform my teaching philosophy from a collection of inherited conventions to a deeply personal, reflective practice,” she said.
The TLC program is built on a foundation of mentorship—where experienced educators walk alongside new faculty and instructors, offering guidance, feedback and encouragement. Two mentors also spoke at the graduation ceremony.
Juliana’s mentor, Cintia Costa, Senior Educational Developer at The Centre, fondly recalled a professor who was a steady source of encouragement during her own undergraduate studies in Brazil, and how she felt honoured to work with Juliana and witness her transforming her teaching strategies.
“I have this huge dream of changing the world,” she said. “It’s big. If we can change the life of a student, like my professor did for me, then I think we are already changing the world.”
Dr. David Mandzuk, Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus, Faculty of Education, served as a TLC mentor for five years. He described mentors as “warm demanders”—people who are both empathetic yet not afraid of challenging others. “Being an effective mentor is more about provoking thinking than providing answers. And to keep the student perspective front and centre,” he said.
He also thanked UM’s Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) for continuing to support the university’s teaching mission. “That takes effort, and it takes resources at a university that prides itself on the quality of research, and I think that speaks volumes of the university.”
See the full list of 2025 TLC graduates
Learn more about the TLC program
