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| Graduate student Heather Robbins takes the seat of honour in Tom MacRae's office.(Danny Abriel Photo) |
The old wooden rocking chair in Tom MacRae鈥檚 office has a tall back, worn arms and a slippery seat. When you sit in it, talking to the smiling, somewhat shy man opposite you, you can鈥檛 help but rock and relax a little.
The Dalhousie biology professor and department chair bought the chair more than 30 years ago for his wife Cheryl when she was expecting the first of their two children. It has soothed sleeping babies in the middle of the night, and later when Cheryl ran a daycare centre out of their Halifax home, acted as an oasis of calm in the middle of chaos.
When the rocker was no longer needed at home, Dr. MacRae rescued it from the basement and brought it to his office in the Life Sciences Centre. Students seem to gravitate to it and Dr. MacRae鈥檚 reassuring, gentle presence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a homey thing,鈥� says Dr. MacRae, 59. 鈥淭he students like it, they relax, and we can get to the root of their problem.鈥�
Dr. MacRae is as effective with large groups of students as he is one on one. He鈥檚 just been awarded Dalhousie鈥檚 top teaching prize, the Dalhousie 黑料吃瓜 Association Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award was announced at a reception for the 12th Dalhousie Conference on Learning and Teaching last Wednesday.聽
It鈥檚 one of many honours: he鈥檚 also won the Rosemary Gill Award for service to students, the national 3M Teaching Fellowship and Faculty of Science Award for Excellence in Teaching, among others.
Third-year student James Brunt describes his teaching as 鈥渜uite simply beautiful.鈥� Alyssa Byers-Heinlein, also in third year, says he鈥檚 inspirational.
鈥淲hen I started my second year as a biology student, I was sure I wanted nothing to do with cells, but I can honestly say the BIOL 2020 changed my mind,鈥� she wrote in a letter nominating Dr. MacRae for the award. 鈥�(Now), I鈥檓 doing an honours thesis on a similar subject matter.鈥�
Over his 28-year teaching career at Dalhousie, he鈥檚 taught hundreds of Dalhousie students, in bursting-to-the-seams introductory classes (at one time held in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium) to much smaller classes with just 10 or 15 senior students. He also has a team of six students who collaborate with him on his research.
鈥淚 really care about teaching and I really like being around students,鈥� says Dr. MacRae. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 say I was a stellar student myself and I haven鈥檛 forgotten some of the problems I had and what a difference it made when my professors had time for me.鈥�