Trent Professor Earns National Teaching Award for Indigenous Studies

Trent University Professor David Newhouse has been named among Canada’s most outstanding university educators and winner of one of ten 3M Teaching Fellowships announced on Tuesday.

The 3M National Teaching Fellowship was founded in 1986, that honours exceptional contributions to teaching and learning at the post-secondary level. Photo courtesy of Trent University.

Newhouse is the director of the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent.

“Prof. Newhouse’s creativity, compassion and dedication have underpinned his excellence as a teacher of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students,” said Dr. Michael Khan, Trent provost and vice-president Academic. “His decades-long leadership of the Indigenous Studies program at Trent has led to transformative change within individuals and within educational institutions throughout Canada, bringing more prominence to and acceptance of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) within the academy.”

According to the University, Newhouse has supported many landmark achievements including the launch of Canada’s first Indigenous Studies Ph.D. program, founding the First Peoples House of Learning and helping to craft the University mandate that ensures every undergraduate student completes at least one course with an Indigenous focus.

His leadership has helped Trent build Indigenous perspectives in its policies, research ethics and academic programming as stated in the press release.

“It is an honour to be recognized by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and 3M. These achievements are the result of the collaborative efforts of many who believe in the importance of bringing Indigenous Knowledge into the academy,” said Newhouse. “I hold fast to the belief that it is not enough to teach about Indigenous Peoples, but that Indigenous Knowledge can inform pedagogy and academe in all its facets, extending its rafters to include it.”

Newhouse has provided leadership through organizations such as Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

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