The School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) is pleased to share that Jillian Adams has been awarded the Warren Ober Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student. This award is given to a University of Waterloo graduate student in the Faculty of Arts who has made significant contributions to teaching.
Jillian sat down with SAF to discuss the inspiration and motivation behind her approach to teaching, as well as her experience in the accounting PhD program.
What is your educational and professional background? Why did you want to do your PhD?
I completed my undergraduate degree in accounting at King’s University College at Western University and earned my graduate diploma in accounting at Western University. After that, I worked in public accounting and obtained my CPA designation in 2018 while working in tax at EY. I decided to return to school to do my PhD in accounting because I’ve always loved learning and want to share that passion with others through my teaching and research.
What does it mean to you to have won the teaching award? What teaching experience do you have from your PhD?
This award really means a lot to me! I put a lot of effort into my teaching and am ecstatic to have been recognized for that. In the PhD program, we work as a TA for one semester (teaching tutorials), then as an instructor the next time the course is offered. This approach of working as a TA first allowed me to get a solid grasp of the course objectives, teaching methodologies, and lesson plans before going “live” in the classroom. I’ve also taken optional workshops through the Centre for Teaching Excellence to improve my skills. I have now had the pleasure of teaching AFM 206: Introduction to Tax twice.