Penny Haxell awarded the 2014 Faculty of Mathematics Award for Distinction in Teaching

Professor Penny Haxell was announced a winner of the 2014 Faculty of Mathematics Award for Distinction in Teaching.

Professor Haxell is an internationally renowned graph theorist. She is the recipient of a 2012 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the 2006 Krieger-Nelson Prize by the Canadian Mathematical Society, and a 2000 Premier's Research Excellence Award. Since joining the Faculty of Mathematics in 1993, Professor Haxell has made many outstanding contributions to the development and teaching of combinatorics courses at all levels, and to undergraduate and graduate student supervision.

Professor Haxell's nomination for the teaching award was enthusiastically endorsed by numerous students in her classes. They praised Professor Haxell for her command of the subject, her clear and concise lectures, and her positive interactions with students.

Here are some excerpts from the letters of support that Professor Haxell received:

..right away in the beginning of the term I realized that that would be an excellent opportunity to really learn something from a master.

Professor Haxell was incredibly clear in her presentation of concepts.

Her explanations and proofs are concise, but omit no necessary details or concepts. They are the types of explanations that can stand on their own. I could look at something like her proof of Hall's Theorem five years from now and understand it completely in one reading.

Whenever a question was raised in class, I was always impressed with how succinctly and respectfully she addressed it.

Read the Math Faculty's Award for Distinction in Teaching - 2014 winners announcements.