Professor Barbara Moffatt named Distinguished Professor Emerita
By Vanessa Parks
Internal Communications and Engagement Specialist
Professor Barbara Moffatt has a deceptively simple recipe for success: choose to do things that challenge you and look for ways to make them fun.
Moffatt has recently been named Distinguished Professor Emerita, the first in Biology at Waterloo. She retired in June 2023 but still regularly runs into students and colleagues in the halls of the Biology buildings. “Retirement takes some time to get used to,” Moffatt says, chuckling. She’s still supporting students and wrapping up some outstanding lab work.
Moffat’s work was in molecular biology, which she talks about with enthusiasm. “One way to understand the roll of a gene is to make a mutant and knock it out, or raise its expression, or mis-express it somehow,” she says. “You try to unravel the phenotype that you get and say, ‘okay, if it doesn’t have that, what happens?’ And then work back to the normal plant. It’s really quite fun!”
Fun was the key for Moffat. She didn’t get the chance to work in a lab until landing her first job the summer after completing her undergraduate degree, and she quickly discovered that she loved it. “My supervisor on that job said he’d never seen anyone so happy in the lab,” she recalls.
Moffatt approached teaching in much the same way, by jumping right in. She started at Waterloo in August 1987 and taught her first course that September. “I still remember walking into my first class,” she says. “I started by telling my students, ‘I don’t know anything about teaching, but I love molecular biology. We’re going to have a lot of fun!’”
Moffat developed several innovative courses and workshops that continue today, inspiring students to develop confidence in their problem solving and critical thinking skills. Her commitment to teaching led to her receiving both the Jack Carlson Teaching Award and the University of Waterloo Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007.
It became the pattern of Moffatt’s career to face new challenges and find the fun in them, even in her administrative experience. She was encouraged to become an undergraduate advisor soon after her arrival at Waterloo. She brought her curiosity and interest in encouraging students to this role, ultimately becoming the Associate Dean of Science, Student Relations for 10 years.
She’s most proud of the connections she made with students, both as a teacher and as an advisor. “Seeing students go from thinking they can’t do something to thriving in the lab is very rewarding,” Moffatt says. “I think people are a puzzle, just like the plant mutants are a puzzle. You have to figure out how to help them find their path.”
Moffatt offers that, to find that path, you must be willing to step outside of your comfort zone. “Do things that scare you because then you realize you can,” she advises.
“The same is true for me now,” says Moffat. “It’s scary to retire because all of a sudden you don’t have this community, and you’re just another person at Sobeys or whatever.” But she talks about her retirement plans with excitement. She’s looking forward to volunteering, Tai Chi, reading, swimming, cooking, and puzzles with her husband. As in her other pursuits, she will undoubtedly manage to have a great time.
