Lessons in resilience and a trove of thank-you cards inspire teaching excellence from award-winning associate professor

You won’t find Ayesha Khan’s three teaching awards in her office.

Instead, you’ll come across an impressive collection of thank-you letters, notes and cards from students. This is what happens when you’ve taught more than 15,000 undergrads and you’re very good at your job. How good’s Ayesha? The Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior has so far been recognized with the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning and two McMaster Students Union Teaching Awards plus another pair of nominations during her 11 years at Mac. In October, she’ll receive provincial honours, with an Award for Excellence in Education from the Ontario Conferation of University Faculty Associations.

Ayesha appreciates the awards but values the messages from students above all else. And they aren’t just writing perfunctory “thanks for a great year” and “you’re awesome” messages. They’re taking the time to write heartfelt paragraphs in perfect penmanship that get into the specifics of how Ayesha helped bend the trajectory of their lives.

More than a few students have told Ayesha how important it was to have a professor who looks like them at the front of the class – Ayesha’s parents moved from Pakistan to Canada in the 1990s to give their two daughters the best possible education.

Ayesha’s approach to teaching was heavily influenced by professor Denys deCantanzaro, her graduate supervisor, mentor and teaching muse.  “You only needed to watch Denys’ expressions during his lectures to know how enthusiastic he was to talk about his research. His genuine enthusiasm and excitement made you pay closer attention and want to learn.”

She tries to mirror that approach in her courses by constantly incorporating new content that she finds unexpected and exciting. “I try to include an element of surprise whenever I can. I want students to be asking what’s next and following along. It’s very labour intensive to continually refresh lectures and it doesn’t always work out the way you hoped but it’s worth doing.”

After graduating with a PhD in Behavioural Neuroendocrinology from Mac, Ayesha went on to teach at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University. When a full-time teaching position came up at Mac in 2013, she applied but didn’t think she had a shot. At best, applying would be a learning experience and a trial run for a job at another university. When a McMaster number came up on her phone, she let it go to voicemail figuring she’d listen to the bad news at the end of the day. Instead, there was a job offer. “I was shocked.”

From her time as a student, Ayesha knew that McMaster’s commitment to being research-focused and student-centred would give her the license to test drive new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning. She was among the first faculty members in the department to embrace community-based learning. Those collaborations come with risks and factors beyond anyone’s control – sometimes the best laid plans go awry. In those moments, Ayesha’s always been grateful to have always had the support of her Department Chairs.

She’s learned to take the same advice that she gives to students – you can’t be perfect at everything. Mistakes happen. Not every lecture will hit the mark. Be kind and show compassion to yourself.

Looking back on her 14 years of teaching, Ayesha says the biggest change and greatest challenge is helping distracted students stay focused during lectures. Social media’s wrecked attention spans and even Ayesha admits she’s not immune. So she starts each class by asking students to come up with a plan for giving their undivided attention. She also leads off her lectures by playing music to help quiet everyone’s buzzing minds. Classical music seems to work although Ayesha sometimes mixes in The Cure – the band that gave the world Disintegration and There Is No If somehow still makes her happy. She played the decidedly more upbeat Friday I’m In Love just the other week.

She also makes a point of telling students about the relevance and importance of what they’re studying. Where she once would’ve delved straight into neuroanatomy, she now begins by talking with students about how things like concussions, binge drinking, Alzheimer’s and HIV / AIDS affect the brain.

Of all that Ayesha’s learned from students, she’s most amazed by their remarkable acts of resilience. Two students stand out for Ayesha – one suffered an acquired brain injury after getting hit by a drunk driver while the other student went to classes during the week and spent every weekend with her mom at a hospice in Toronto. Ayesha told both students it would okay to hit pause – they were determined to continue. Helping the students persevere was an absolute privilege, says Ayesha. “They demonstrated such extreme resilience – it was incredibly inspiring and humbling.”

And it’s that resilience that helps put difficult days into perspective for Ayesha. And there’s always an office full of thank-you cards to reread.