Fred Phillips, Ph.D. ’96, was honored with Canada’s annual 3M National Teaching Fellowship in February. Sponsored by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and 3M Canada, the fellowship honors Canadian university professors who exhibit “the highest ideals of teaching excellence and scholarship,” according to the award’s website.
Only 10 professors receive the fellowship each year. Phillips, a former University of Texas accounting professor who now teaches at the University of Saskatchewan, is the eighth professor from the University of Saskatchewan since the award’s inception 26 years ago. He received the University of Saskatchewan’s highest teaching honor, the Master Teacher Award, in 2006.
It is small wonder Phillips earned this recognition. In his own explanation of his teaching on the University of Sasketchewan website, he explains how students arrive with the idea that accounting is “boring, abstract, and cold-hearted” and that “helping students discover that these views are misperceptions is my main teaching challenge, and one of my greatest joys.”
To that end, he has worked hard on his delivery and presentation, conveying his excitement about the accounting occupation. He has drawn on lessons from past teachers, including his martial arts teacher, and constantly keeps the perspective of students in the forefront of his mind.
