Bishop’s Professor Dr. Heather Lawford. Photo courtesy
By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
Dr. Heather Lawford, a distinguished professor in Bishop’s University’s (BU) Department of Psychology, has been honored as one of this year’s ten 3M National Teaching Fellows, signifying her position among the most impactful educators in higher education.
Her outstanding contributions have been acknowledged through prestigious teaching awards, and she is recognized as a Canada Research Chair and a leading authority on generativity, a field that explores how and why people create legacies to benefit others.
Lawford has been part of BU since 2012, where she has fostered a culture of curiosity around teaching and research. She values collaboration with her students and has actively engaged with diverse communities across Canada. She is committed to helping other faculty and administrators incorporate student perspectives into decision-making.
In 2021, Lawford earned the William and Nancy Turner Teaching Award, the highest teaching recognition at BU, according to a May 6 press release. Her exceptional work has also been recognized by the Robert Gordon Educational Leadership Fund and the Student Representative Council Social Sciences Division Teaching Award. She is actively involved with the Students Commission of Canada, a non-profit that amplifies youth voices and supports their legacy projects.
Lawford holds a Canada Research Chair in Youth Development and has secured over $8 million in research funding from Tri-Council, Public Safety Canada, UNICEF, and other organizations. Much of this funding has supported her mission of compensating students and youth for their valuable contributions.
Her forthcoming book, “Unlocking Superhero Powers: Metaphors and Mentorship in the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, co-authored with BU’s Dr. Jessica Riddell, aims to inspire readers to harness generative qualities for a more equitable and just world.
Riddell, a 3M National Teaching Fellow (2015) and Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Excellence at BU, nominated Lawford for this fellowship. She has praised Dr. Lawford’s teaching style.
“Dr. Lawford extends learning beyond the classroom and into the world with student-led initiatives like conferences, summits, knowledge mobilization projects, and leadership institutes. Her undergraduate students are authentically engaged as partners, colleagues, co-authors, and co-inquirers. Dr. Lawford is a beloved and transformative educator,” Riddell said.
More from Dr. Lawford
“[3M’s] website says it’s the most prestigious award in Canada,” Lawford said in an interview with The Record May 9. They select 10 professors across Canada every year. She is always “up for getting an award,” but more importantly this is “a joining of a community of practice.”
The 10 professors selected will meet in June for a conference and then later will spend a week together in the fall in Banff, Alberta. The goal is to come up with a project that positively impacts higher education. Ideas, resources, and tools will be shared. “That’s what’s so exciting for me, a lifetime admittance to a conversation about how to do our job better,” she said.
Lawford’s research is on “youth generativity.” Adults think a lot about the legacies they want to leave and she has studied that phenomenon in young people. Much of her time has been spent trying to convince others that young people are interested in their legacies, too.
This has motivated her to think about how education can be transformed to allow youth to “connect to the legacy work they want to do now.” She has tried to connect young people to community organizations that let them see what is possible beyond what they have seen in their own life.
Something else she has been passionate about at BU is “knowledge mobilization.” A lot of students wish to go on to graduate school, she said, “but there are no jobs in academia, so what are we preparing them for?” She thinks the answer is there is a lot of work to be done in knowledge mobilization – turning science into action.
She just got back from a conference between researchers and members of parliament where they discussed how to build legislation off of evidence. BU’s knowledge mobilization certificate allows students to learn how to do it well and make a change outside of the classroom.
Lawford reiterated that she has found in her research that young people’s generative motivation is just as strong as it is in adults. Her studies have shown some highly generative youths are primarily driven by the notion that they do not want the next generation to deal with the same obstacles they did. These obstacles include language issues, unhealthy relationships, and lack of opportunity for racialized youth.
Lawford spent the morning of May 9 sending thank you letters to everyone who worked together to put in her application for the honour. She still feels a little emotional about it. She thinks it is great to see the profile of BU and other Maple League universities (Acadia, Mount Allison, and St. Francis Xavier) raised in association with her winning the award. “There are so many outstanding professors at BU that go unrecognized,” she said.
Lawford emphasized how important it was for non-profits to allow her students to experience what it was like working with them and noted the support other universities in the Maple League made to her research.