2011 - Dr. Russell Hunt

Department of English Language and Literature
BA, MA (Wayne), PhD (Northwestern)

A professor at the university since 1968, Russ Hunt constantly strives to improve the context for learning, finding ways to deepen interaction and enable significant change in his students.

Hunt pioneered collaborative research and writing at the university and helped to launch the Aquinas Programme for first-year students. He also helped to start the Environment and Society Programme, the inclusion and development of the English Major with a Concentration in Drama and the St. Thomas Writing Programme. As Vice-President Academic, he lobbied for the establishment of the Learning and Teaching Development Committee and served as the first Learning and Teaching Development Officer. He has also played a significant role in mentoring many of his faculty peers, both on a one-on-one basis and through his many outreach activities at local, national and international teaching showcases and conferences, and through the Effective Teaching Institutes.

A believer in an active dialogue between theory and practice, he has published widely about teaching and learning. One of the novel teaching devices he participated in developing, “Inkshedding,” is now commonly practiced around the world as a model mechanism for encouraging students to share and discuss ideas. Constantly on the lookout for new technologies that might facilitate learning, he has been an early adopter of information technology.

This award marks more than four decades of teaching at St. Thomas University by Professor Hunt.