“Bigger, bolder, and more innovative than ever”

First-day jitters may be common enough among students, but even professors aren’t immune. A faculty orientation session on August 28 aimed to make Concordia’s latest additions feel at home.

Some 50 attendees were welcomed by new Provost Benoit-Antoine Bacon, who is himself back for a third go-round at the university.

His impression of Concordia today? “Bigger, bolder and more innovative than ever.”

The event, hosted by Centre for Teaching and Learning Services, focused on the nuts and bolts of education. It explored the university’s resources, encouraged participants to reflect on their teaching practice and took a light-hearted approach to essential topics like “Facilitating class discussions (and what to do with the blank stare).”

Andrew Woodall, dean of Students, discussed the array of student support services while Patrick Boivin, the new director of Recreation and Athletics, dropped by to preview the university’s sports programming.

Yves Tehou Tekeng has joined the Department of Economics. Tekeng arrived from Cameroon five years ago to do a second economics PhD at Concordia; he expects to defend his thesis this fall.

Tekeng finds the university’s international character especially appealing. “We have people from almost all over the world here. Every year, as a graduate student, I saw so many students from countries I didn’t even know existed.”

He likes the Montreal, too, and intends to “have good relations with my students, to do the best research I can, and to publish as many papers as possible.”

Physicist and Canada Research Chair Christian Moreau was principal research officer at the National Research Council for nearly 27 years. An expert in aerospace science, he sought out new insulation coatings for combustion chambers, to maximize heat and efficiency while protecting surrounding engine components.

Why did he choose Concordia’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering for his first-ever teaching assignment?

“I’ve already been working with the professors and the students here. It’s a nice place and I think my presence will reinforce the team working in the field,” Moreau says.

Canada’s aerospace industry is centred in Montreal, he notes. It must be “the fourth or fifth largest city in terms of jobs in the aerospace sector worldwide.”