[cmath] FRÉDÉRIC GOURDEAU TO RECEIVE THE 2006 CMS EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD

[Graham Wright]

For release: IMMEDIATE (February 28, 2006)


Ottawa Ontario - The Canadian Mathematical Society is pleased to award 
the 2006 CMS Excellence in Teaching Prize to Professor Frédéric 
Gourdeau, of Laval University's Department of Mathematics and 
Statistics. The award will be presented at the Society's 2006 summer 
meeting in Calgary.

Thomson Nelson, a leading Canadian publisher, and Thomson Brooks/Cole, 
a Thomson Higher Education brand and premier provider of educational 
materials for mathematics and science - both part of The Thomson 
Corporation - have partnered with the CMS to support the Excellence in 
Teaching ward for post-secondary undergraduate teaching in 
mathematics. The award recognizes sustained and distinguished 
contributions in teaching at the post-secondary undergraduate level at 
a Canadian institution.

Frédéric Gourdeau won Laval University's Grand Prize for Distinction 
in Teaching in 2004-2005. He has been consistently been recognized by 
his Faculty for the excellence attested to by his teaching 
evaluations. His department's undergraduate student society awards a 
teaching prize each year, which Gourdeau has won on four separate 
occasions.

His students speak of him as an inspirational and dynamic teacher, one 
who succeeds in conveying deep ideas in a manner that is accessible to 
a broad range of students, and which awakens them to the beauty of the 
subject. He engages and motivates his students, in part through his 
own clear love of the material. He demonstrates great care for his 
students, and is always accessible to help them, supervise projects, 
or organize supplementary class meetings. He teaches frequently in 
Laval's undergraduate program for mathematics teacher candidates, and 
has established a leadership role in this program through his 
pedagogical innovations and his development of new courses. Students 
taking these courses speak in glowing terms of how he brings the 
subject alive for them in a way they have not seen before, and how he 
sparks and stimulates their interest in this subject. Some feel he is 
simply the best teacher they have ever encountered. Coming from 
students with a strong interest in teaching but less mathematical 
background than mathematics majors, this is high praise indeed.


Related to his outstanding achievements as a teacher, are his numerous 
pedagogical activities. These include serving as president of the 
Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), co-chairing the 
2005 Canadian Mathematics Education Forum, and co-founding 
l'Association québécoise des jeux mathématiques, which runs yearly 
competitions for students. He participates in various activities of 
ICMI - the International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, and 
has presented and written about his own work on incorporating dynamic 
geometry into the classroom using Cabri. He participates actively in 
pedagogical discussions, both within his department and beyond. For 
his department he has developed numerous formal course notes, he 
coaches the Putnam mathematics competition team, and he engages in a 
host of other teaching-related activities and outreach.

Frédéric Gourdeau is a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics 
and Statistics of Laval University. His research is in the area of 
functional analysis. He obtained his undergraduate degree in 
mathematics in 1984 from Laval University, and his doctorate in 
mathematics in 1989 from Cambridge University in England, under the 
supervision of G.R. Allan. He worked in the field of international 
cooperation from 1991 to 1995, as a regional coordinator for Canadian 
Crossroads International. In 1995 he obtained a position at Laval 
University, where he has remained ever since.

About the Canadian Mathematical Society

Founded in 1945, the Canadian Mathematical Society is the main 
national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the 
discovery, learning, and application of mathematics. The Society's 
activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics: scientific 
meetings and publishing of research material, education at all levels, 
popularization of mathematics. The education activities include 
competitions, mathematics camps in all provinces, posters for 
students, meetings, etc. The CMS organizes national Fora in 
mathematical education. For more details: (www.cms.math.ca).

About Thomson Corporation, Thomson Nelson and Thomson Brooks/Cole

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2003 revenues of $7.6 
billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information 
solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides 
value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 
20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial 
services, higher education, reference information, corporate training 
and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational 
headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 43,000 
employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The 
Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto 
stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC). Its learning businesses and 
brands serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions, 
corporations and government agencies with products and services for 
both traditional and distributed learning. Thomson Nelson 
(www.nelson.com) is a leading provider of books and online resources 
for the educational market in Canada, maintaining over 30 interactive 
Web sites and publishing a wide range of core and supplemental 
electronic products. Thomson Brooks/Cole (www.brookscole.com) is a 
leading provider of higher education textbooks, software, and Internet 
materials for mathematics, science, and statistics.


For more information, contact:


Dr. Graham P. Wright
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
Tel: (613) 562-5702
Cel: (613) 290-3046
directeur at smc.math.ca


Dr. J. Harley Weston
CMS Education Committee
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Université de Régina
Tél : 306-585-4355
weston at math.uregina.ca