Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching

The Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching is the college’s highest teaching award. It honors a teacher who communicates high expectations and encourages intellectual curiosity within and across disciplines; respects diverse talents and ways of learning and uses variety in instruction; and engages students and inspires them to do their best work. The award is named for the late Professor Jack Jensen who, through his dedication to teaching, inspired faculty and students alike.

Lynn Garrioch

Professor, School of Business & Social Sciences

Professor Lynn Garrioch, Ph.D., joined Colby-Sawyer College in 2001. Though her graduate work in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Victoria informs her teaching and research in the areas of general psychology, social cognition and the social psychology of the law, it is her undergraduate experience at liberal arts institution Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, that most informs her teaching philosophy and practice.

“Over the last 20 years, my primary goal as an instructor has been to stimulate my students’ enthusiasm for learning about psychology, themselves and life,” Lynn said. To foster their enthusiasm, Lynn encourages students to participate actively in classroom activities. She goes beyond simply lecturing by providing a comfortable, supportive, interactive environment in her classroom.

One student nominator wrote, “I was encouraged to sit in one of Professor Garrioch’s classes when I was a senior in high school. Her engaging teaching strategies, hands-on learning activities and inclusive class discussions made me want to attend Colby-Sawyer College. I put my deposit in shortly after meeting her.”

Lynn currently serves as the faculty moderator and chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion task force, and has served on the Teaching and Enrichment Committee and the Assessment Committee. She has presented on microaggressions and implicit bias at the Joint Mathematics Meeting and she has given keynote addresses on implicit bias. In 2019, Lynn was a member of the team that secured a five-year National Science Foundation grant that launched Colby-Sawyer’s EMERGE Scholars Program, which identifies and recruits academically talented Pell-eligible students and prepares them for post-graduate success in science, technology, engineering and math careers and graduate studies.

Lynn is passionate about the importance of undergraduate education and takes a personal interest in the students she teaches.

“Because teaching and learning are a large part of my identity, the students in my classroom are important to me,” Lynn said. “They allow me to exercise my own critical thinking skills and they continually reactivate my curiosity about psychology and people.”

Her impact on her students is equally strong.

“Professor Garrioch has always pushed me out of my comfort zone,” wrote one student. “(She) encouraged me to do my best, making me a stronger and more confident student. She helped me get the most out of my college education.”

As recipient of the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in Teaching, Lynn will deliver the college’s 182nd Commencement Address on Saturday, Aug. 8. Her address is titled “The World is Shrinking.”