Professor Martin Sirois received the
Martin's passion for the classics is one reason why Sirois was honoured with the Principal鈥檚 Prize for Excellence in Teaching (Faculty Lecturer category) as part of the morning Faculty of Arts convocation ceremony on June 6. Another is the empathy he shows for his students. As a teacher of Latin and ancient Greek, he knows classics courses can be 鈥渋ntense鈥� and most of his students are encountering the ancient world for the first time. Student evaluations credit his good-natured openness for questions, comments, and discussion. Sirois manages to juggle the rigorous nature of the subject matter with a healthy sense of humour. He gets a chuckle out of a comment he often overhears upon entering the classroom on the first day. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something like 鈥業 wasn鈥檛 expecting that sort of teacher.鈥� I always find that funny 鈥� as if I needed to grow a long white beard and wait for many more wrinkles to properly teach the ancient world.鈥�