Congratulations to Fatima Mraiche, 2023 Vargo Teaching Chair

Fatima Mraiche, 2023 Vargo Teaching Chair

Born and raised in Edmonton, Fatima Mraiche obtained all of her post-secondary education here at the University of Alberta. Upon completing her PhD in medical sciences in 2010, Mraiche took the opportunity to spread her wings and embarked on 12 years in Qatar, at what was then the fledgling College of Pharmacy at Qatar University. After several years in an adjunct position with the U of A’s Department of Pharmacology, she is now back in the department full time as an associate professor. 

Mraiche recently received the 2023 Vargo Teaching Chair, in recognition of her excellence, innovation and leadership in teaching. With this three-year position, which began July 1, she is planning to further her educational research into evaluating existing undergraduate research experiences at the U of A. This project will be piloted in the Department of Pharmacology, with the goal that the team will then broaden it to include the rest of the faculty and eventually the entire university.

We spoke with Mraiche about this project, what excellence in teaching means to her, and the close relationship between research and teaching in producing confident, career-ready graduates.

When did you discover your passion for teaching?

While I was a PhD student I obtained a diverse range of teaching-related training and was involved in problem-based learning. 

But I don’t think I discovered how much I really loved being involved in teaching and teaching innovation until I moved to Qatar. I mean, I had been doing it already for some time, but this was my first experience with seeing first-hand the overall impact of teaching on the students, program and graduates. A fond memory that I have is of the founding dean in Qatar, who attended one of my lectures and asked me to come see him afterwards. When I came to his office, he said, “You know, you’re a natural. I’m not sure if you noticed, but your students are completely engaged.” 

His feedback meant a great deal; I was inspired by his passion and commitment to leadership in teaching. I also appreciated the way he gave the feedback. He had recorded my lecture and showed it to me, bringing a lot to my attention — like how I used storytelling to capture their attention or used real-life examples to put the lecture into context. This kind of thoughtful and reflective feedback is so helpful to instructors. 

How does teaching abroad inform your work here?

I wanted to move out into the world to gain new experiences, helping to foster growth in others and also learn from them. In Qatar, I had the opportunity to join a newly established program and contribute to its development, implementation and evaluation. Because the college drew from a broader region, I engaged with people from many different backgrounds. Teaching and working with people from more than 25 countries helped me broaden my understanding and cultivate cultural sensitivity, and learn how to contribute to an interconnected and diverse community. I’m excited to be able to share some of my global experiences and perspectives and use them to give back here, where I have lived most of my life.

What do you think makes a good teacher?

Thinking about what I really loved as a student, and reflecting on feedback from students, alumni and colleagues, I think teaching can be most engaging when it involves real-life applications and hands-on experience. Immersing students in real-life scenarios not only enhances their understanding but also enhances their desire to learn more. 

Students also deserve to feel we care about them; as educators, we owe them that. Being able to share our knowledge with them is one aspect. They also need to know we’re there because we care; we want them to succeed. In my opinion, that human connection is quite an important part of teaching excellence. 

I also think as educators we need to self-reflect. We have to take the time to step back and ask ourselves, “Are there opportunities to make this better?” to determine if what we’re doing best allows for student learning. Being able to be reflective of our practices is important in the continuous learning journey that educators undertake. I really hope I’m able to carry this with me wherever I go.

How have teaching and research complemented each other in your career?

I am a cardiovascular researcher, but with my passion for teaching, I turned my own teaching practices into scholarship of teaching and learning. I did this both to assess the effectiveness of the tools I was using within my own courses and to share with the teaching community as a resource for their own teaching. 

Just recently, I’ve also become one of 25 members from around the world who make up the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology’s Education Core Concepts Project. Together, we pulled from our research to identify the core concepts of pharmacology, which will support excellence in pharmacology education internationally. 

In previous years, I was also involved in the design of courses that were research intensive, advancing undergraduate students' research skills. 

Projects like these have really allowed me to integrate my research and teaching skills. This all means so much to me because I love knowing that at the end of their program, students leave not just knowing the course content but also having gained attributes such as self-confidence, leadership, critical thinking and communication skills — which comes from the blending of curricular innovation and diverse research opportunities.

What projects will the Vargo Teaching Chair support?

While undergraduate research is already an important and successful part of this university’s programming, how that works can be very different from one discipline to another, and also among different learners. We want to understand what students are learning throughout their undergraduate research and what the tangible outcomes are for them. We’re particularly interested in what opportunities students are getting for experiential and work-integrated learning.

We also want to highlight how this programming can better attract and retain traditionally underrepresented student populations, in particular Indigenous learners and women. Literature suggests undergraduate research experiences are quite important for building connections between mentors and students, and this sense of belonging is especially important for the retention of underrepresented groups such as these. The U of A does have some excellent existing programs, such as WISEST (Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology), but we want to find out how we can add to existing initiatives like this to help us promote engagement even more among these learners.

What is the ultimate goal of this work?

We’re hoping to understand the outcomes we’re getting — are these students becoming excellent critical thinkers, is their undergraduate research experience helping them with employability? Hopefully, this will enable us to go back to the programs and figure out how to integrate improvements across our curriculum so we can help them further develop these skills. In the end, this research should help us support graduates who are better equipped as future employees and health professionals, which means better care for the communities we are here to serve.