When it comes to hiring industry professionals to teach students, George Brown College does an excellent job. Finding people who are still actively working in their field is important when teaching because students are getting current, real-life examples to which they can apply their learning. This makes students more successful after graduation because they are already going into the workforce with an upper hand. George Brown recognizes this need for professors that are able to help students engage more and forge connections for their futures.
There are many amazing professors at the college, from many different industry backgrounds.
For this article, we will be highlighting three who have seen amazing results in their classroom.
Jennifer Comish teaches marketing and business presentation skills to undergraduate students, and is an instructor for the postgraduate Sports Marketing program here at the college. Jennifer owns a small marketing firm where she works with clients such as the NBA and John White shoes. She blends her teaching methods and assignments given in her classroom with her current job in the marketing industry.
“The experience comes from your history and I think that George Brown is very good at finding teachers who have that good history, and a good understanding of the marketing industry. It’s my history and my current examples that I can bring to students,” Comish revealed.
Marketing is a fascinating and important industry, and a subject many students take when going into a business-related field. Even if it’s not your primary focus, marketing is everywhere and all around us.
Comish utilizes her history to challenge her students with scenarios they very well may face in the future
She mentioned a recent example from her classroom: “We just worked on two new companies, where we brainstormed, researched the name, developed the brand’s look and feel, and then developed the website. So that’s a really cool experience to bring to students.”
“It’s all about the application,” she said.
Comish’s strength is strategy. She strives to teach them not only hard skills and soft skills, but also shares insight into companies large and small. She gives her students a wide range of useful knowledge that will be applicable to their careers.
“When the experiences are relevant to exactly what you’re presenting and what you’re speaking to, I just think it’s easier for the students to actually let it sink in so they really understand. You are seeing real results with this method,” she said.
The importance of hiring professors who also work alongside teaching is so important for forging connections for students.
“There are real cases of students being quite decent at jobs after these classes because of the connections teachers are able to provide. These connections are happening because you’re still in the business, you’re still in the day-to-day” Comish stated.
Comish has seen so much growth and success with this style of teaching, and her former students can attest to this. They were significantly more engaged than with other classes, and the feedback has been that they were “excited to come to class.”
This is all a professor can hope for.
Michael Jari Davidson, who teaches cinematography at GBC, does an amazing job at forging connections for his students in the film industry. When he’s not teaching, he is a professional cinematographer here in the city of Toronto. His main focus is on feature films, and he has shot about 15 independent features. He also occasionally shoots music videos for major Canadian labels such as Warner Music and Universal Music, as well as commercials and camera operations for larger television shows.
“I don’t believe that [film] can be taught out of a textbook, because everything in the business is situational and based on former experience,” Davidson explains.
“With this industry, the best way to teach it is to sort of start with the foundations,” he said. “That’s a good way to introduce emerging filmmakers to what it is I do, and then use examples from my work to help highlight the teachings I’m giving in class.”
Davidson does this by applying teachings he has not only learned over time, but also from his mentors.
Davidson is a firm believer in falling forward without having things perfectly in place before you attempt them. This is a motto he passes onto his students in his class along with many other valuable tips. “They can benefit from all the mistakes I’ve made in my career, because I made every mistake there is to make, and I continue to make them,” Davidson explained.
In this industry, there are many different avenues and specialties. When a student joins the Video Production and Design program, not everyone hopes to be a cinematographer when they graduate.
“I’m here to support all of my students and find each of their individual voices. I have to approach the teaching style in the same way so that it keeps it interesting for everyone based on their experience levels and what they hope to do in the industry,” Davidson mentioned.
When it comes to helping forge connections, Davidson says, “By teaching these classes, I am able to bring people onto my productions that I see stand out and have the edge over their classmates. I make connections all the time for my students and am constantly trying to pay it forward.”
Davidson’s way of making every student feel heard and giving them ample resources and opportunities is what makes him a good example of how industry professionals make great professors at GBC.
When Chef Missy Hui first started teaching at George Brown, she was still running a restaurant. She continued teaching part-time even after she left her position.
Hui said, “I teach not as my primary job because I need it but because I love it. I think that it keeps me really current”
Hui runs a catering and consultancy business and also involves herself in a lot of brand work, food styling, corporate cooking engagements and cooking classes. She is a great example of an educator who uses what they do in their industry life to bring student success to the classroom.
“The chef school is really successful in the roster of talent that it has. People that are still in the industry with really diverse resumes can contribute that the end goal isn’t always a restaurant anymore,” she said.
The hospitality and culinary industries have grown beyond the restaurant business. There are so many different avenues people can take through food or through hospitality. A lot of these other areas such as food styling for a magazine, or nutritionists working in long-term care homes, are more niche.
Hui says, “A lot of times I will have experience there or contacts there in these niche areas, something to help teach outside of your traditional restaurant or hotel setting. We of course have to support the curriculum but so much of making that memorable is sharing that personal experience”
When it comes to the Chef School, “Hospitality is small and most people have worked in industry to give the credential to teach at culinary school. They have those connections. So we pride ourselves on our ability to get those connections for the students” Hui said.
Hui touched on the idea that while she enjoys her work, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
“This is an industry that traditionally has some negative connotations around unfair wages and exploitation, sexism and racism. We share those stories and I think they are really important for people to learn when they go into the industry that they are able to self-advocate.”
This is the type of learning that isn’t mentioned in the curriculum and shows the importance of applying personal experience when teaching.
One point Hui stressed is that, “You may still be in a mentor position but you’re essentially peers now.” Many individuals continue to see recent graduates as on a level beneath them, or that they may not know as much compared to years of experience.
Hui recognizes that budding chefs have new energy and drive in them. She feels that it’s important for them to see a familiar face in the industry, and so much of this type of relationship is forged in the kitchen at the college.
These three professors are just a few of many great examples of professors at GBC who are attentive to what will make students most successful in their fields.
In all of these industries, the common goal of professors is to help forge connections, introduce real examples and make the learning experience memorable.
