Teaching award winner "energized": Peggy Cunningham 2000

Though marketing professor Peggy Cunningham came to Queen's in 1989 with no intention of staying beyond her six-month contract, she soon changed her mind. "Basically, I fell in love with the students," said Cunningham, who received the Commerce'89 Award and the Commerce Society's Teaching Award (for the second time) in 2000. "It's as simple as that."

Students who nominated her for the award raved about her knowledge of marketing and her outstanding communication skills as well as her commitment to seeing them realize their full potential. "No matter how tired you are, what a bad day you've had, you walk into a classroom like that, and you just know you're in the right place at the right time. It was that energizing fit that kept me here," she said.

Thanks to her open-door policy, students often came to her with questions and concerns about anything going on in their lives. "She spends as much time talking to students about life as she does about marketing because she believes that education is more than just teaching course material."

"It's teaching people life skills," she said. "I try to deal with them as individuals, really listen to their problems, respecting them on an individual basis rather than thinking one size fits all. I guess I try to think of the students as a whole person...It's nice to get pats on the back but you can't teach well without good students, and you have to have a good collegial group to do things with. A lot of team effort goes on here."