Jenny’s teaching excellence came from varied experience

By Lethbridge Herald on October 11, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It was a moment a long time in the making for Jenny Burke. 

Burke, a biology instructor, was named the University of Lethbridge’s 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award winner, the school announced this week.

In an interview with the Herald, Burke says she was quite surprised to hear the news that she had won the honour.

“If I’m being honest, I actually burst into tears and then had to control myself. That was quite emotional for me. I was surprised and overjoyed were the two main emotions I felt.”

Burke traces her passion for teaching back to a school trip that she took in Grade 12. While a lot of her classmates went to Europe, Burke went on a marine biology trip that was organized by her high school chemistry teacher.

“It was on that trip that I sort of fell in love with biology.” Burke says. “My parents were both teachers so that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a biology teacher. That was when I was still in high school myself.”

Prior to teaching at the U of L, Burke’s career has taken her all over the globe. After graduating with her bachelor of science and education degree in 1997, she taught overseas in Korea. She also spent seven years as a chemistry teacher at F.P. Walshe school in Fort Macleod.

While teaching in a smaller community like Fort Macleod, Burke says she found it important to get to know her students to help them find success in the classroom.

“I’m used to making those close personal connections with my students. When I started teaching the big classes, that was what was the biggest challenge for me. But through various things, small changes like going to class early and sitting with a different group of students before each lecture and just chatting. All of my courses have a lab component. I’m not teaching that component, but I make sure I go to the lab so the students can see me in that smaller group setting and I can chat with them. I do a lot of team-based learning, a lot of group work. By making those small changes, I’ve changed the atmosphere of my classroom from that of passive learning to hopefully more active learning, and that has really made all the difference.”

Burke is also part of the Indigenous Student Success Cohort (ISSC) program. Before teaching at the university, Burke spent time on the Kainai Nation as a substitute teacher. Burke incorporates outdoor learning in her classes in accordance with recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). 

Burke says she felt it was something she could utilize in her class in a natural way.

“Going out and showing students the plants and animals that live on this land is a way I felt comfortable incorporating some of those TRC recommendations. Plus, I teach biology, and so it’s a natural way for me to incorporate some of those recommendations is just to take students out and teach them about the biology that exists here in Southern Alberta.”

Burke will be presented with the award at the Fall 2025 Convocation on Oct. 18.