Andrée-Anne Guénette
The University of Ottawa Excellence in Education Prizes honour exceptional educators who provide instruction of incomparable quality while conducting solid research programs. A profile of each of the nine 2008 recipients will appear in the Gazette in the coming months.
Laurent Lapierre is committed to excellence. It is what he studies, it is the basis of his research and it is what he teaches. Mr. Lapierre is an associate professor at the Telford School of Management and Associate Director of the school’s MBA program. One of the topics he studies is why some managers are better leaders than others, an area of expertise that he shares in the classroom.
Professor Lapierre is passionate about management and human resources. One of the focuses of his research is work-family conflict. He also studies businesses themselves because work, for most people, is a necessary part of life. “Most of us are employed, and we work together with bosses and colleagues. We all experience not only situations at work that are invigorating but also times that are frustrating,” says this energetic professor with an intense look in his eyes. “Why are people stressed out at work? Why are some employees more motivated to work harder and go that extra mile than others?” he asks.
Before becoming a professor, Laurent Lapierre worked with businesses as a consultant, to get a good feel for what made them tick. “But I didn’t find this kind of work motivating. I wasn’t feeling particularly satisfied nor did I find it exciting. I wanted to do more, to develop a greater understanding of the issues at play. So, I came back to academia, which allows me to teach and do research. Research feeds the soul of teaching!”
These two university duties, which he describes as two sides of the same coin, feed his hunger for empirical research and, at the same time, allow him to share the results of his research with students seeking something more concrete. Last year, he was the first to give an MBA course on leadership. However, his students wanted even more than what he offered—more facts, more examples that were applicable in their workplace. Professor Lapierre went back to work and refined his course over the summer months. “This feedback is what inspires me to be an excellent teacher and what allows me to take pleasure in the pleasure my students derive in learning!”
Laurent Lapierre believes this mutual enjoyment shines through in the classroom in his enthusiasm, in his clear way of expressing himself, in his genuine interest for the topics he covers in class and by the way he encourages students to share their experiences. He moves around the classroom during lectures, but always maintains eye contact with his students. He engages his students in discussions by challenging them, sharing his study results and illustrating the pros and cons of different business practices.
Having his passion recognized by an Excellence in Education Prize is “a wonderful acknowledgement by my colleagues and students and a great show of support. Receiving this award is very heart warming, but it also puts more pressure on me to keep up my enthusiasm and my energy, and not to lose sight of what teaching has taught me.”
