Assistant sociology professor Deborah Parnis is this year's winner of the Symons Award for excellence in teaching.

      Parnis is the first sociology professor to be cited for the award since it was created in 1976-77. The award recognizes outstanding teachers who demonstrate exemplary concern for students.

      Parnis has taught part-time at Trent for about eight years. Last July, Trent hired her full time. She lectures in introductory sociology and teaches a third-year course in culture and society.

      "I love the material and I love learning itself," says Parnis. "Trent gives me an environment to be as good as I can be as a teacher," she says, referring to small classes, a lot of contact with students and supportive faculty members.

      Compared to her experience as a student at larger universities, Trent is a "very different environment." Parnis graduated in 1984 with a bachelor of applied arts in radio and television arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University). She earned a master's degree in sociology from the University of Toronto in 1986 and a PhD from Carleton University in 1995. A version of her doctoral thesis on the political economy of commercial radio broadcasting in Canada will be published this summer by the University of Toronto Press.

      The teaching award is named after Trent's founding president. It will be presented May 29 at convocation.