Professor Francis Bangou wins Excellence in Education Prize

Professor Francis Bangou is the recipient of a 2022–2023 Excellence in Education Prize for his outstanding teaching, research, and pedagogical initiatives. His contributions and influence are recognized across the University community and beyond. 

Graduate students under his supervision describe him as an “exceptional mentor,” “a role model” and “one of the best professors at the University of Ottawa.” Graduates of our Bachelor of Education program say his innovative teaching practices inspired them to integrate new technologies and methods in their own classrooms. Praise for his robust research program and contributions to advancing knowledge nationally and internationally comes from fellow professors, who also express appreciation for his qualities as a “generous” and “conscientious” colleague. 

In their recommendations for this award, Faculty members emphasized Bangou’s deep professional and personal commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. “EDI informs all his teaching,” says Dean Richard Barwell. “His courses highlight how education can serve those who have been marginalized from the educational process, and how teachers can transform processes of reproduction, advocate for difference, and examine issues of EDI in their classrooms.”  

From creating and leading a new Faculty EDI committee to facilitating group conversations and events on anti-racism and gender and sexual diversity in education, Bangou’s leadership has driven our Faculty towards greater equity and inclusion in diverse areas.

“Since my arrival at the University of Ottawa, it has been important to me to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in my field of expertise and to the success of all my students by disrupting established ideas and creating spaces for difference, inclusion, innovation, and creativity,” explains Bangou. “This award is a recognition of the work I have done over the past few years and provides me with the resources I need to develop it further.  I would like to thank the members of the selection committee for their support, and it is with great joy that I receive this award.”  

Bangou is an influential scholar in second-language education. He’s known for his research expertise in technologically enhanced language classrooms and for preparing new second-language educators to meet the evolving challenges of modern teaching. He's a thought leader in his field, recognized for his publications, keynote addresses, and management of numerous grants. He's the founder and director of the Educlang (education and languages) research group and the principal investigator for the large-scale project “Building Language Teachers' Capacity for Using Digital Technologies in Francophone and Anglophone Schools to Mobilize Inclusive Plurilingual Pedagogical Practices,” funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Learn more about Professor Bangou's teaching, research, and contributions:

Biography: Francis Bangou is a full professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, specializing in second language education. His research is partly grounded within new materialist movement lines of thoughts and focuses on the adaptation of language teachers and learners to unfamiliar teaching and learning settings, training of language teachers, integration of information and communication technologies in language teaching, and teaching French as a language of instruction in linguistic minority contexts. He received the Faculty of Education's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021.

As the University website states, “The University of Ottawa established the annual Excellence in Education Prizes to recognize educators of exceptional quality, driven by their passion to advance and share knowledge. These leaders in university education are outstanding in the classroom, in the laboratory, and in the field, and have been recognized by students and peers alike.”