KAMLOOPS – At its Arts, Fine Arts, Journalism & Student Development Convocation to be held at 2 pm on June 8, TRU will bestow an honorary Doctor of Letters degree upon an outstanding individual and TRU pioneer who reflects TRU’s legacy and the high value the university places on teaching.

“I think bestowing this honour on me reflects on the university in that it is to be complimented for having chosen an ordinary teacher,” said Ciriani. “It is yet another sign that the university is dedicated to its teaching role. It is axiomatic that a university has to have teachers engaged in research, but the teaching role can still be central.”

In actuality, John Ciriani was not “an ordinary teacher,” but an exemplary one. Born in Fernie, BC in 1930, he graduated from high school there. After earning an honours degree in mathematics in 1952 and a teacher training diploma in 1953 from the University of British Columbia, he returned to Trail to teach.

He taught mathematics, English, science and physical education courses at Trail Junior High School from 1953 to 1956, then took a position at J. Lloyd Crowe Senior Secondary School in 1956 while working toward a Bachelor of Education degree at UBC, which he completed in 1957.

After teaching English, mathematics and physics at J. Lloyd Crowe from 1956 to 1961, John Ciriani was appointed head of the mathematics department at that school and his teaching shifted entirely to mathematics until 1966. Also during this period, he taught curriculum and instruction in mathematics at the university level as instructor of a summer course at UBC.

In 1966, John Ciriani was appointed assistant to the principal of J. Lloyd Crowe, remaining until 1971, when he resigned to accept a position as chair of the Cariboo College mathematics department and left his home town with his new Master of Arts degree in Mathematics Education in hand, which he completed in 1970 at Washington State University.

From 1971 until he retired in 1995, John Ciriani was a mainstay of the mathematics department at the former Cariboo College and University College of the Cariboo.

A born educator with a gift for teaching, John Ciriani was considered to be the best teacher at Cariboo College. He won a teaching merit award in 1985, and was presented with the university’s inaugural Master Teacher Award 1988.

TRU math professor Jim Totten, who taught with John Ciriani, said, “John could certainly be a candidate for “best all-time teacher.”

John Ciriani also helped to teach the teachers. His mentorship of his colleagues was well noted and appreciated. He kept meticulous notes including lesson plans and work sheets for each of his courses, which he freely shared with his colleagues. His notes, lesson plans and work sheets are still used in the department today. He was also a member of a group that worked to improve the teaching skills of campus instructors.

“John was supportive and had a major influence on teaching styles,” said TRU professor Dave Tomkins. “He was a great resource for methods on how to reach some student who was having a great deal of difficulty.”

Throughout the transition of the university from a community college to a degree-granting institution, John Ciriani was heavily involved in curriculum development, course planning, and establishing transfer credit with the major universities. While holding the position of chair of the mathematics department a number of times during his tenure at TRU, John Ciriani established the math department as a model department which other departments try to emulate.

John Ciriani also reached out beyond campus boundaries as the founder of the Provincial High School Mathematics Contest, which now attracts students from all over the province. Even though he’s retired, he continues to send contest problems for consideration.

Teaching was John Ciriani’s major focus and passion, however. Greg McInulty, a former student of John Ciriani who is now a secondary math consultant, said, “I always knew that John had a special touch that made it easy to learn from him, but years of working as an educator have given me deep insight into why that is. John is a professor who has changed my worldview in a profound way and enhanced my love of learning at every turn.”

For more information, please contact John Ciriani at 250-376-9725 or Roger Barnsley (TRU President) at 250-828-5001.