Virginia Harwood, a professor with the School of Justice & Emergency Services since 2002, continually seeks innovative ways to inspire excellence in her students including developing the college’s Mediation – Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) one-year graduate certificate program in 2010, which she teaches in and co-ordinates. Designed for individuals with existing educational or industry experience, the program includes a hybrid delivery model, one of the first of its kind at Durham College, offering students the opportunity to participate in online chats and assignments and listen to guest speakers via Skype.

Harwood incorporates role-playing; observation; peer evaluation and review; student presentations; group activities; interactive activities through technology; and open discussions into her teaching practices, and as a 1987 alumna of the college’s Legal Administration/Law Clerk program, she is committed to student success.

She joined the college after a 17-year career as a law clerk for a major Toronto law firm and a sole practitioner working in the areas of civil litigation; family law; estates; legal research; and real estate. Devoted to lifelong learning, she is a member of the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario; holds a qualified mediator designation from the ADR Institutes of Canada and Ontario; is an affiliate member of the Ontario Bar Association – ADR section; and is a volunteer member of the Board of Directors of the Durham Community Legal Clinic. She is dedicated to remaining educated in the always evolving and changing law processes.

Harwood won the Vice-president, Academic Faculty Award for Academic Excellence in August of 2011 for demonstrating exemplary professional growth and activity during the academic year and her hard work and dedication to providing students with the best educational experience possible recently saw her nominated for  an Association of Canadian Community Colleges  Teaching Excellence Award.  

She holds an advanced diploma in Legal Administration/Law Clerk; a certificate in Adult Education; a Bachelor of Education in Adult Education; and a certificate and advanced certificate in ADR. In addition, she volunteers on several college committees; mentors new faculty; is co-facilitator of the Teaching in Community program; and has established the college’s Campus Conflict Resolution Services, a free and confidential service for students offering hands-on mediation experience in a peer-to-peer setting.

 Virginia commits herself to student success by being an innovator in the classroom and a role model for her students and peers.