{"id":5660,"date":"2026-06-19T16:07:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/?p=5660"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:07:54","slug":"teaching-excellence-2026-brianna-strumm-discovered-her-passion-when-she-took-a-career-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/2026\/06\/19\/teaching-excellence-2026-brianna-strumm-discovered-her-passion-when-she-took-a-career-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Excellence 2026: Brianna Strumm discovered her passion when she took a career turn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Teaching Excellence 2026: Brianna Strumm discovered her passion when she took a career turn<\/h1>\n

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There was no classroom, no curriculum, and no formal training \u2014 just a seven-year-old Brianna Strumm, a stack of homemade worksheets, and a group of stuffed animals ready to learn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though she began her career in social work,\u00a0Brianna\u00a0now sees those early moments as the start of her path to teaching.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was teaching my two siblings when I was seven or eight years old,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cWe\u2019d\u00a0play\u00a0\u2018school\u2019\u00a0in the summertime.\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0have worksheets printed up and stuffed animals sitting in\u00a0empty\u00a0chairs.\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0be teaching them how to read, and my mom was like, \u2018It\u2019s\u00a0too quiet.\u00a0What is going on?\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brianna, an associate professor\u00a0and chair of UFV\u2019s\u00a0Bachelor of Social Work program,\u00a0is UFV\u2019s\u00a02026 Teaching Excellence Award winner.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After earning her Bachelor of Social Work (2004) and\u00a0Master of Social Work\u00a0(2010) from the University of Calgary, Brianna\u00a0was fully immersed in\u00a0that field\u00a0when a friend from Mount Royal\u00a0University, heading on sabbatical, asked her\u00a0if she would be interested in\u00a0covering\u00a0a class\u00a0in the fall of 2011.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI got into\u00a0the classroom and loved it,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI loved how it felt to be creative and to mentor and support students. I felt\u00a0so\u00a0proud\u00a0whenever a student had an \u2018aha\u2019 moment. It was, and still is, energizing and rewarding.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From that first day,\u00a0Brianna\u00a0has approached teaching the same way she approaches social work \u2014 with kindness and compassion.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want students to treat each other with kindness and build a sense of community in the classroom,\u201d says\u00a0Brianna, who earned a doctorate from Carleton University in 2022. \u201cPeople want to be treated well, just like I do, and kindness goes a long way.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A strong believer in\u00a0trauma-informed teaching, she says it\u2019s important to\u00a0realize that students may have external factors\u00a0impacting their academic performance.\u00a0She prioritizes getting to know her students,\u00a0so she can better support them. She also\u00a0emphasizes confidence building,\u00a0focusing\u00a0not on what students do wrong, but on what they do right.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf people feel stressed or\u00a0worried, it\u2019s going to be difficult to succeed,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0not here to discount their efforts.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0here to create\u00a0conditions and provide opportunities for students to thrive.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another pillar of her philosophy is giving students a voice\u00a0and encouraging them to take the lead in their education. As BSW program chair, she is focused on ensuring students have\u00a0different\u00a0opportunities to\u00a0advance their knowledge and skills. She also works to keep curriculum relevant, up to date, and reflective of trends in social work education.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She seeks student input where appropriate and aims to build flexibility into the program to meet diverse needs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of opportunity to practise\u00a0building skills\u00a0through experiential learning, taking\u00a0risks, trying\u00a0things for the first time, and\u00a0being\u00a0vulnerable,\u201d she says. \u201cI want them to be empowered to be their best selves.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Candice Quesnel, a\u00a0UFV\u00a0Bachelor of Social Work\u00a0alumna and now palliative services manager with the Chilliwack Hospice Society, shared a personal example of\u00a0Brianna\u2019s impact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Quesnel says she was in her early 50s when she arrived at UFV, five years sober with a long history of substance misuse.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came to UFV feeling out of place, burdened by self-doubt, guilt, and imposter syndrome,\u201d she says. \u201cI questioned my worthiness of being in an academic setting, particularly because of my past struggles with addiction and the stigma I felt as an older student. Dr. Strumm not only saw my potential but actively worked with me to overcome these feelings of shame and inadequacy. She helped me reframe my lived experiences as assets rather than liabilities, showing me that the very qualities I thought made me \u2018less than\u2019 were, in fact, invaluable strengths in the field of social work.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Candice\u00a0says\u00a0Brianna\u00a0consistently\u00a0validated\u00a0her perspective, fostering a classroom environment where she felt valued not only for her academic performance, but for her personal history and growth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer belief in me helped me recognize that my struggles, rather than holding me back, made me better suited to the career I was pursuing,\u201d she says. \u201cThrough her encouragement, I found the strength to push past my self-doubt and continue my studies with renewed confidence.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brianna\u00a0has received two student-nominated teaching excellence awards\u00a0at other institutions\u00a0(2016 and 2018).\u00a0\u00a0In 2024 and 2025, she was awarded\u00a0funds\u00a0for the\u00a0Teaching Inquiries into\u00a0Pedagogical Practices\u00a0(TIPP)\u00a0initiative\u00a0focused on Changemaking\u00a0at UFV.\u00a0She is also active in research in the field of social work\u00a0and serves as the director for the\u00a0UFV Centre for Justice, Equity, and Sustainable Action (JESA).\u00a0Her first co-authored textbook,\u00a0<\/span>Transformative Community Development<\/span><\/i>, comes out this\u00a0year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her\u00a0areas of interest in teaching and research include international\u00a0social work practice, feminist social work, arts- and community-based research, community development,\u00a0group facilitation,\u00a0trauma-informed pedagogy and practice, practitioner well-being, and\u00a0women\u2019s health.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u00a0received\u00a0internal\u00a0Social Sciences and Humanities Research\u00a0Council\u00a0Explore Grants in 2023 and 2025\u00a0for her\u00a0collaborative\u00a0research on trauma-informed pedagogy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Dueck,\u00a0a colleague\u00a0in\u00a0the School of Social Work\u00a0and Human Services, says\u00a0Brianna\u00a0delivers course material with a strong command of the subject while keeping it accessible to students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe excels at engaging students in her\u00a0classes using a range of educational strategies, including small-group breakouts, engaging lectures, and interactive class activities,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is no surprise that I often hear social work students praising Brianna and talking about how much they enjoy her classes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/blog\/2026\/06\/teaching-excellence-2026-brianna-strumm-discovered-her-passion-when-she-took-a-career-turn\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teaching Excellence 2026: Brianna Strumm discovered her passion when she took a career turn There was no classroom, no curriculum, and no formal training \u2014 just a seven-year-old Brianna Strumm, a stack of homemade worksheets, and a group of stuffed animals ready to learn.\u00a0 Though she began her career in social work,\u00a0Brianna\u00a0now sees those early … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5661,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions\/5661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/swhs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}