Julie Payette, astronaut:

My favorite professor at McGill never really was my teacher. He was my PhD supervisor and I would not hesitate to nominate him for a teacher award because he is witty, entertaining, insightful, dedicated and brilliant, and because he possesses the rare ability not only to motivate students but to instill a real desire to innovate. Dr. Vincent Hayward.

Blake Gopnick, visual arts editor, The Globe and Mail:

Medieval historian Nancy Partner was my most influential professor at McGill. Not so much for the details of what she taught, but because she believed in pushing creative thinking to its limits. I'm still astounded by the range of material that she managed to bring together into a single course, from the brilliant anthro-history of Peter Brown to the colourful divagations of Hayden White. And she instilled in me a love of primary sources as the real stuff of history that I've never lost.

Anne Cormier, architect, co-winner of the Canada Council's Prix de Rome for excellence in architecture:

Peter Collins certainly was one of the most impressive lecturers I encountered at the School of Architecture. Extremely theatrical and precise, he would end every lecture on a conclusive note within seconds of the bell ring. He was passionate, opinionated and challenging. There is a lot of architecture I cannot look at today without thinking of him and his sense of criticism.

Gillian Deacon, co-host and co-producer of the Discovery Channel's @discovery.ca:

During my BA, English professor Michael Bristol was my most memorable and favourite prof at McGill. I think what was great about him was that he was so relaxed and had a sense of humour. He seemed to "have a life" outside of school and so he was able to bring great perspective to his teaching. His classes always felt part of a larger intellectual context instead of being closed courses with right and wrong answers, good or bad essays. Being in his class was what I consider a turning point in my academic experience, for the first time, I really became excited by learning.

Steven Pinker, author (How the Mind Works, The Language Instinct), scientist:

The leaders of my two honours seminars in psychology, Tom Shultz and Al Bregman, introduced me to the pleasures of thinking hard about deep issues in the study of the human mind. Discussions in their seminars spilled out into cafés and dorm rooms, often through the late hours. That is what a university education should be about! I ended up doing research with both of them as a student and still correspond with them 25 years later. I also have fond memories of a superb lecturer, Mrs. Edith Engelberg. Where else but McGill would you learn physics from a prototypical Jewish mother?

Irenius Zuk, musician, director of Queen's University's School of Music:

I enrolled in the Faculty of Music because it gave me a further chance to study with Lubka Kolessa, one of the great pianists of the first half of the 20th century. This remarkable artist had much to offer in terms of developing a formidable technique as well as knowing well what repertoire would work best for her students. She was then, and remains a powerful influence both in my own performing career and in my teaching.

Marc Tessier-Lavigne, director of the Centre for Brain Development at the University of California at San Francisco, one of the young Canadians recently selected by Time magazine as "Leaders for the 21st Century":

The ones who stand out in my memory are: physics professor Nick de Takacsy, because he was a great mentor, taking a very personal interest in the careers and well-being of all his students; physics professor Martin Zuckermann, because he was always thinking laterally and connecting very disparate subjects, which I found very stimulating and which encouraged me to move between various fields of science; and mathematics professor S.W. Drury, because he took a very pure and rigorous approach to the subject that was very much in tune with what I love so much about mathematics.