A York University professor has been selected as a semifinalist in TVOntario’s 2008 Best Lecturer competition.

L. Anders Sandberg, Associate Dean of York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, was chosen as one of 38 semifinalists for the show, which will air on TVO’s lecture series, Big Ideas.

A panel of independent judges selected the semifinalists from nominees put forth by students and faculty from universities and colleges across the province.

Over the coming months, judges will review video submissions of professors' lectures, in order to shortlist ten finalists. The judges – former teacher, school principal and politician Zanana Akande; author, poet and award-winning journalist Barry Callaghan; and actor/writer/producer Tony Nardi – will look for lecturers who engage their listeners with passion, flair and clarity, conveying their knowledge with genuine conviction.

The ten finalists will deliver complete lectures on Big Ideas over five weeks beginning March 1, 2008. Viewers will then have the opportunity to vote for their favourite lecturer in order to decide the winner. The winner's institution will receive a $10,000 TD Meloche Monnex scholarship.

Professor Sandberg’s teaching focuses on environmental politics and history, and includes courses on critical thinking, sustainability, social equity and civic engagement. His research interests include political ecology, forest and environmental history, and Canadian environmental politics. In nominating him, Sandberg’s students described him as "Radical, humorous and laid-back, engaging and interesting," and ". . .a dynamic and creative educator."

His publications include Trouble in the Woods (editor, 1992), Sustainability: The Challenge (co-edited with Dr. Sverker Sörlin, 1998), Against the Grain: Foresters and Politics in Nova Scotia (with Dr. Peter Clancy), several chapter contributions to books, and numerous journal articles. He is currently finishing a book on environmental politics on the Oak Ridges Moraine with fellow York University professors Gerda Wekerle and Liette Gilbert.

Schools with professors in the running for the first time this year include Lakehead University, Loyalist College, Nipissing University, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), Redeemer University College, the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. The teaching specialties of the nominees range from abnormal psychology, forensic anthropology and evolutionary ecology to culinary arts, medieval literature and intellectual capital.