Faculty Profiles

Shane Andrus, Academic Chair/Coordinator/Instructor

Dr. Shane Andrus says he “feels honored and privileged” to be a permanent instructor at Medicine Hat College. He has been teaching at MHC since 2012 and regards his signature course as IDST 485 Death and Dying, which he is passionate about teaching. Additionally, he serves as Academic Chair of Community Services, within the Yuill School of Health and Community Services. Dr. Andrus holds three earned degrees and currently he is enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan, pursuing a post-doctoral Certificate in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Being an educator has been a core passion for Dr. Andrus. As an instructor, he believes in creating a classroom environment that collaborates, engages, and celebrates. His past courses have focused on: encouraging student voice and collaboration within peer to-peer small group work, fostering learner engagement by beginning with student’s interests, celebrating student diversity, and the possibility of learning from each other’s story.

In 2019, Dr. Andrus was recognized as Instructor of the Year by Medicine Hat College. This student nominated award is given to only one instructor annually and awarded at convocation. He finds inspiration in the words of Anthropologist Margaret Mead who affirmed that it is best to teach people “how to think, not what to think.”

In June, 2026 he engaged in a visiting instructorship between the Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY), Mexico, and MHC, facilitated by Nicole Nemo, Coordinator for Global Engagement & International Education. For this instructorship Global Affairs Canada awarded a grant entitled “Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building,” within the Academic Relations Program. Additionally, the MHC Research Fund Committee granted co-funding to support Dr. Andrus’s research. The research project title: "Teaching Across Cultures: What is the Impact of cross-cultural instructional experience on teaching, learning, and course design?"

In addition to research and teaching, he professionally holds membership in the Association of Counselling Therapy of Alberta (ACTA) as a General Counselling Therapist (#1315). He continues in private practice in his free time.

Dr. Andrus has been married to his spouse Lois since 1999. For hobbies he enjoys swimming and riding the bike trails of the Medicine Hat park system. Fun fact is that they have three companion dogs: Connor, Lady and Cookie - who love long walks and sweet treats. Dr. Andrus jokes that “dogs take after their owners.”