Ralston wins 2025 Provost's Teaching Award

Assistant professor Benjamin Ralston is the 2025 recipient of the Provost’s College Award for Teaching Excellence for the University of Saskatchewan College of Law (USask Law).

“Ben is a passionate and dedicated teacher with a genuine interest in both the academic development and welfare of his students,” said Dean Martin Phillipson.

Ralston currently teaches several courses including environmental law; Kwayeskastasowin, Setting Things Right; and administrative law. He previously taught a range of classes, including tort law; regulation of professions; administrative law; Aboriginal law; environment law; Aboriginal self-government; and Indigenous peoples in international and comparative law.

“A love of teaching convinced me to pursue a faculty role. I encourage students to examine law from multiple perspectives, and they often challenge me to do the same,” Ralston said in a quote provided to USask News.

“I’ve been fortunate to teach in diverse programs, including the Nunavut Law Program, the Kanawayihetaytan Askiy program, and the School of Environment and Sustainability. Particularly in these settings, dialogue with students reshaped my own views just as much as I hope it contributed to theirs.”

Ralston’s nomination included several positive comments from student evaluations.

“I thought Ben did an excellent job instructing this course. Not only is he well versed in the subject and an incredibly intelligent being, he is also caring and was able to navigate tough conversations throughout the course. We are lucky to have him teaching at USask.”

“Professor Ralston provided excellent instruction. He was very knowledgeable and also alive to the sensitive nature of the content and the care required to engage with it.”

The Provost’s Teaching Awards are presented each year to faculty and staff members from across colleges, schools and units who exemplify USask’s commitment to be the university the world needs through their teaching and leadership activities.

Ralston joined the college in a tenure track position in January 2023. He completed his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees at the University of British Columbia. He earned his Masters of Law with distinction at the University of Otago in New Zealand with a thesis that explored the relationship between marine spatial planning and Indigenous rights in the Hauraki Gulf of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific North Coast region of British Columbia.