The University of Queensland has received the equal highest number of Australian Awards for University Teaching in the final Australian Learning and Teaching Council round announced this week.
Three UQ staff or programs who have previously received UQ’s own excellence in teaching awards were announced as national winners.
The awards, worth AUD25,000 each, will be presented during a ceremony at the Sydney
Opera House on Tuesday 16 August.
University of Queensland Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Debbie Terry congratulated the UQ winners and thanked the ALTC for the impact that it has had on learning and teaching in the Australian higher education sector.
“I am delighted that our excellent teachers and programs have again been recognised in the 2011 awards,” she said.
“The ALTC has played a very significant role in celebrating and supporting high quality teaching and practice. Their contribution will be sorely missed by the sector.”
UQ has won more national teaching awards than any other Australian university, winning 85 awards and citations.
Professor John Taylor will receive a program award for the Rangeland Management Postgraduate Coursework Program, which is recognised nationally and internationally as an innovative and effective model for rangeland education.
The program focuses on building multi-disciplinary capacity for economic, environmental and social outcomes in remote areas of Australia, the region of greatest educational disadvantage.
It won the 2009 Australian Rural Education Award for excellence in rural education.
The program was also the model for a US Department of Agriculture Higher Education Challenge grant to examine the core competences for rangeland professionals and to revise the way in which range management programs are delivered at 30 universities in the United States.
UQ’s two Teaching Award recipients are Associate Professor Lydia Kavanagh of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology and Dr Jane Stadler of the School of English, Media Studies and Art History.
Dr Lydia Kavanagh is an innovative, enthusiastic and dedicated teacher and mentor who brings to her discipline a wealth of professional engineering experience. Since returning to academia from industry in 1998, she has become a leader in engineering education in Australia and has used her background as a professional engineer to design both curricula and courses for active learning by combining real-world projects and specialist knowledge.
Dr Jane Stadler is an expert in Film and Television Studies who has contributed significantly to teaching nationally and internationally through her research higher degree supervision and through co-authorship of the textbook Media and Society, now into its fourth edition.
It is one of Oxford University Press’ best selling textbooks in the field, with significant sales in Africa, Canada, USA and UK as well as in 14 Australian universities.
She has co-authored another widely-adopted textbook, Screen Media (2009) , encompassing both film and television studies. Her contribution to teaching has been recognised in academic articles analysing case studies of her pedagogical practice and through awards including the University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award in 2008.
The annual Australian Awards for University Teaching recognise both excellence in teaching
and innovative programs that enrich the student experience.
ALTC’s CEO Dr Carol Nicoll said she was delighted with the strength of this year’s
nominations.
“These awards are given to truly outstanding individuals and teams who have made a lasting
impression on the quality of Australian higher education,” she said.
Media: Jan King 0413 601 248.
