2006 Media Releases
Friday, 14 July 2006
La Trobe University wins national teaching awards
La Trobe University has won six Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in this year’s Carrick Institute teaching awards.
The national recognition follows La Trobe’s own ten teaching awards in May to staff who have made a significant contribution to student learning.
Carrick Citations are granted to people who have made a significant contribution to the quality of student learning in a specific area of responsibility over a sustained period, whether they are academic staff, general staff, sessional staff or institutional associates.
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, said it was a wonderful achievement for the staff concerned and the University to have more than half of La Trobe’s internal awards gain added recognition by winning the Australia-wide awards.
‘These awards recognise the long-standing contribution that staff members make to the student experience and I congratulate all our winners.’
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Stoddart said: ‘At a time when the ability to demonstrate excellence has important ramifications, these citations are significant. They will help ensure that we remain a major target for students who are progressively becoming more discriminating over teaching performance.’
‘With the transmission of knowledge changing rapidly, professionalisation of the teaching role is becoming increasingly important. This University is working hard to keep abreast of the latest in effective teaching and learning methods and supporting technology and is continuing to improve its staff promotions system to include greater recognition for teaching talent.’
The awards will be presented at a ceremony for Victorian and Tasmanian winners at the Melbourne Museum on Wednesday 9 August.
During July and August winners of the University’s Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning are also conducting short presentation and discussion sessions – with a video conference link to interested parties at other campuses – to enable the wider University community to learn about their award-winning work.
The winners of the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching Awards are:
Professor Eleanor Wertheim, Psychology: for creating learning opportunities that enable students in professional courses to effectively meet the challenges of their professional and personal lives. Professor Wertheim’s success follows her win in 2004 of the prestigious $40,000 ‘Australian Award for University Teaching’, one of only six granted nationally by the Federal government.
Dr John Banks, Mathematics: for persistent, student-learning focused curriculum development which enables non-maths students to build mathematical models for specific applications using a small core of mathematical concepts.
Dr Caroline Chanock, Academic Skills Unit: for transforming insights gained from work with individual students into an innovative integrated program of academic skills development across a diverse Arts Faculty.
Ms Beverley Forsyth, Ms Heather Hulett, Ms Susan Porter, Ms Jill Stokes, Ms Christine Wanklyn, Library: for an effective and engaging program that contributes to new nursing students’ understanding of researching information sources, academic literature and scholarly writing across five campuses.
Dr Elizabeth Johnson, Biochemistry: for the development of innovative learning tools to teach graduate and discipline-specific skills and to encourage deep learning.
Ms Mary Anne Noone, Ms Judith Dickson, Ms Elizabeth Curran, Law: for enhancing students' understanding of ethical and professional responsibilities in a deep learning experience that links classroom learning with legal practice.