Lecturer of the Year 09
The results of the annual Lecture of the Year voting are in! You have chosen your top lecturers, recognised them as the fantastic lecturers they are, and given them the praise they deserve. Over 2000 of you voted for the person you thought should win Lecturer of the Year and told us why you thought they were so deserving of the prestigious title.
And the winners are: Sue White (Nursing) WINNER (and runner up 2008, and winner 2006)
And Scott Wilson (Performing and Screen Arts) WINNER
Scott Wilson has been at Unitec for five years teaching performing and screen arts.
Before he begun his teaching career 10 years ago, he was working in the music industry in both New Zealand and the UK. He started teaching while doing his Master of Arts at Auckland University.
Why do you think you won?
I think it has something to do with the fact that I still remember vividly what it's like to be student.
Why do you teach?
I love learning. I'm passionate about my subject and want to learn more about it.
How would you describe your teaching style?
Gently chaotic? I plan every class to within an inch of its life but once the class begins, the learning has its own path and trajectory.
What advice would you give a lecturer who wanted to be as popular with their students as you are?
Listen. Always listen to your students. They know what they want and what they need.
What is the best thing about teaching?
Passion - seeing it in the students (why else are they here) and being able to help them express it in new and exciting ways. Unitec - and our Department - is unique in that our students can be creative and have a freedom to think that isn't available at other tertiary institutions.
What is the worst thing?
Apathy. In staff and students - it doesn't matter (although staff apathy is especially galling). Institutional apathy appals me. When lecturers complain about students who don't care, or who aren't interested, the first thought should be to examine what they do in the classroom that gives rise to this apathy.
You said:
Scott is brilliant. It really ends there. He is helpful, intelligent, values the opinion of every student, welcomes discussion, likes being challenged, and definitely goes the extra mile for his students.
He is amazing! Extremely knowledgeable, helpful and a great tutor. When you email him asking for help he usually replies within an hour EVEN IN THE WEEKEND!
His ridiculously good looks and intelligent conversation. Did I say he was good looking?
Sue White was first equal as lecturer of the year. Sue is a tutor in the department of Health Science. She’s been working at Unitec for 20 years. She has a real passion for nursing and her students, which is why she’s been teaching for so long.
How do you feel about winning?
It is a real honour that the students took the time to vote for me when there are so many excellent teachers at Unitec.
Why do you think you won?
I try to have fun and if at least one person in the room is having a good time then that’s infectious.
Why do you teach?
Two reasons. (1) I have fantastic students. (2) I enjoy sharing how amazing and incredible the human body is.
Did you always plan to teach?
As a child I wanted to be a nurse or a teacher. Now I teach nurses.
What advice would you give a lecturer who wanted to be as popular with their students as you are?
You are there for your students so do your best always and remember that many of them have made big sacrifices to enter tertiary education.
What is the best thing about teaching?
Getting paid to talk and have fun with a great group of people who choose to be there.
What is the worst thing?
Watching students who have great potential give up because they don’t believe they can make it or they are not willing to put in the required effort.
Sue White (Nursing) WINNER
She constantly engages students and provides written, visual, auditory stimulation and sometimes role-play which is great! :)
I have very impressed her lecture. She is very friendly. She has good explanation power.
Even in lab sessions she will go sit right next to you and ask if you’re stuck with something and she will go extra mile to help you understand what it is actually.
Lorne Roberts (Natural Sciences) 2nd Place
Lorne is a great lecturer and makes everything exciting. He can make anatomy funny and this year I managed to stay awake through it so way to go Lorne! He certainly knows his stuff too.
I have never learnt so much from one individual in my life. It is impossible to fall asleep in his lectures because he’s just so damn interesting.
David Chaplin (Architecture) 3rd Place
Brilliant mind and brilliant stories to share. Takes your knowledge to some place where most lecturers don't. Unique, intense and always supportive.
Always helps out, stays back late, makes time for the students, always smiling and has a great attitude and character that rubs off onto the students.
Department Winners:
Susie Jacka (Foundation Studies)
She is a great teacher and really gets everyone involved in her classes and makes getting back into school easy!
Heather Gunn (Health Science)
She is an amazing lecturer who teaches us exactly what we need to know and always gets our assignments back on time (if we hand them in on a Mon we get them on the Weds).
Philip Plunkett & Kham Kok (Electrotechnology)
(Phil) Cause he is happy Phil.
(Kham) She is very patient and tried her best to make us understood. She was never missed the class as well.
Daniel Irving (Landscape Architecture)
He cares, he’s on the same page, he understands, and he really gets you to think about the project... He is down to earth, he’s kool. It almost sounds like I love him and I do nothing wrong with some man love.
Peter Thompson & Debbie Rolland (Communication Studies)
(Peter) Incredible, knowledgeable and inspiring person.
(Debbie) The way she teaches is SOLID as!!
Rodger Gibb (Civil Engineering)
Because he is the man!
Mark Holden (Accounting and Finance)
Walking legend.
Caroline King (Computing)
Nice and loving to help her student.
Melanie Miller (Education)
The words are very less to express my respect for Mellanie. Thank you.
Joe Piggin (Sport)
Brilliant class engagement, incredible super-hero alter ego, extremely intelligent and all round nice guy! GO JOE!
Ian Hyslop (Social Practice)
Knows his stuff, calm, has presence, swears occasionally!
Geoff Parish (Construction)
Flamboyant use of the whiteboard.
Martin Snee (Building Technology)
Good people are hard to find.
Gary Jacob (Transport technology)
He teaches very hard and work hard.
Jo Drayton (Design)
Consistently interesting and imaginative.
Alan Lockyer (Management and Marketing)
Mr. Lockyer is educated, qualified and possesses a number of skills and capacity to deliver high performance.
Melanie Garish (Languages)
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Student Winner
The student winner for LOTY is Xi Peng from the Department of Landscape Architecture. She has decided on the $1000 worth of travel vouchers.
If you haven’t won this time, there is still hope – vote in the online student executive elections for your chance to win travel vouchers, movie passes, bar tabs, Westfield vouchers, Subway cards and mobile air-time credit. Check your email for the link to vote. Didn’t get a link? Visit www.usu.co.nz for the link to vote.