Faculty of Arts Excellence in Teaching Awards: Past Winners
2008
Excellence in Teaching (Design & Practice) Award
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Excellence in Teaching (Practice) AwardMr James Marland (English) |
2007
Excellence in Teaching Award
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Excellence in Tutoring Award
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Teaching Initiative Award
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2006
Excellence in Teaching Award
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Excellence in Tutoring Award
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Teaching Initiative AwardMs Kate Crawford (Media and Communications) |
2005
Excellence in Teaching Award
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Excellence in Tutoring AwardMs Rebecca Beirne (English) |
Teaching Initiative Award
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2004
Excellence in Teaching AwardA/Prof Rick Benitez (Philosophy) |
Excellence in Tutoring AwardDr Alexis Harley (English) |
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2003
Excellence in Teaching AwardDr Alice Caffarel (French Studies) |
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Excellence in Teaching (Design & Practice) Award Winners: Areas of Teaching and Learning Expertise
Dr Betsi Beem
Department of Government and International Relations, School of Social and Political Sciences
Dr Beem's main areas of teaching include public policy, public sector management, and the intersection of international and domestic policy making. Her teaching philosophy is student centered and research based assessments are informed by current practices in the public sector to facilitate learning and career development.
Contact:
A/Prof Rick Benitez
Department of Philosophy, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Rick Benitez is interested in fostering independent judgement based on balanced critical examination of ideas. He has been particularly concerned with modelling practices of fair criticism in ethics, political philosophy and aesthetics, for which he was awarded an ALTC citation for outstanding contributions to student learning in 2008. Rick’s areas of specialty include ancient Greek philosophy, philosophy of law and aesthetics.
Contact:
Dr Alastair Blanshard and Dr Julia Kindt
Department of Classics and Ancient History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Julia and Alastair have experience in curriculum reform, the development of courses tailored to the needs of first-year students, and the use of non-traditional learning environments (e.g. museums). They are interested in pursuing strategies for involving students into the research process and for achieving student empowerment through learning.
Contact: and
Dr Frances Clarke
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Frances Clarke's areas of teaching expertise are American history, Cultural history, American Civil War & Reconstruction, War & Memory and Gender.
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Dr Clare Corbould
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Clare teaches United States history at all levels. She aims to inspire students' interest in the topics and to foster their enthusiasm for developing research and communication skills.
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Dr Christine Crowe
Digital Cultures Program, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Christine Crowe's teaching and learning interests lie in team/group work, peer assessment, blogs and online learning.
Contact:
Dr Carole Cusack
Department of Studies in Religion, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Carole Cusack has a Masters of Education (Educational Psychology), graduated 2001. She won a College of the Humanities and Social Sciences Excellence in Research Higher Degree Supervision Award in 2006. She has been on the organising committee of the Faculty of Arts Tutors' Development Programme 2005-2007. She is also a Mentor for the Institute for Teaching and Learning (ITL) Graduate Certificate in Education.
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Dr Nicholas Eckstein
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Nick Eckstein is a social and cultural historian of Renaissance Italy whose research and teaching pays special attention to the myriad ways in which people envision, represent and interact with the urban setting. His regular undergraduate units of study include the history of Renaissance Italy (HSTY2647, which focuses particularly on Florence); a history of Italian city life (HSTY2645, Invisible Cities: Imagining Urban Italy); and HSTY2660, Violence in Italy, which studies the cultural significance of violence from the Roman amphitheatre to the late twentieth-century Mafia. Nick's teaching emphasises the use of a range of visual sources and their relationship to text; and foregrounds students' active and imaginative use of primary documents to create independent argument.
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Dr David Kelly
Department of English, School of Letters, Art, and Media
David Kelly's main areas of teaching expertise are Classical and Modern American literature, literature and the popular arts (especially cinema), and Renaissance poetry.
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Dr Ahmar Mahboob
Department of Linguistics, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Ahmar Mahboob's main areas of teaching expertise are assessment for learning, research-led teaching and learning and working with NESB students.
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Dr Dirk Moses
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Dirk Moses is interested in online learning, written and oral assessment practices, and preparing students in intellectual excellence. His areas of interest are 'research-led teaching and learning', curriculum innovation, and the judicious use of online learning modalities. He firmly believes that online tutorials should not replace face-to-face tutorials. Human interaction continues in the workforce, and so it should in our learning.
Contact:
Dr Stephen Robertson
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Stephen Robertson's teaching is in the area of American history. His interests are in the practice of lecturing, the development of online resources, research-led teaching (particularly in first year units of study), tutor development, curriculum design and reform, and in scholarship in teaching. He is co-editor of the 'Teaching American Studies' section of the Australasian Journal of American Studies.
Contact:
Dr Liam Semler
Department of English, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Liam Semler is interested in the teaching and learning of English literature at senior high and junior university with a particular focus on issues relating to student transition from one to the other. He is director of the Shakespeare Reloaded linkage project (2008-10) between the English Department, University of Sydney, and Barker College (Hornsby, NSW).
Contact:
Dr Susan Thomas
Department of English, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Susan Thomas has a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and is active in the scholarship of teaching. Currently, she is representing Australia in the development of a Center for Cross-Cultural Communication, along with Stanford University and other leading American, European, and Asian Universities.
Susan is especially interested in online learning, standards-based assessment practices, and the relationship between university and community.
Contact:
Dr Bronwyn Winter
Department of French Studies, School of Languages and Cultures
Transdisciplinary and crosscultural approaches and content are central to Bronwyn's curricula and teaching, which mostly involve coordination and development of team-taught curricula across languages, cultures and different epistemological, methodological and disciplinary perspectives, as well as across Departments and Schools.
Bronwyn's teaching contexts are:
- French Studies: Senior social sciences, history and postcolonial studies curriculum and teaching (undergraduate, including Honours, and PhD supervision)
- International and Comparative Literary Studies: Program directorship, curriculum development and teaching (undergraduate, postgraduate and, from mid-2009, PhD supervision)
- Postcolonial and French perspectives in European Studies (postgraduate coursework)
- (from 2010) Bachelor of International and Global Studies: Collaborative curriculum development and coordination of second year core (team-designed and taught between SLC and MeCo)
- (under development, from 2011 or 2012): Asian Studies: Gender and society in the Philippines; European Studies: Junior unit "Europe on TV"
The three most valuable attributes she believes in fostering in her students are: first, the ability to think independently, creatively and critically; second, the ability make connections between different areas of knowledge construction and the epistemologies that accompany them, and the complex sociopolitical contexts in which this construction occurs and these epistemologies develop; and third, the ability to understand the links between intellectual endeavour and advancement of the wider social good.
Bronwyn is particularly interested in the design of assessment tasks that are creative, engaging, linked and formative, and that develop generic skills, not only technical skills (written and oral communication), but also the attributes outlined above.
Contact:
Excellence in Teaching (Practice) / Excellence in Tutoring Award Winners: Areas of Teaching and Learning Expertise
Ms Frances Di Lauro
Department of Studies in Religion, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Frances Di Lauro has lectured and tutored for the Religious Studies Department and the English Department. She is inspired by the role that online learning modalities can play in supporting and enhancing student learning.
Contact:
Mr Cam MacKellar
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Cam MacKellar has lectured, tutored and co-ordinated courses for the History department on American Imperialism, American Australian cultural exchange, African American culture, and the American revolution. The main focus of his research is on histories of sound. He also works on American cultural history, specifically related to photography, American Empire, and African American music.
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Mr James Marland
Department of English, School of Letters, Art, and Media
James' areas of teaching are in English and Theatre Studies. He is especially interested in encouraging students to think critically and creatively through both text-based learning as well as practical experimentation.
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Mr Alex Norman
Department of Studies in Religion, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Alex Norman has tutored and lectured in the Department of Studies in Religion since 2006 on world religions, religion and consumerism, and pilgrimage and tourism (his favourite topic). His research focuses on how travel is used as a means of self-discovery and self-transformation. Alex is interested in teaching and learning as dialogue, and especially in ways that make relevant the theoretical aspects of the Humanities in the experienced world. He also thinks learning should be fun, that coffee should be classed as a teaching aid, and that he can speak French (he can’t actually).
Contact:
Ms Sandra Pitronaci
Department of Italian Studies, School of Languages and Cultures
Sandra Pitronaci has a BA (Hons), Dip Ed, and has also completed a Graduate Certificate through ITL (2005). In 2006 she mentored two staff members completing the same course. Sandra has been tutoring Italian at Sydney Uni since 2001 and at Macquarie Uni since 2002. She teaches Italian in the Summer School as well as through Continuing Education and Community Colleges. She co-ordinates a language immersion holiday programme for kids of Italian background.
Contact:
Ms Yuri Takahashi
Department of Japanese and Korean Studies, School of Languages and Cultures
Yuri Takahashi (MA, M.Phil) has been involved in Japanese language education since the early 1980s and has a teaching certificate from the Japanese government. She has been teaching at Sydney University since 2000 and is interested in developing courses which provide students with solid language skills in an efficient way and in the process deepen their thoughts on cultural diversity.
Contact:
Mr Rodney Taveira
Department of Art History and Film Studies, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Rod Taveira’s main areas of teaching expertise are Modern American literature, critical theory, the history and theory of cinema, and the interrelations of literature, film, painting, and sound. He has lectured and tutored in the Department of English and the Department of Art History and Film Studies, incorporating online and face-to-face collaboration between both students and teachers.
Contact:
Teaching Initiative Award Winners: Areas of Teaching and Learning Expertise
Ms Kate Crawford
Department of Media and Communications, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Kate Crawford's areas of expertise include online collaboration and community formation, social software, mobile media and integrating media theory with creative production.
Contact:
Dr Laina Hall and Mr Richard White
Department of History, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry
Richard White has extensive experience in both lecture and seminar teaching and supervision at Honours and postgraduate levels, with particular interest in research-led teaching and learning.
Contact:
Dr Megan Le Masurier
Department of Media and Communications, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Dr Megan Le Masurier has been working on anti-plagiarism strategies through pedagogic innovation and increasing student-teacher interaction. Her research interests are magazine history, theory and practice, and the ways feminism inhabits popular media.
Contact:
Dr Steven Maras
Department of Media and Communications, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Steven Maras is interested in blending theory and practice, crafting learning environments, skills education and media production, and integrating technical processes/technology into teaching and learning.
Contact:
Dr Jennifer Milam
Department of Art History and Theory, School of Letters, Art, and Media
Jennifer Milam's learning and teaching interests are online exhibitions, creating research communities that include students and teachings, blogs for sharing research stages, and slide shows as podcasts.
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