Teaching Excellence Awards

The Massey Teaching Excellence Award recognises the sustained commitment to teaching and learning. The recipients strive to enhance learning through a student-centred, enquiry based approach.

Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence

Nicola Smith

College of Sciences
School of Veterinary Science 

A senior lecturer in the School of Veterinary Science, Dr Smith’s teaching practices is described as authentic, reflective and engaging. She is dedicated to nurturing a holistic and relevant learning environment, grounded in her belief that learning starts with a teacher who interrogates, reflects, and continually refines her practice.

Deeply aware of the demanding nature of veterinary studies, she gets to know her students well and cares about their wellbeing, including long after they graduate.

Her caring approach can be seen in the way she developed the Integrative Studies, known as “Spine” courses in the Bachelor of Veterinary Science,
with their focus on authenticity, active learning and an environment that assists students to self manage, develop effective study habits and value being lifelong learners.

Dr Smith refines her teaching by acting on student feedback, resulting in a stimulating environment in which students thrive.

In the words of one student, “I’m a big fan of how Nic runs Spine and her way of teaching. She has incorporated our feedback from last year really well. Spine has become much more concise, relevant, and enjoyable. I also feel like she really listens and genuinely cares about students, and has gone above and beyond to make sure we feel heard and supported.”

Early Career Teaching Award

Dr Victoria Kerry

College of Humanities and Social Science
School of Humanities

Dr Kerry, a lecturer in the School of Humanities, has been recognised for her dedication for nurturing a holistic and relevant learning environment.

Her teaching philosophy involves creating inclusive, safe and engaging teaching spaces – online or face-to-face – for linguistic students. In particular, she is committed to transforming her teaching practice to be Tiriti-led, and the results so far have been truly remarkable.

She uses innovative approaches, such as virtual reality, and at the same time excels at what her head of school describes as “the core skills of good teaching that have long been the basis of outstanding pedagogy”.

Her relationship-based approach is characterised by overlapping roles. As well as a learning facilitator, she helps students navigate university systems and supports their overall wellbeing.

She embraces student feedback, professional development and conversations with colleagues about teaching.

Her dedication is reflected in student descriptions of her as caring, enthusiastic and deeply committed to creating environments in which their learning flourishes.

Teaching Support Award

Heather Lamond

University Library

Heather Lamond’s contribution to the University is characterised by her belief that the learner should be firmly based at the centre of library services.

She has an evidence-based approach to understanding and responding to student behaviours and needs and has encouraged a user experience approach within the Library to the development of services in the both the online environment and physical library, encouraging student participation in changes as simple but as important as study furniture choices.

In particular, she has a strongly held and long-standing belief in the importance of equity of access to library resources and services for distance learners.

In her role as associate university librarian, client services, Ms Lamond has led the development of the Library’s teaching model (for face to face, online synchronous, online asynchronous and mixed mode teaching of information literacy skills) which emphasises the importance of establishing a sense of connection with the learner, the value of collaboration with academic staff, and the importance of modelling techniques in skill learning.

Her commitment to student learning, her strategic and thoughtful leadership, and her quiet, creative dedication show her to be a worthy recipient of the teaching award for learner support.

Previous winners

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Last updated on Thursday 26 March 2020