UCSA Lecturer of the Year

College of Arts Lecturer of the Year

Richard Bullen

"He is ridiculously enthusiastic about what he teaches and his lectures are always fun and interesting!"

"Because he is awesome. I wasn't really looking forward to the Asia/Pacific art history course at all, until I started. His lectures are always interesting, and his anecdotes are great too."

"I have taken his papers three semesters in a row as because he is such an interesting person to hear speak, and his love for the art is really shown through his lectures."

Jim Ockey

"For his amazing ability to co-ordinate drinks with lecture content, as well as general all round amazing lecturing."

"He's so awesome, funny, motivates interest in the subject and is brilliant at explaining things."

"Very humourous, easy to follow lectures, lists the crucial concepts so easier revision follows, speaks with passion, breaks up theory with relevant anecdotes."

Amy Fletcher - WINNER

"She is amazing, so passionate, so well organised, holds class attention so so well, knows so much about the subjects, poses great political questions every day."

"She is passionate, intelligent, hilarious and genuinely cares for her students. Her class is always the highlight of my day."

"She is just amazing. Fantastic to listen to and very interesting. Motivates us to do well."

Donald Matheson

"Very passionate about his subject, incredibly helpful, understanding, funny and easy to talk to and ask for help."

"Best Lecturer I have had, Really approachable and always well organised."

"At first it's the accent.....then its the nickname that your classmates give him "The Don". But really its because he's the fella that recognises that sitting in lectures can be a rather boring experience (especially if you are hungover!). Plus he emails you with real concern if you have missed an assignment. Go 'The Don!'."

College of Business and Economics Lecturer of the Year

Steve Agnew - WINNER

"Steve is a very passionate lectures, he is always willing to answer as many questions as nessary and delivers his lectures with great flow! You always know what you have to do throughout the semester!"

"He tells off all whisperers and shames them during lectures!"

Herb de Vries

"He always starts the lecture off with some sort of video or song relevant to management; Exciting way to get the class underway."

"His lectures are always stimulating and interactive, definitely the most enjoyable lectures to partake in."

Ekant Veer

"You actually want to go to Ekant's lectures. When you sit in the lecture theatre and hear him speak you are engaged the entire time. He is absolutely hilarious and has his students in stitches the entire time you're in his presence.. "

"He's the most un-PC lecturer I've ever had and gets away with it by being awesome :D"

Steve Hickson

"He dressed up as Santa in my lecture."

"His lessons are invariably delivered with energy, enthusiasm, hilarity. He's superb at making conceptual things readily understandable. He encourages debate and his lessons are never boring."

Russell Wordsworth

"He is enthusiastic, passionate about the subject and always willing to go the extra mile to help you out. Has fantastic communication with students and treats every student with respect."

"Has an amazing passion for the subject which he manages to instill in others."

College of Education Lecturer of the Year

Jenny Clarke

"Provides infomation clearly and goes out of the way to help students to understand giving extra tutorials and a door open policy. Jenny understands students and encourages them to persue their best."

"Because she is amazing!! Does everything for students, helps out wherever she can and had our best interests at heart!"

"We couldn't survive without her in the B.Ed PE programme!"

Glenn Besley - WINNER

"He has been SO supportive this year, managing to keep all students on board despite all the interruptions this year

"Glenn has made my first year an uni as least stressful as possible! He always has a smile on and make coming to his classes and lectures ever so easy! A great man all round who is always more than happy to go out of his way to help and get you any extra help out of his own time! Thanks Glenn!!"

Kim Dolgin

"She was very supportive throughout the year. She was always very enthusiastic about what she was teaching and seemed to show a real passion for her work and a genuine care for her students."

"Very knowledgeable in their area and very enthuisiastic. Helps students to engage with course content and makes you want to study the course information. "

Jack Dzenis

"Insipres the whole class to become better coaches and always shares his life experiences as an elite coach. "

"Always willing to help students out to be better in their own sports too."

"Always makes time for people and always willing to help to make sure that you can pass."

College of Engineering Lecturer of the Year

Philippa Williams - WINNER

"Huge effort towards entertaining lectures, understandable, clear, approachable and will step out of her way to help all students. Very popular!"

"Phillipa always puts smiley faces on her Learn posts and emails. It may not sound like much but it is actually pretty rad :)"

Roger Nokes

"He done a top job with teaching a hard subject, and kept us in the loop anyway possible with his great organisational skills post earthquake. so much so there was a fan page on facebook created for him."

"He's lectures well and never refuses students when they come around for help."

Sid Becker

"Great attitude in class. very enthusiastic about his teaching and was always willing to help out of class."

"He's hilarious, makes the subject interesting and is great at explaining difficult concepts."

Jeanette McLeod

"She's a nice person and was willing to spend extra time outside of class time to help us with revision etc and she made the subject interesting and fun"

"Jeanette made math interesting with great examples and great explanations."

School of Law Lecturer of the Year

Chris Gallivan

"Because he is energetic and interesting, can captivate and enthrall an audience, and keeps the females in the room completely enamoured and hanging on to his every word."

"He makes what could be a boring topic really enjoyable, and is very relateable.He doesn't seem so much a lecturer, but as a mentor speaking to the uninformed, and I really appreciate that."

Neil Boister

"Neil makes everything so clear and easy to understand in a subject that is very confusing."

"Because he was a reason to make it to lectures, his lecture style meant I could actually understand law and get good notes down. Best lecturer by far!"

"Good at lecturing criminal law, makes it exciting and nice to listen to his accent!"

Stephen Todd - WINNER

"Because he is, without a doubt, the coolest guy I know. He is so intelligent, and down to earth and he is just such a boss."

"Every day that is a double-Todd day is a blessing. "

"Todd is clear, coherent, interesting, thorough, and he sings!"

College of Science Lecturer of the Year

Julie Cupples

"Interesting, in touch with the real world, puts things in perspective and actually making a difference in the real world, and inspiring us to doe so."

"She's inspiring! Can hold our attention for the entirety of a two hour lecture. Encourages us to participate and began her first lecture by saying "We're all here because we think the world is mucked up and we want to change it"."

Paul Broady - WINNER

"He went well beyond the call of duty last semester, spending personal time working with students after the earthquake and doing everything he could to ensure all students were successful in such a hectic semester."

"He's approachable, friendly, and is also able to explain the content of what he's teaching really well through
illustrated diagrams! :)"

Chris Oze

"Never a boring lecture, stimulates interest and makes the subject fun."

"Because he is super smart and all the complicated processes he teaches seem to diffuse into your brain. Every lecture is interesting and hes always happy and chipper!"

Jim Briskie

"He's funny as."

"Best powerpoint notes ever! Really loves what he does."

"Explains behaviour stuff quite well!"

"Is an effective teacher."

"Knows a lot about the subject."

"Is nice, kind and considerate."

Travis Horton

"So passionate about teaching and sharing his knowledge."

"Makes students feel comfortable in lectures and speaks logically. Always prepared to help."

Overall Lecturer of the Year

Ekant Veer

"He is awesome."

"He creates an environment where you want to learn and they make it fun to do so"

"I've had him as a lecturer in my first, second and now my final year of uni and he has been hilarious in every class he's taught!"

"I get the best grades in his classes which I can only put down to his great teaching skills. Also we are encouraged to discuss and talk in our classes...I know lots of lecturers say this but I've never felt comfortable to do so in any other class."

"He greatly values our ideas and opinions and isn't afraid to make a joke!"

Special Awards

Due to the nature of this year, we decided to award two new awards this year: Supervisor of the Year, and the GC Award

Supervisor of the Year

Supervisor of the Year goes to the thesis student supervisor that has received the most nominations from their students. As you can imagine, this was a very close race, and students were very passionate about their supervisors and how deserving they are of this recognition. There were literally pages of reasons why each of the nominees should win, ranging from picking students up at the airport at midnight, and securing them scholarships and funding. Each nominee will receive a letter with all the lovely feedback the UCSA received about them.

Sally Gaw
Rob Hughes
Elisabeth Bowman - WINNER
Neil Boister

GC Award

While students may think they know what this means, in this case it stands for "Great Character". Again, we received many nominations - Ed Adelson for sitting in a cold tent to informally chat to his Arts students and all the efforts made post-February; Jan Saville for giving Fine Arts students encouragement and confidence and making the department the great place it is; Kate van Heugten for personally contacting all her students after the earthquakes to check on them and for putting so many resources on Learn and making them feel they learned the full course content in difficult times; and Liz Bond for proving to be absolutely vital to the ability of staff and students to maintain a semblance of educational integrity - always willing to go the extra mile, supporting students and staff.

The winner of this award received many nominations. He is highly regarded among students who firmly believe he has students' best interests at heart, He is seen as fair, logical, and reasonable when dealing with complicated student issues. He is approachable, friendly, and genuinely good guy. He put a lot of effort in to the University exam timetable with the disruptions, and recognises the importance of students here at Canterbury.

Hamish Cochrane

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, thanks to students for the nominations, and to Deal A Day for the sponsorship! And a big thanks to all UC lecturers for their hard work in a difficult year.