Five Somervillians, Professor Hilary Greaves, Dr Charlotte Potts, Dr Rachel Exley, Dr Jane Dyson and Dr Simone Finkmann were presented with University Teaching Awards at a ceremony at Rhodes house on the evening of 23 November.
The awards, first launched by the University in 2007 and coordinated by the Oxford Learning Institute, are given either to individuals or to teams as a public acknowledgement of excellence in teaching and learning. University of Oxford Vice Chancellor, Andrew Hamilton, presented the awards at the ceremony.
Somerville’s Fellow and associate professor of Philosophy, Professor Hilary Greaves, was recognised for her exemplary contribution to the teaching of Philosophy by creating a supportive research community among students, using an innovative structure modelled on scientific research groups. She received a Teaching Excellence Award. Professor Greaves’ teaching methods and supporting materials are consistently commended by students for being enthusiastic, down-to-earth, lucid, and inspiring.
University of Oxford Teaching Awards by IW Photographic
Second to win a Teaching Excellence award was Dr Charlotte Potts, Somerville’s Sybille Haynes associate professor of Etruscan and Early Italic Archaeology and Art; Katherine and Leonard Woolley Fellow in Classical Archaeology and Tutor in Classical Archaeology. Dr Potts is being recognized for her success in developing an innovative FHS paper on Etruscan art which employs a part of the Ashmolean’s collection of artefacts which has never previously been used in teaching. This popular course has provided students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with items made by ancient peoples. Dr Potts’s successful partnership with the Ashmolean has provided inspiration to other academic staff looking to explore similar possibilities.
The Early Career Excellent Teacher Award was given to Microbiology tutor, Dr Rachel Exley. She is being recognised for being a dedicated and innovative teacher who took responsibility for, and delivered with great success, the wide-ranging overhaul and modernization of Bacteriology practical classes. The changes that she introduced and the teaching that she provides are consistently rated highly and reported as inspirational by the students. Her contributions in these areas are complemented by the outstanding support she provides to demonstrators, for whom she delivers a bespoke training programme to increase their confidence in engaging and assisting the students.
University of Oxford Teaching Awards by IW Photographic
Dr Jane Dyson, a Junior Research Fellow is Social Geography, is one of a growing number of academics who are making learning resources available to schools through the TES Connect repository. She won an OxTALENT outreach award for a short documentary film, Lifelines, which engages school teachers and the public at large in her research on educational disappointment, unemployment and social activism.
Assistant Dean, Dr Simone Finkmann, was awarded the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) Award for Best Support staff. This award is a student-led teaching award to celebrate an individual who is not involved in teaching directly, but whose contribution and support acts as a motivation and inspiration towards students.