Vice-Chancellor's Awards

2010 Winners

	Teaching		Research
	Industry Engagement		Community Engagement
	Internationalisation		Sustainability
	Leadership and Service Excellence		Equity and Diversity
	Indigenous Education		Previous Year's winners
	Photos

Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award (Higher Education)

Dr Rowan Bedggood, Senior Lecturer, Marketing and International Studies, Faculty of Business & Enterprise

Recipient of this Award for her teaching excellence in Marketing and International Studies, acknowledging her:

• approach to teaching that influences, motivates and inspires students through active learning
• approaches to assessment and feedback to foster independent learning - through assignment design, discussion boards, ethical reflections, and presentations
• excellent student feedback on her teaching.

Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award (TAFE)

Mrs Serena Seah, Migrant English Teacher, Centre for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, School for Sustainable Futures

Recipient of this Award for her teaching excellence in Migrant English, acknowledging her:

• love of teaching and belief in empowering adult migrant students with the skills and knowledge they need to achieve their goals
• willingness to take other roles in addition to her teaching responsibilities - particularly her roles as AMEP Vocational Counsellor and Coordinator of the Volunteer Tutor program
• convening of the successful Employment Forum, an initiative that brought together Swinburne, the Knox City Council, the Migrant Information Centre and Centrelink.

Vice-Chancellor's Research Award

Professor Suresh Cuganesan, Director, Centre for Enterprise Performance, Faculty of Business and Enterprise

Recipient of this Award for his:

• outstanding success in winning competitive research grants
• high quality research publications
• extensive contribution to the University's externally focused and multi-disciplinary research capability.

Vice-Chancellor's Research Award (Early Career)

Dr Michael James Ventura, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Micro-Photonics, Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences

Recipient of this Award for his:

• development of a novel method that uses synthetic crystalline materials, photonic crystals (PCs), to manipulate light
• research impact, opening new possibilities in a broad range of fields, including development of new solar harvesting devices
• seminal publication on the use of polymer-based PCs to control spontaneous emission
• contribution to Swinburne's growing reputation, locally and internationally, as a leader in micro-photonics research.

Vice-Chancellor's Industry Engagement Award

The School of Business, Swinburne Commercial Team (Mr Ranjit Gajendra, Mr Mark Bishop, Ms Rosemary Pattison and Mr Mark Johnson & Mr Jason McCutcheon)

Recipient of this Award for a major project with National Australia Bank, to develop customised training collaboratively. The team mapped NAB in-house training to nationally-accredited awards and implemented a QA model for the training delivery.

In support of the Government's agenda to up-skill the Australian workforce this project resulted in considerable benefits:

• NAB employees were able to obtain a nationally accredited diploma award from Swinburne
  
  
• School of Business teaching staff were able to upskill on current practices and requirements of the banking sector, and implement cutting edge training
  
  
• all graduates became Swinburne alumni, adding to the University's profile
  
  
• the collaborative training partnership with NAB initiated dialogue with other banks in regard to similar training programs.
  
  

Vice-Chancellor's Community Engagement Award

The Digital Media Design Team (Mr Stephen Huxley, Mr James Marshall, Mr Bill Trikojus, Mr Steven Murdoch, Mr Shaun Britton, Mr Darren Primm and Mr David Austin)

Recipient of this Award for the successful ' www.whizkidgames.com' project which:

• assists children with severe autism to develop independent living skills
  
  
• exemplifies how innovation through design can address serious community health issues, by developing therapeutic interventions that are both effective and delightful.
  
  
• was developed as a capstone project through Swinburne's Professional Learning Model - as an applied design outcome, it exemplifies how expereriential, studio-based learning reflects best-practice education, informs industry by promoting innovation, and benefits the wider community
  
  
• has significantly increased Swinburne's international visibility through the Wizkid Games portal and accompanying tutorials.

Vice-Chancellor's Internationalisation Award

The Timor Leste 'Joining Hands' Study Tour (Ms Jill Slater, Ms Peggy Swindle, Ms Silvana Scibilia, Ms Melinda Eason and Ms Lorraine McBride)

Recipient of this Award for the Swinburne's inaugural Indigenous outbound study tour which has:

• provided an opportunity for Indigenous students to increase their confidence in applying their theoretical knowledge and new skills

• promoted cultural exchange on community development models
  
  
• become the impetus for ongoing development of Swinburne Indigenous student mobility programs.

Vice-Chancellor's Sustainability Award

The Industrial Design-Product Design Engineering Team, Faculty of Design (Mr Ian de Vere, Dr Christine Thong, Ms Kate Bissett-Johnson, Dr Blair Kuys, Mr Mark Strachan and Mr Denis Smitka)

Recipient of this Award for the successful integration of sustainability concepts and practices into the Product Design curriculum, resulting in benefits including:

• positioning Swinburne as a leader in the field of sustainable design education
  
  
• high impact research publications
  
  
• innovative postgraduate student activities
  
  
• embedding sustainability agendas in all areas of Industrial Design and Product Design Engineering curriculum, in line with Swinburne's Sustainability Strategy.

Vice-Chancellor's Leadership and Service Excellence Award

The 'My.Graduation Portlet' Team (Ms Jan McAdam, Ms Emma Bennetto, Ms Kirsty Furneaux, Ms Celia Temby, Ms Elka Mallon, Ms Bronwyn Evans, Mr John Gheybi, Mr Aaron Huang, Mr Martin Hungerford, Mr Stephen Tinsley, Ms Helen Tumalad, Mr Alan Young)

Recipient of this Award for the succesful Online Application to Graduate project which:

• improved customer experience and operational efficiencies, and made a contribution to Swinburne's sustainability agenda
  
  
• facilitated accessibility and ease of use
  
  
• provided good example of cross unit collaboration.

Vice-Chancellor's Equity and Diversity Award

The Employment Pathways Program Team (Ms Helen Kezilas, Ms Johneen Keir, Mr Clive Linley, Mr John Basford and Ms Nellie Raffa Durrant)

Recipient of this Award for the successful design of a Migrant English/Carpentry Employment Pathways program, funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, which:

• addressed the needs of a disengaged and disadvantaged group, providing the students with vocational skills, financial independence, and the opportunity to set an example for other disengaged youth
  
  
• exemplified the benefits of inter-departmental collaboration (between the Centre for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and the Department of Built Environment)

• supported Swinburne's social inclusion agenda.

Vice-Chancellor's Indigenous Education Award

Ms Melinda Eason, Convenor and Teacher, Centre for Lifelong Learning, School for Sustainable Futures

Recipient of this Award for the successful delivery of the Certificate IV in Youth Work, to:

• provide training and education to 'at risk' students, as a joint initiative between Ngwala Willumbong Co-operative Ltd and Swinburne
  
  
• engage young Indigenous people in further education, and provide them with a pathway to employment
  
  
• attract partnerships with other Indigenous organisations..