Top award for lecturer with the human touch

university-of-waikato

Fri Feb 23 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Top award for lecturer with the human touch

Friday, 23 February 2007, 2:20 pm
Press Release: University of Waikato

MEDIA RELEASE

23 February 2007

Dr Cheryl Cockburn-Wootten is passionate about teaching, and it’s won her the 2006 University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor’s Medal for Staff Excellence. The medal is the supreme award bestowed on one of the six annual recipients of staff awards; in those awards, Dr Cockburn-Wootten was recognised for her teaching excellence.

Dr Cockburn-Wootten is a senior lecturer in the Management Communication Department at the University of Waikato Management School where she has been teaching since 1998. She says teaching is all about making things accessible.

“People have different learning styles, and you need to develop different ways of teaching to suit that,” she says. “I always start with the individual and link the topic to their life and experience, and then draw out the theory.”

She’s been described by her students as “a teacher who goes out of her way to help students” and as “easy-going, fun and jovial” with “a knack of making students comfortable in the lectures and out of class”.

Dr Cockburn-Wootten is also highly valued by colleagues and is a mentor in the University-wide mentoring programme which supports and helps develop new teachers. She is an advocate of critical action learning and is constantly striving to improve the quality and effectiveness of her teaching.

“In my teaching career, I’ve sought to widen opportunities for people,” says Dr Cockburn-Wootten. “Going to university was a real turning point for me, and I want to make sure it’s the same for my students too.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Doug Sutton, who chairs the selection committee, says the award celebrates the University’s commitment to excellence. “It was difficult to choose a winner as all the nominations were of very high calibre. The award to Cheryl is acknowledgement of the high value the University places on quality of teaching.”

ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from University of Waikato on InfoPages.