Three outstanding lecturers from The UWI St Augustine campus were honoured on September 22 at the annual UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards.
Dr Suzanne Burke from the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Dr Amy Deacon of the Faculty of Science and Technology, and Dr Bephyer Parey of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) were all recognised for their excellence as educators at the event held at the campus’ Learning Resource Centre.
This year’s theme was “Ready, Set, Click: Negotiating Quality in the Blended/Online Teaching and Learning Environment”, emphasising the ability of the campus to successfully engage in blended/online teaching and learning. The featured speaker was Dr Camille Dickson-Deane, Senior Lecturer of Higher Education Learning Design at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia.
Dr Parey, a post-doctoral fellow at SALISES, has been teaching at The UWI since 2008 and currently lectures on research design and statistical analysis. Dr Amy Deacon is a Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences. Her research centres on aquatic biodiversity, invasive species, and Trinidad’s most famous fish, the guppy. Dr Burke is the Head of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies. Her research focuses on Caribbean industries in culture, creative entrepreneurship, cultural policy formulation, and cultural practice-based pedagogies.
An initiative of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CELT), the Premium Teaching Awards “is part of the university’s commitment to provide a dynamic, student-centred learning environment whereby student learning is pursued as a primary goal of the academy, and excellence in teaching is recognised and rewarded,” a statement from the campus explained.
Campus Principal Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine congratulated all the nominees and extended her gratitude to the team at CELT for their work during the campus closure.
“As a way of addressing teaching and learning continuity at The UWI St Augustine campus, CETL designed and implemented a number of workshops and capacity-building activities to support teaching and learning in the Emergency Remote Teaching setting. These activities served to foster a much-needed sense of readiness among faculty and students,” Professor Antoine said.
Mr Marcos Rehberg, Vice President - Finance, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Limited, noted that the Guardian Group’s partnership with The UWI started in 2000, and the relationship is deeply rooted in developing and promoting academic excellence, with leadership and innovation in mind.
“We can agree that quality is a value that should not be compromised, as we provide a promise to deliver, whether it be education or life insurance. Managing these expectations, while navigating through a blended environment requires a paradigm shift and agility in order to remain relevant,” he pointed out.
Dr LeRoy Hill, CETL Director, said the theme of the awards “was an invitation to be ready, to be resilient – resilient in the face of uncertainty or adversity”.
The UWI/Guardian Group Premium Teaching Awards 2022 ceremony can be viewed on The UWI St Augustine Campus’ YouTube Channel.
