An engineered win at the Albany Lecturer of the Year awards

Friday, November 13, 2015

An engineered win at the Albany Lecturer of the Year awards

For the fourth year in a row, the Albany Lecturer of the Year award has gone to a College of Sciences academic. Dr Fakhrul Alam from the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology took out the top gong, beating out 176 other nominees. Dr Alam was also awarded an Advocacy Accolade – The World’s Fastest Engineer.

Dr Alam says the win was a huge surprise. “I don’t mollycoddle the students, I am tough. These nominations show the students do care about humour, and they care about someone who wants the best for them. It doesn’t matter if you are tough, because I am and I still won! When you are in the classroom at eight am and you have the whole class there, you know you are doing something right.”

Event organiser and Albany Students Association Advocacy Coordinator Penny Lyall says this year there was a marvellous response for nominations, with votes coming from Manawatū and distance students who are being taught by Albany-based lecturers, under the mixed mode delivery.

“It’s critical we acknowledge the efforts and commitment of the teaching staff, and give students the opportunity to say thank you.”

Ms Lyall says there was a common theme in the nominations for Dr Alam. “From the volume of the nominations and the comments, it is clear he just has a ball teaching the students. He loves it and in turn they love it. He’s engaged and impassioned, and so are they, so that really stood out for me.”

Some of the comments sent in by students nominating Dr Alam included: “Awesome lecturer, the guy was born to teach”, “In Fakhrul we trust!”, “He’s brutal, but in a good way” and “The Man! Always has full turnout and is always a star”.

Special mention also went to Mary Dawkins, the Programme Support Administrator at the School of Economics and Finance, who was awarded the ASA Appreciation Award, which is given to an outstanding general member of staff for their contribution during the year.

The Lecturer of the Year award is organised by the Albany Students’ Association (ASA) and is based on nominations from students across the year. With a whopping 177 nominations this year, it’s the largest number in the events 11 year history.

2015 Albany Lecturer of the Year
Dr Fakhrul Alam

College Winners
Dr Fakhrul Alam – College of Sciences
Simon Cope – Massey Business School
Dr Warwick Tie – College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Associate Professor Ksenija Napan – College of Health

The inclusion of the Advocacy Accolades also recognises additional effort by lecturers that has been noted on campus.

Advocacy Accolades
Dr Brendan Moyle – The Flying Moa Award
Associate Professor Mark Henrickson – The Tane Mahuta Award
Associate Professor Helen Southwood – The Pavolva Award
Dr Gabriele Schmidt-Adam – The Pohutukawa Award
Professor Christoph Schumacher – The Bruce McLaren Award
Mark Werman – The Tom Scott Award
Dr Evelyn Sattlegger – The Vogel’s Award
Dr Alona Ben-Tal – The Alexander Aitken Award
Dr Chris Galloway – The Bridge Award
Dr Rothman Kam – The Hot Pie Award
Dr Fakhrul Alam – The World’s Fastest Engineer
Professor Anne de Bruin – The Kowhai Award
Associate Professor Sasha Molchanov – The Beehive Award

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