In this blog Callum Paterson, Academic Engagement & Policy Coordinator at the Students’ Association, turns the spotlight to the winners of the Students’ Association’s 2024 Teaching Awards for staff offering exceptional levels of support to students. This post belongs to the Hot Topic: EUSA Teaching Awards 2024↗️.
It goes without saying that staff across each of our award categories offer a huge amount of support – both academic and personal – to students all throughout the year. While listening in on our student panels who select the winners of the Teaching Awards, they are always drawn to nominees who have gone above and beyond in the support they have given to their students. I think this is a clear indicator of just how much they appreciate this part of their relationship with staff. Each year, we have several categories celebrating these staff – from supervisors and cohort leads to the many professional services staff who keep things ticking along smoothly.
Student Tutor of the Year
Student tutors sometimes fly under the radar when we think about teaching, but they play a huge and often formative part in students’ education. From creating engaging learning spaces, supplementing lecture content, and using their own experience as students to provide insight and support, our Student Tutor of the Year award recognises the thousands of students who teach alongside their own studies.
This year, our Student Tutor of the Year is Rosie Wu. Based in the Edinburgh College of Art, Rosie’s teaching focuses on children’s picture books. Many of her students were quite daunted by the topic, as it was new to them, but as soon as they met Rosie their worries quickly subsided. Using her own extensive knowledge and her passion for teaching, she took time with her students to help them explore their own feelings and ideas, empowering them to reach their own conclusions rather than telling them what she thought they should do. Rosie also looked after her students when they were facing personal challenges, from peer pressure to struggling with their mental health, showing patience and building her students’ confidence. One student told us that Rosie was the most dedicated teacher they have had the privilege of learning from.
Our runners up in this category were: Marifatul Amalia, who was nominated for her commitment to ensuring her students’ understanding was solid and for bringing an infectious energy, making their days “a whole lot brighter”; and Estee Lu, nominated for providing thoroughly thought-out teaching and materials from supplementary lecture slides to exam notes, demonstrating her commitment to her students’ success.
Support Staff of the Year
This category recognises professional services staff such as Student Advisers, Wellbeing Advisers, the Disability and Learning Support Service and more. Students submitted nominations for staff who provided support during their student journey, helped things run smoothly (often in the background), and signposted them to sources of support when they needed it.
Our Support Staff of this year is Aletta Ritchie. Aletta works in the Disability and Learning Support Service and was nominated for the support she offered to one of her students who was facing a difficult start to their university experience, in navigating this new chapter alongside their own personal challenges. Aletta not only fulfilled her role as a notetaker and support assistant but always goes above and beyond to encourage her students to develop their independence and confidence. The support that Aletta offered has been lifechanging and made the student who nominated her feel genuinely seen beyond their disability.
The runners up in this category were: Ray Finlayson, a Student Adviser in the School of Informatics, who was nominated for his openness and unwavering commitment to his students when they faced challenging times; and Rosa Ross, a Student Adviser based in the Business School, who was commended for her responsiveness, empathy and respect.
Cohort Lead of the Year
One of two new awards we introduced this year, Cohort Lead of the Year recognises not just formal Cohort Leads but also the staff members who are taking on similar roles in their Schools. With the new student support model being rolled out across the entire university this year, we wanted to make sure we took time to recognise the efforts of these staff, who have supported students’ development, demonstrated commitment to their welfare and wellbeing, and built a sense of community within their cohort. We at the Students’ Association are so grateful to the staff who have jumped head-first into the Cohort Lead roles and who are demonstrating what these roles can become in the future.
The winner of our first Cohort Lead of the Year award is Claire Haggett. Claire is the Cohort Lead for Years 3 and 4 of Sustainable Development and was praised by her students for quickly picking up every issue and making sure they were resolved. Claire has had a massive impact on her students, from celebrating their achievements to lifting them up when they were going through rough academic patches. She made the Sustainable Development degree feel like a genuine community through her commitment and wide range of events. She has organised regular lunches for students of all years of the programme, alongside inviting alumni to offer their perspectives, and engaging with the Careers Service to help her students who are coming towards the end of their degrees, creating smoother transitions.
Our runners up in this category were: Darrick Evensen, Cohort Lead for Global Environment, Politics and Society, who created a tight-knit community through cohort activities around Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland; and Justine Maclean, Cohort Lead for Physical Education, who showed a steadfast commitment to one of her disabled students and ensuring they could complete their placement after initially finding it to be inaccessible to them.
Supervisor of the Year
From encouraging students to pursue their own interests, to supporting them through the actual researching and writing of dissertations and theses, supervisors are often the people students have some of the closest relationships with during their time as a student, and the nominations we received this year made this very clear.
Our 2024 Supervisor of the Year is Aliandra Barlete. Based in Moray House, Aliandra was nominated for her consistent academic and emotional support throughout the dissertation process, and her genuine interest in her student’s personal and professional development. Aliandra has encouraged her students to explore topics they were genuinely interested in and helped them find research materials if they were not readily available on those topics. She also hosted regular meetings and workshops on how to write each stage of a dissertation, bringing in former supervisees to lend their insights, even regularly bringing her cat, Guri, to help de-stress everyone. Aliandra’s words of support during rough patches always made her students feel like they could finish their dissertation, even when they doubted themselves.
Runners up in this category were: Glen Cousquer, based in the Vet School, who was nominated for the exceptional level of support and flexibility he offered his students during challenging times with one saying that Glen’s encouragement allowed them to see their dissertation not as a bland box-ticking exercise but their unique contribution to their field; and Leah Macaden, based in the School of Health in Social Sciences, who’s knowledge, great enthusiasm and strong sense of responsibility, gave her students confidence in themselves and their academic abilities.
A huge congratulations to Rosie, Aletta, Claire, and Aliandra for your Teaching Award wins. I hope every single nominee in these four categories is proud of their nomination, because these just scratch the surface of the immeasurable impact you have on students – both individually and as cohorts – during their time here.
In my next blog in this series, I’ll be sharing the stories of our three Teachers of the Year as well as our award for Outstanding Course.
Callum Paterson
Callum Paterson is the Academic Engagement & Policy Coordinator within the Student Voice team at the Students’ Association. Alongside coordinating the Teaching Awards, he works with Programme and School Representatives as well as the Vice President Education, supporting and empowering them to make their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them.
