Teaching Excellence Awards
Given that both our vision and mission statements focus on students, the USP naturally places a high premium and heavy emphasis on good teaching. The USP recognises its top teachers each year with the USP Teaching Excellence Awards. Further, our faculty members are often also honoured at the university level with NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Awards, and NUS Outstanding Educator Awards.
USP Teaching Excellence Award
USP Teaching Excellence Award
The programme-level USP Teaching Excellence Award honours faculty members who have gone beyond the normal duty of classroom teaching and made significant and lasting contributions to students' intellectual and personal growth. Winners are selected by the Faculty Teaching Excellence Committee, which considers a range of evidence, such as student feedback scores and qualitative comments, class observations, and peer reviews.
The winners of the USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019, which recognises USP teaching done in AY2018/19, are:
Dr Bart Van Wassenhove
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
Joining USP not too long ago, Dr Van Wassenhove (or more affectionately known as “Bart”) has quickly established himself as a talented, eloquent and caring teacher who pays attention to students’ strengths, weaknesses and potential. As shared by one student, “His lessons always leave us with thoughts to ponder about. Although happiness is a very subjective matter, the syllabus that Bart has curated is a very good introduction to approach it”.
Students enjoy his pleasant and engaging teaching style where he constantly engages them to debate on their perspectives and learn from each other. Others are very grateful that Bart “read through every discussion question posted on the forum and summarised them right before class for every lesson”. They also appreciate his receptiveness to students’ feedback, where he immediately acted on to improve his lessons. One student summed up well by sharing that “taking his module on Happiness has made me so happy, and I learned so much, not only about the topic, but also about writing and life!!”. Another student echoed that by highlighting that “the discussion of contemporary self–help culture is so eye–opening! I will keep thinking about what we learnt for a long time”. USP is very grateful that Bart will continue to sow the seeds and philosophy of “happy learning” on campus.
A/P Don Favareau
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
A/P Don Favareau is a very talented, eloquent and passionate teacher who always goes the extra mile to develop students’ potential in academics and their self-improvement. As shared by one student, “Prof Favareau really values what he teaches and our growth as students, always emphasising that it's not about the grades and academic performance but really about the critical thinking and self-improvement”.
Students enjoy his energised and engaging teaching style where he holds their hands tight to improve their writing and critical thinking skills by providing well-structured guidelines and detailed feedback on students’ progress. That said, many students also admire A/P Favareau’s open-mindedness. As one student put it, “he is also very receptive to students’ feedback, readily admits his mistakes and immediately works on them”. Another student summed up well by sharing that “looking back at the work I did when I first started the module, I'm amazed at how far my writing skill has come!”. Indeed, A/P Favareau is an effective, engaging, articulate instructor who makes each lesson provocative, interesting and enjoyable.
Dr Edmund Low
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
Dr Edmund Low – both an engineer and a teacher – goes wholeheartedly to make sure students learn in the most effective and enjoyable way. His expertise in quantitative reasoning (QR) builds a very important foundation for USP students to appreciate and argue critically on contemporary issues such as pollution. As one student commented, “I am very touched by the amount of effort Prof Low invests in classes to make them enjoyable, relatable and informative all at the same time. He is also very approachable and very willing to give help to any of us who may be struggling with the subject”. One student added that “he offers extremely clear explanations on mathematical concepts that would otherwise scare and confuse me”. Students greatly admire the variety of teaching methods he uses and his humour in class to sustain their interest and make them “learn” through well-crafted field trips with “experiments”. Another student commented that they greatly appreciated his effort in painting the bigger picture before the class and then breaking the concepts into smaller ones in order to facilitate their learning at the most comfortable yet effective pace.
Dr Hwang Wei Song
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
Have you ever wondered how we, as human beings, have evolved from our ancestors and also appeared as a unique “species”? What about the origin of “life”? These questions might appear daunting, but Dr Hwang Wei Song has gone the extra miles to provide “interesting content in a calm and steady pace, relatively stress–free atmosphere” and takes students back in time to appreciate these questions with critical minds and “learn” through well-crafted field trips with “hands-on” experiences. Students particularly admire the variety of teaching methods he marshals to sustain interest and make students “enjoyed learning about the ecosystem, nature and us much more”. One student commented that “he is incredibly passionate, patient, caring, empathetic and genuine. Always supportive, always giving kind words, never harsh or condescending”. It is clear from students’ repeated comments that Dr Hwang is very open to feedback and questions, and he makes time to answer students’ doubts and that his classes are very well structured and thought through. He always put his students first, and seeks to engage students instead of simply teach.
A/P Lo Mun Hou
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
A regular winner of Teaching Excellence Awards at the USP and at the university level, A/P Lo Mun Hou continues to impart knowledge to students with great intellectual engagement and a strong desire to lift students’ confidence and performance. As one student put it, “every lecture is a joy to attend. There is always something new to look forward to. The discussions Prof Lo moderates always leave us with something to think about as we leave”. Another student highlighted that “Prof Lo is making us understand the most complex subjects with ease, building his class around students' interventions, and [he] is by far the most inspiring teacher I have had since the start of my college student life”. Another student added that “I am always pleased when I stand corrected. Prof Lo has made me stand corrected numerous times during this module by questioning why I held the assumptions I did and in doing so, made me question the validity of my beliefs”. Another student shared that “I found academic essays boring before but the module has really changed my perception on this, and I have actually started to like reading academic essays!” With his thought-provoking style of delivering his lecture and discussion, Prof Lo has inspired everyone not just in class, but also in other aspects of academic development in students and for the Programme.
Dr Miguel Escobar
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
As a creative scholar in theatre performance, Dr Escobar fuses Wayang Kulit into his class and has won much praise and admiration from students and peers alike. He constantly challenges himself and the Programme to do more and better for our students, to develop their interest in the subject. Students enjoy his lessons very much and commented that “Prof Miguel is very passionate, dedicated, intelligent and creative in his teaching styles. He gives his students plenty of autonomy and freedom to explore the subject matter, guiding while not spoon-feeding.” Students also added that “he encourages students to ask difficult questions”.
Students enjoy his creative teaching style and his patience in introducing concepts clearly, allowing them to connect lessons with their daily lives. As one student put it, “Prof Miguel is very approachable and friendly. It was because of him that I had the courage to really step out of my comfort zone this semester and allowed me do things that I never thought I had the courage to do”. Dr Escobar has truly impacted his students through his teaching at USP.
A/P Peter Vail
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
A very popular figure in USP, A/P Peter Vail is also one of the most talented and distinguished educators. Despite having won numerous teaching awards, A/P Vail continues to challenge himself and the Programme to do more and to do the best for our students’ development. Students enjoy his iterative teaching style, where he introduces concepts masterfully, allowing them to connect lessons with their daily lives. As one student put it, “his incredible student-directed teaching made me care about not just the content, but how my education can contribute to society other than just the grades”. Another student summed up this experience: “students truly appreciate his sense of humour, making the class more light-hearted and encouraging more discussion in the process. The curriculum is well-structured, and allowing students to discuss the readings among themselves improves their understanding”. Another student added that “he cares for students beyond academics as he looks out for students who appear to be stressed”. Over the years, A/P Vail is clearly regarded as one of the most engaging, adventurous and articulate instructors in the USP.
Dr Yew Kong Leong
USP Teaching Excellence Award 2019
A very patient, understanding and caring teacher, Dr Yew provides close guidance and mentorship to his students in and outside of classroom. As shared by one student, “Dr Yew encourages discussion and never put down our answers, even if they're wrong”. Another one added that “he guides our answers towards the right path to make us understand our own thinking process better”. Indeed, Dr Yew delivered his lessons so well that students were intrigued to learn more about the apocalypse in one of his modules. One student commented that “the analytical and writing skills I have learnt can be transferable to other modules”. Dr Yew is very clear in his teaching, extremely knowledgeable and passionate. His patience and willingness to work with every student has impacted many positively.
Students also appreciate Dr Yew’s open-mindedness that has helped shape their learning journey in critical thinking. In fact, Dr Yew always explore the opportunities to introduce new themes for his modules and to innovate his teaching. One student summed up well by “thanking Dr Yew for the amazing WCT experience”. USP is very grateful that Dr Yew will continue to sow the seeds of positive energy and critical learning on campus.
NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award
NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Award
This university-level award "recognises faculty members who have displayed a high level of commitment to their teaching for the year under review." Faculty members must first win the USP Teaching Excellence Award for the same year; they are then nominated to the University Teaching Excellence Committee, which selects the list of winners.
NUS Outstanding Educator Award
USP Teaching Excellence Award
NUS’s highest teaching prize, the Outstanding Educator Award (OEA) is given out annually to honour those “who have shown outstanding and sustained performance, dedication, and commitment to teaching.” The award typically commends faculty members not only for their classroom teaching, but also for educational innovation and leadership beyond the classroom. Winners are selected by the University Teaching Excellence Committee, which examines a variety of evidence, and interviews candidates.