2022 UGC Teaching Award commends teaching excellence
The University Grants Committee (UGC) today (September 26) held the 2022 UGC Teaching Award presentation ceremony to honour academics of the UGC-funded universities for their outstanding teaching performance and achievements, as well as their leadership and scholarly contributions to teaching and learning within and outside their campuses.
Through a rigorous process, the Award Selection Panel selected the following three recipients from among 20 outstanding nominees for the Award:
General Faculty Members
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Professor Anthony So Man-cho, Dean of Graduate School and Professor, Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Early Career Faculty Members
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Dr Tulio Maximo, Assistant Professor, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)
Collaborative Teams
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English Across the Curriculum Team led by Dr Julia Chen (Director, Educational Development Centre, PolyU), with Dr Grace Lim (Teaching Fellow, English Language Centre, PolyU), Ms Christy Chan (Senior Tutor, Chan Feng Men-ling Chan Shuk-lin Language Centre, City University of Hong Kong), Ms Vicky Man (Senior Lecturer, Language Centre, Hong Kong Baptist University) and Dr Elza Tsang (Senior Lecturer, Centre for Language Education, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) as collaborative team members.
The citations of the awardees are at Annex.
The Chairman of the UGC, Mr Carlson Tong, congratulated the awardees, finalists and nominees on their accomplishments. He also thanked the UGC-funded universities for their support for the UGC Teaching Award. He said, "The awardees present distinctive examples of excellence within the UGC-funded sector that embody a student-centric teaching philosophy. The interdisciplinary approach by Professor Anthony So Man-cho in fusing language and humanities with engineering has encouraged students to move beyond their comfort zones and think outside of the box. Dr Tulio Maximo's innovative pedagogies for inclusive design has stimulated curiosity and cultivated a stronger sense of social responsibilities among his students. The English Across the Curriculum Team has made outstanding use of technology to provide timely and relevant support for academic literacy development across universities."
"Each recipient will be awarded $750,000, up from $500,000 in previous years, to better realise their visions in promoting teaching and learning excellence," he added.
In her congratulatory message, the Chair of the 2022 UGC Teaching Award Selection Panel, Professor Marilee Bresciani Ludvik, remarked, "We were impressed by the nominees' dedication and passion for teaching excellence. Their devotion to teaching and going the extra mile for their students in order to foster their learning, growth and to realise their potentials is admirable. Their commitment to enriching the learning experiences of their students and to inspire both their students and their colleagues in their life journey is worthy of commendation. It is my greatest pleasure to congratulate the awardees as well as their respective universities on the outstanding achievements and remarkable contributions they have made in demonstrating teaching excellence and enhancing the quality of learning experiences of students in the UGC sector."
The presentation ceremony was well attended by UGC Members, representatives of the UGC-funded universities including their Council chairmen and presidents or vice-chancellors, as well as nominees for the Award.
The UGC has also produced a series of short video clips to introduce the recipients of the 2022 UGC Teaching Award. Through these clips, the recipients shared their approach to teaching and learning for promoting best practices. The clips, together with the selection criteria and the composition of the Selection Panel, as well as the list of other finalists, are available on the UGC's website at www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/activity/ugc_teaching_award/result.html.
Ends/Monday 26 September, 2022
Annex
2022 UGC Teaching Award Citations
Professor Anthony So Man-cho, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professor So has proven himself to be a passionate, innovative and caring educator since joining The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2007. With a firm belief in every student's unique potential, Professor So is deeply committed to students' personal growth and youth development. He has been spearheading efforts in curriculum enhancement and building a collaborative learning community among teachers to address students' needs throughout their journeys as young adults.
As a strong proponent of interdisciplinary learning, Professor So is keen on establishing the connection between engineering and the humanities in his teaching. He has been delivering lectures on ethical dilemmas in artificial intelligence in a college-wide general education course since 2019. He has also pioneered a writing component in an undergraduate course for engineering students. Being a dedicated and greatly admired mentor, Professor So's patient guidance has inspired numerous students to unlock their potential. His endeavours to make a positive impact beyond his institution by promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education to secondary school students has helped nurture talents for innovation and technology development of our society. Professor So's continuous pursuit of excellence in learner-centred teaching has earned him substantial recognition and multiple accolades from the Faculty and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Dr Tulio Maximo, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr Maximo, who was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in his childhood, was inspired by his learning experience to become the type of teacher that he had never come across and to promote the kind of learning experiences that he had dreamed of. During his four years of teaching, armed with a strong will to help others, Dr Maximo has made significant contributions and achieved many of his personal aspirations. To promote diversity, equity and inclusion, he has integrated more inclusive design concepts into the design programme curriculum and created a new subject known as "Design Meets Disabilities". Through active collaborations with different non-government organisations, Dr Maximo has engaged his students in community projects and applied an empathic approach to guide them to develop a personal understanding of their users' needs, thereby designing more suitable products for those with disabilities.
In this student-centred learning environment, his students feel comfortable and supported to develop, practise and demonstrate their design and thinking abilities. Dr Maximo's teaching has made a positive and long-term impact on his students' learning and personal development. His dedication and commitment to creating an inclusive curriculum and learning experience are exceptional qualities that deserve support and recognitions.
English Across the Curriculum Team, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)
The English Across the Curriculum Team is led by Dr Julia Chen from PolyU with Dr Grace Lim (PolyU), Ms Christy Chan (City University of Hong Kong), Ms Vicky Man (Hong Kong Baptist University), and Dr Elza Tsang (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) as members. Over the past eight years, the Team has generated multiple innovative and effective strategies for developing students' academic literacy, including the deployment of multi-modal English Across the Curriculum resources and the mobile app "Capstone Ninja". The Team has successfully built a culture conducive to student-centred and interdisciplinary collaboration, thereby benefitting English teachers, discipline teachers, and their students in UGC-funded universities, and making a significant positive impact on students' English ability and learning experiences, as well as participating teachers' teaching capacity and pedagogical approaches across universities.
The Team exemplifies teaching excellence by addressing complex educational challenges with a clear vision and determination to improve students' language learning. Their proactive transformation of their vision into a purposeful mission offers a strategy for student-centred teaching enhancement. The Team shows a strong commitment to continuous professional development, and is actively engaged in disseminating their work and results through the scholarship of teaching and learning.
