Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence – Meet LUMS’ Exceptional Teachers
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The inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Teaching Excellence celebrates exceptional and inspirational teachers at LUMS. Up to five faculty members are recognised for their contributions to significantly enhance the quality of their students’ learning experiences. The awardees include Dr. Zubair Khalid, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE), Ms. Angbeen Mirza, Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), Dr. Ali Raza, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS), Dr. Muhammad Tariq, SBASSE and Dr. Momin Ayub Uppal, SBASSE who will be recognised during the convocation ceremony in July.
This university-wide award sets the standards for teaching excellence at LUMS. The idea of recognising a cohort is important in forming a community of educational leaders at LUMS who have already proven themselves as pedagogical experts and mentors to both students and to their peers. They will get to know each other during the Vice Chancellor’s Retreat, and explore their opportunities to pursue joint projects for improving teaching and learning at LUMS.
Sharing his thoughts Dr. Tariq said, “I feel so humbled. I am being awarded and recognised, but behind me are my students. Teachers may be the front face of this Award, but we are basically celebrating the experience of our students. LUMS has sown the seed of celebrating teaching and learning. These awards will ignite a chain reaction, and in the long run, I am positive we will see an impact on how our society values teaching and classroom learning.” Ms. Mirza adds, “Every year, my students come up with exciting new ways to engage with secondary schools, and it makes me really proud to see that process unfold. I love seeing my students grow and take on the role of teachers and develop extremely innovative teaching activities”.
For Dr. Uppal, “It feels great to be recognised. I feel such a recognition at LUMS was long overdue. LUMS has supported me in my research, in my teaching and not overburdened me by allowing me to teach what I want to teach.” Dr. Uppal nominated his colleague, Dr. Khalid who gives credit to his students, his TAs, his colleagues, Dr. Abubakr Muhammad and Dr. Sabieh Anwar, and the university management for providing him support and an enabling environment where he can exercise academic freedom and try different teaching and learning methodologies. "I must acknowledge the excellent support provided by the university in creating and maintaining an ecosystem to facilitate our teaching and the learning of our students,” he added.
Like his colleagues, Dr. Raza was grateful for the support he has received from students. “I am deeply grateful and honoured to be nominated by Ms. Shafaq, our student extraordinaire. I hope I live up to it in the years to come. I look forward to the retreat and to continued conversations on teaching and learning. Thank you for initiating this conversation.”
The LUMS Learning Institute, in collaboration with the Office of Vice Chancellor, developed a process for adjudicating the award following international best practices. Any instructor at LUMS, irrespective of their rank, could be nominated by faculty, staff, or students. Nominees submitted teaching portfolios that were evaluated according to a set of robust criteria outlined in the Call for Nominations.
Considering the enthusiastic response from the LUMS community, Dr. Suleman Shahid, Director, LUMS Learning Institute (LLI) said, “We weren’t expecting 34 nominations and 13 complete portfolios, which is a huge turnout for our relatively small university. What is really satisfying is the quality of work in each submission.”
The Selection Committee was chaired by Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, and included Dr. Denise Chalmers, Professor Emeritus, The University of Western Australia and from the LUMS University Advisory Board; Dr. Suleman Shahid and Dr. Launa Gauthier from LLI, Dr. Razia Sadik, Syed Ahsan Ali and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education (SOE), Dr. Muhammad Faryad, SBASSE, Dr. Aamna Khalid, MGSHSS and Ms. Zuha Arif Zia from the Student Council.
“My sincere congratulations to the award winners. We are extremely proud of their individual achievements and the impact they continue to have to support and mentor students, peers, and the wider communities they serve. This is a wonderful milestone accomplishment for LUMS that lifts teaching excellence to another level,” said Dr. Ahmad.
Recipients of the Award are being presented a citation of excellence and memento at the Spring convocation, while one representative from the cohort will have the opportunity to speak at the ceremony. They may either choose to receive PKR 750,000 for a collaborative teaching and learning project or individual grants in the amount of PKR 100,000 for a teaching and learning project/professional development.
