Associate Professor Ben Kennedy has won the prestigious University of Canterbury Teaching Medal for 2019.
Associate Professor Kennedy is a valued teaching leader on campus, who has also made a significant impact internationally. Over the last ten years, he has developed an outstanding track record of teaching excellence and of effective and wide-ranging teaching leadership at the University and beyond. He has previously been recognised with a UC Teaching Award and an Ako Aotearoa National Sustained Tertiary Teaching Excellence award for sustained excellence.
Ben is a charismatic teacher, who combines his passion and enthusiasm for his subject with energy and commitment. He inspires the best possible outcomes for students through reflective teaching that is student centred, experiential, highly structured, and constantly updated through collaboration with peers. He is an innovative teacher who uses a range of technologies to support his teaching, from developing virtual field trips to practical experiments using cannons and lava flows on campus. He is also a prolific research scientist and has supervised a large number of postgraduate students.
The UC Teaching Medal is awarded in recognition of an outstanding and sustained contribution to teaching at UC. It is the University’s highest award for teaching excellence and is only awarded from time to time. It will be formally presented to Associate Professor Kennedy at a degree ceremony in December.
