News

The OUSA 2013 Supervisor of the Year Awards were held on 26 August, with awards given to seven University of Otago supervisors.

The role of the supervisor is to oversee and support postgraduate students in the writing of their theses. Finalists for the awards were selected based on student nominations. This year there were 14 finalists.

As part of the nomination process, students “are asked to say something about their supervisor. Some of the things that are written are quite inspiring and carry weight with the committee,” Matt Tucker, manager of the Student Support Centre, told Critic.

OUSA President Francisco Hernandez affirmed the importance of the supervisor role, saying that “supervisors are key to the process of researching, guiding, proofing and submitting a student’s thesis. “These award recipients represent the supervisors who stand out and help students not only in their study but assist students in the directions their lives take after studying,” said Hernandez.

Dr Roslyn Kemp was announced as the overall Otago Supervisor of the Year for her exceptional supervision in the fields of Microbiology and Immunology.

Winners were deemed to have demonstrated a consistent and exceptionally high level of commitment to the job. Tucker explained that “these awards are given to those supervisors who have shown themselves to excel in the supervision role, as judged by the esteem of their students.”

As for the criteria for finalists, Tucker noted that “students are a diverse bunch and supervisors are no different. OUSA do not try to define what makes the perfect supervisor. One thing they have in common is that they are admired by the people that they work with.”

Award winners were presented with certificates, book vouchers and gift baskets.

The winner of New Supervisor of the Year was Associate Professor Jacinta Ruru from the Faculty of Law. Special (Posthumous) Commemoration went to Dr. Tamar Murachver from Psychology. Professor Stephen Duffull from the School of Pharmacy received the Health Sciences Supervisor award, and Professor Jörg Frauendiener received the Sciences Supervisor award for Mathematics and Statistics. Associate Professor Holger Regenbrecht from Information Science won the Commerce Supervisor award. Finally, Dr. Chris Rosin was awarded top Humanities Supervisor for his work on sustainability.