BDI Physiology lecturer gains prestigious national teaching award
Dr Julia Choate and Dr Adam Chapman, Director at the Department of Education
and Training
Senior Lecturer in Physiology, Dr Julia Choate, has been recognised by a Federal Government award for teaching excellence.
Dr Choate was presented with a 2017 Australian Award for University Teaching, a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, at a ceremony in Melbourne yesterday.
The Department of Education and Training citations are granted to those who have made a significant contribution to student education over a sustained period. Dr Choate’s award was for developing, implementing and evaluating student-centred active learning strategies that engage biomedical, medical, nutrition and science undergraduates and enhance their learning of Physiology.
Dr Choate, who is the Department of Physiology’s Director of Undergraduate Education, has taught physiology at Monash for 17 years.
“I was so excited when I found out that I had received this prestigious teaching award,” Dr Choate said.
“This would not have been possible without the support of my academic colleagues from the Monash Education Academy, the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the School of Biomedical Sciences.”
Dr Choate said she would use the $10,000 prize that came with the award to support her research into biomedical student career development and wellbeing.
Her contribution to teaching has been acknowledged in a number of prizes. This year, she led a team of biomedical and careers staff that was awarded a Monash Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences (MNHS) Dean’s Teaching Excellence (Innovation) Award for a biomedical professional development program. In 2016 she received a Monash MNHS Dean’s Teaching Excellence (Quality) Award, a Monash Vice Chancellor’s award for Teaching Excellence, and a Monash Education Academy Fellowship for her development and evaluation of interactive teaching strategies enhancing student engagement. In 2015 she received a Michael Robert’s Excellence in Physiology Education Award from the Australian Physiological Society.
The Department of Education and Training citation is one of five Australian Awards for University Teaching that recognise quality teaching practices and outstanding contributions to student learning. It acknowledges recipients, with the support of their institutions, who further contribute to systemic change in learning and teaching through ongoing knowledge sharing and dissemination.