Content
Sport scientist in Lecturer of Year top 10
A University of the Sunshine Coast Senior Lecturer in Sports Biomechanics has been voted among the top 10 lecturers in Australia for 2010 in a contest run by a national university jobs website UniJobs.com.au.
Dr Mark Sayers has been teaching in his field for 24 years while consulting to sports teams such as New Zealand’s All Blacks and Australia’s Wallabies.
“Biomechanics is a complex area that can be off-putting because it draws on maths and physics but I use real-life stories so students can relate to it,” he said.
“I bring my research and practical experience of sports from AFL to rowing into my lectures to prompt those ‘light bulb moments’ for students.”
It’s the fourth annual Lecturer of the Year awards run by UniJobs.com.au and the most popular yet, with more than 72,000 votes cast nationally and more than 4,000 academics nominated.
Each year, Australian university students and staff each get one vote to choose the best lecturer at their university.
Dr Sayers said he was flattered by making the national top 10, and said the award indicated the quality of teaching overall at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
“We’re punching above our weight, considering USC is one of the smallest universities in the national competition, and it’s just my turn for recognition this year,” he said.
Another nine USC academics were recognised on the USC winners’ list for 2010. They are: Mark Holmes, Greg Laing, Peter Baxter, Debra Livingston, Colleen Kneale, Selina Tomasich, Mark Manning, Michael Nagel and Dawn Birch.
– Julie Gatehouse