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All the winners of the 2012 UWA Excellence in Teaching Awards are nominated for national recognition.

Along with the winners announced in UWAnews last month, the International Centre and Winthrop Professors Cheryl Praeger and Richard Weller have also been nominated by UWA for 2012 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) citations for outstanding contributions to student learning.

The International Centre , led by director Kelly Smith, is nominated for its excellent and international award-winning service for more than 25 years.

It has provided opportunities for both overseas and Australian students to develop international perspectives and deep cultural competence.

This award recognises the efforts of a large number of people over those years.

The Centre's staff recruits, admits, advises and supports thousands of students each year from countries all over the world. In 1988, the equivalent of 4.5 full time staff looked after just 550 students, principally from Singapore and Malaysia. Today there are 20 staff looking after the needs of more than 5,000 students from more than 80 countries.

An early initiative was the WA Universities Foundation Program, developed with the State Government, to address particular needs of international students preparing for university entrance.

Sponsored international students, through AusAID and other organisations, are managed by the staff, who often go out of their way, out of hours, to welcome and support them.

The International Centre also has responsibility for administering the Student Exchange program, which last year sent 357 students out across the world on exchange and looked after incoming students in return.

Mr Smith (on behalf of the International Centre) and his father, Professor Roger Smith, from the Business School, both won awards at Teaching and Learning Month. Their story is on the next page.

Professor Weller , Director of the Australian Urban Design Research Centre, has won multiple awards for his innovative teaching in the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, and for his creative designs for sites around the world, including the US and Europe.

His nomination is for sustained commitment to inspiring and enabling students to engage creatively and critically with complex design problems.

Professor Praeger , from the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, is also a much decorated supervisor and highly cited researcher. She is nominated for developing the gold standard in mathematics research supervision and more than 30 years of nurturing a research community where undergraduate and postgraduate mathematics research flourishes.

Paul Lloyd , from the Business School Undergraduate Student Centre, is nominated for sustained commitment to personalised advising of undergraduate and postgraduate students that has enhanced the overall student experience.

Professor Jane Heyworth is Sub-Dean (Health Sciences) in the faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences and a Professor of Population Health. She has been nominated for inspiring students to be leaders in public health through stimulating curricula and engagement with students throughout their journey.

Assistant Professor Ambelin Kwaymullina , from the Faculty of Law, is nominated for excellence in teaching and innovative curriculum development in the area of Indigenous peoples and the law.

Malcolm Fialho is a senior diversity officer in Equity and Diversity (Human Resources). His nomination is for leadership and innovation in implementing a University-wide Cultural Competence program to engage, sustain and deepen an action-oriented program around cultural diversity, racism and community harmony.

Associate Professor Paul McGurgan , from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and Winthrop Professor Phil Hancock , from the Business School, are both nominated for AAUT Awards for Teaching Excellence. They will be featured in the next issue of UWAnews.

Published in UWA News , 11June 2012