An academic workshop for FASS graduate students titled “Starting Out as a (Successful) University Teacher” was organised as part of the Teaching Assistants Programme (TAP) last September 2012 . During the session, Prof Hay highlighted the attributes of a successful university teacher, and also shared with participants useful strategies they could use to make a good start in their teaching, as well as identify barriers which they might encounter as fledgling educators. Prof Hay is currently a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Geography at Flinders University, South Australia and since 2009, the Australian Teaching and Learning Council’s (ALTC) Discipline Scholar for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. He has contributed extensively to projects which enhance the scholarship of higher education teaching and learning in Australia, and has received several awards for his commitment to promoting scholarly and creative teaching in his discipline, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year in 2006 and the 2010 inaugural Association of American Geographers’ E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Award.

Prof Shirlena Huang, Vice Dean of FASS Graduate Studies (4th from left), seen here with Prof Hay (centre) with her graduate students.