Teachers of the year at SDU BSS, 2023

By Marlene Jørgensen, marl@sam.sdu.dk, 11/9/2023

Extremely committed, really talented teacher, always inspiring and motivating teaching methods and a great interest in the students. These are some of the highlights from students’ nominations of the three teachers who this year receive one of the teaching awards at the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

Again this year, three awards are presented – a main award and two special awards: one for developing innovative teaching methods and one for strengthening the interaction with practice.

The main award of Teacher of the Year goes to Jaume Castan Pinos, while Malene Damsted and Shriram Venkatraman receive the two special awards.

Here are the reasons why this year’s award recipients have been nominated.

Teacher of the Year at the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences

Jaume Castan Pinos, Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Management, and Programme Manager for European Studies in Sønderborg, receives the main award as the Faculty’s Teacher of the Year in 2023.

Through his teaching, he manages to create engagement with even the ‘driest’ topics, and his great passion for teaching and his knowledge of the subject clearly rub off on the students.

Jaume Castan Pinos takes a hands-on and active approach to learning, utilising motivating and interactive teaching methods such as games, simulations, group work, real-life cases and much more to spark students’ curiosity and support their critical thinking.

Watch the film where Jaume Castan Pinos is surprised with the award

One nomination from a student states, among other things:

- Jaume has been the best teacher I have had on both my bachelor’s and master’s programmes here at SDU. His teaching is the perfect blend of lectures, group work, discussions, and activities. As well as that, you can really feel his interest in the subject in all his lectures – you can’t help but be interested in a topic when he is talking about it.

And it is not only the students that the Teacher of the Year has inspired over the years, but also his colleagues, who have adopted several of the learning formats developed by Jaume Castan Pinos.

Finally, it should also be mentioned that this is far from the first time Jaume Castan Pinos has received an award for his teaching. In both 2014 and 2019, he was named the best teacher in Sønderborg, and in 2013 he was given the award for the best pedagogical project in connection with his lecture training programme.

And, last but not least, he is also the recipient of this year’s Teaching Prize at SDU.

The award for innovative teaching methods

Malene Damsted, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics and Programme Manager for the BSc and MSc in Economics and Business Administration in Esbjerg, receives this year’s Special Award for the development of innovative teaching methods.

Malene Damsted takes a great interest in her students and how they can acquire knowledge in subjects that many students find technically difficult.

She therefore incorporates various technical solutions into the courses and always focuses on getting students to work with the material: for example, in the form of the so-called ‘flipped classroom’, in which activities and problem-solving in the classroom help to strengthen student engagement and learning.

Watch the film where Malene Damsted is surprised with the award

The students’ nominations include statements such as:

- Really talented teacher, who is good at making everything understandable. I also had her for Finance last semester, where she was also a really good teacher.

- Her way of teaching makes even the most boring subject matter interesting.

Finally, many students also emphasise the shared document of notes prepared by Malene Damsted. The notes are used extensively by students and help to enhance their learning.

The award for involvement of practice and collaboration

Shriram Venkatraman, Assistant Professor at the Department of Business & Management and lecturer in Market and Management Anthropology (MMA) in Odense, receives this year’s Special Award for the involvement of practice and collaboration.

Shriram Venkatraman is very committed to incorporating practice and society into his teaching, using many real-life examples, such as cases, guest lecturers and practical problems, that students have to work with and solve, which they find enormously engaging.

Watch the film where Shriram Venkatraman is surprised with the award

As one student draws attention to in their nomination:

- Amazing teaching skills, he uses very engaging ways of keeping students focused, reiterates terms and definitions making sure they are understood, one of the very few to use many real-life examples and cases in theoretical discussions.

Another point of note is that Shriram Venkatraman has made contact with members of the business community who are open to the use of anthropological methods and theory for skills development – contacts whom he also invites to participate in the teaching.

Finally, Shriram Venkatraman is good at keeping his students focused and ensuring they understand the theoretical foundation of the course by linking theory and practice, and he engages students through activities such as exercises, study groups, student presentations and group discussions, all of which create an active learning environment.

The top photo was taken when Jaume Castan Pinos received the award. From left: Head of Studies Melike Wulfgramm, Associate Professor Jaume Castan Pinos and Vice-Dean for Education Jan Guldager Jørgensen.