Ignas Heitkönig won the last Teacher of the Year award. Photo Resource That also goes for the Excellent Education Prizes, says Alejandra Guijo Bermejo (Education and Student Affairs), who is responsible for organising the education awards this year. ‘The award ceremony is planned from 16:00 until 17:30 hours. After that, we celebrate with drinks in the Spot with staff and students.’
Historically, the Teacher of the Year award (TOTY) ceremonies and the Excellent Education Prizes (EEP) were usually organised at the end of the academic year. This year, the voting process was reconsidered, says Guijo Bermejo. ‘Students can vote for their favourite teacher at the end of the current academic year. After the summer break, a student jury will interview the top ten teachers who come out of that voting process. The jury will then select a top five and finally a winner, who will become Teacher of the Year 2024.’
Students can expect an email with information about the voting process shortly, Guijo Bermejo says. ‘Students who are interested in joining the jury can reach out directly to me via education.support@wur.nl. Don’t worry, you will have a summer break: jury duty starts in September.’
Ignas Heitkönig, assistant professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, won the last Teacher of the Year award in 2023. In 2022, Birgit Boogaard, a teacher of Knowledge Technology & Innovation, won the award. Subsequently, she was also elected national teacher of the year.
