News
Hannie van der Honing elected Teacher of the Year (TOTY)
Van der Honing was presented with the award on Tuesday afternoon during the Teacher’s Day wrap-up. In addition to the award for the best teacher, the Excellent Education awards were also presented.
Hannie van der Honing, Cell & Development Biology teacher, was nominated for the second time this year and the first time she won the much-coveted title. According to the jury, her tireless efforts for the students are the main reason she won the award. The jury commended her for ‘having exceptional social skills in spite of her scientific background’, a quote that, naturally, caused a bout of laughter in a room full of academics. The gist was clear, however: students perceive Van de Honing as exceptionally accessible and socially apt.
The jury also commended the other teachers who featured on the shortlist. Debutantes Maartje Bulkens (Consumption & Healthy Lifestyle) and Sjoukje Kingma (Behavioural Ecology), and previous TOTY winners Roel Dijksma (Hydrology & Environmental Hydraulics) and Jessica Duncan (Rural Sociology).
A total of sixteen courses in four separate categories were nominated for the Excellent Education Awards. The awards went to the course History of Food Production (basic courses) coordinated by Guido Sala, Jeroen Vos’ course in Political Ecology of Water (advanced courses), Hanna Schebesta’s Food Law (large courses) and Sustainable Land and Water Management in Spain, coordinated by Jaime Hoogesteger van Dijk (special courses).