Already for the third time now, the Physics Student Council is awarding the “Physics Student Council’s Teaching Prize”. The award ceremony will take place on in the General Physical Colloquium (HS 2).
Since the summer semester 2013, one teacher is awarded the prize for extraordinary commitment in teaching. Among other things, the assessment is based on the course evaluation which is conducted in all courses. The respective past winter semester and current summer semester are considered. The award ceremony traditionally takes place in the framework of the General Physical Colloquium. A guest speaker is always invited for the occasion as well (see below). As mentioned, the course evaluation results serve as primary criteria. However, this is not a purely quantitative point-for-point comparison, but an overall review and weighting which also includes the clear text answers. “First-hand” experiences can also be considered if present.
The Teaching Prize committee (this year consisting of Friedrich Bach, Axel Buß and Simon May) makes a proposal to the Student Council after careful deliberation so that the winner for the respective year can be chosen with a corresponding resolution. At the award ceremony, the laureate is handed the (“traveling”) trophy (to which a badge with the new laureate’s name is added each year). For one year, it is supposed to serve the laureate as inspiration to continue showing exemplary dedication to teaching and incite others to likewise set a good example and perhaps receive the prize themselves in the next year.
As guest speaker for the Teaching Prize with the topic “Inventions and patents from the WWU”, Dr. Katharina Krüger, patent referee and patent scout at the Arbeitsstelle Forschungstransfer (AFO) here at the WWU Münster, was invited this year. In a way, it is almost surprising that a speaker from within the WWU is accompanying the award ceremony with a talk only now for the first time after two years of the Teaching Prize. This deficit must be taken care of – fittingly, this talk is all about our “home university”. With such a large instituation as the WWU, even most of its members cannot possibly keep track of all facets of their own workplace or school. Accordingly, quite some people might be amazed to find out what diverse ideas have had their origins here. In her talk “Inventions and patents from the WWU”, Dr. Krüger will provide some insight into different innovations directly from the think tank WWU. We, too, are excited!