Thijs Porck wins LUS Teaching Prize 2019
Lecturer in Old and Middle English Thijs Porck was awarded the annual Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) Teaching Prize at the opening of the academic year. The jury praised his endless supply of innovative teaching ideas.
The LUS Teaching Prize is an annual prize for a lecturer who has made an outstanding achievement in the area of teaching. Students can nominate a lecturer for the prize each year. The LUS holds interviews with and attends lectures by the nominees before selecting a winner.
‘Thijs Porck has an almost unending supply of ideas for teaching,’ said LUS chair Nienke Wit at the presentation of the prize during the opening of the academic year. ‘He devotes an incredible amount of time to developing unique teaching materials such as blogs and films. He doesn’t shy away from creating a dance to teach his students complex grammar, and uses his own cartoons in his lectures.’
Listen to the three nominees
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Watch the video on the original website or‘I felt honoured and very surprised to hear that I had been nominated because I made the shortlist two years ago as well,’ said Porck in a previous interview. ‘Apparently, my students appreciate how I do my utmost to make my classes challenging and innovative. We visit exhibitions about Medieval relics or Tolkien, for instance, and last year I took my students on a tour of London and Oxford. My field is obviously super cool – obviously. I hope that my passion for it is infectious.’
The winner of the LUS Teaching Prize receives 25,000 euros to spend on teaching and is made a member of the Teachers’ Academy. Alongside Porck, Francesco Ragazzi and David Zetland made it to the top three this year. Porck emerged as the winner after the interviews.
Interviews with the three nominees
We spoke to the three nominees for the LUS Teaching Prize before the opening of the academic year. Read the full interviews with winner Thijs Porck and nominees Francesco Ragazzi and David Zetland.