Curtin Malaysia’s Professor Beena Giridharan conferred Curtin Academy Fellowship for commitment to teaching excellence

Miri – 20 December 2019 – Curtin University has inducted Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), Professor Beena Giridharan, as a Curtin Academy Fellow, an honour that recognises exceptional leaders committed to the collaboration and dissemination of teaching excellence at Curtin.

Professor Giridharan was one of two outstanding leaders in learning and teaching selected as 2019 Curtin Fellows, the other being Dr. Janie Brown, Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin’s Perth campus.

At the 2019 Curtin Teaching Excellence Awards ceremony held in conjunction with the university’s annual Festival of Learning in Perth last month, Curtin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Terry congratulated the newly-inducted Curtin Fellows, saying that their honours showcased the innovative learning and teaching work Curtin staff at its campuses in Australia, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore and Mauritius are doing to enhance their students’ experience.

Professor Giridharan received her award from Curtin Malaysia’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive Professor Jim Mienczakowski on behalf of Professor Deborah Terry at a ceremony at Curtin Malaysia earlier this month.

Professor Giridharan has been the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curtin Malaysia since 2016. She is also the Dean of its Faculty of Humanities.

In addition, Professor Giridharan has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) since 2006, and serves as a mentor to aspiring HERDSA Fellows.

In 2006, she won the Carrick National Australian Award for University Teaching and the Curtin Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award.

As a member of Australia’s Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded ‘Learning without Borders’ project, Professor Giridharan has investigated leadership roles in Trans-National Education (TNE) and internationalisation of curriculum.

Professor Giridharan’s research and academic interests cover vocabulary acquisition in ESL; educational administration and leadership; higher education practices; transnational education; work-integrated learning; and ethno-linguistic studies in indigenous communities.

Professor Giridharan receiving her Curtin Academy Fellowship award from Professor Mienczakowski.