Dr Wendy Muir Wins a Prestigious Teaching Award

by Mingan Choct

Dr Wendy Muir, one of my longest serving academic staff members at the PRF, has won the highly competitive, 2024 Faculty of Science Learning & Teaching Award for Student Experience Excellence. This is an award for staff who have excelled in driving a transformational experience for our students. Congratulations, Wendy!

Dr Wendy Muir co-ordinates and delivers highly valued learning experiences throughout her teaching of Animal Health and Disease, the culminative 3^rd year Unit (Subject) in the Animal Health, Disease & Welfare Major in BSc/BAS (Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (AVBS)) at The University of Sydney.  The unit focusses on the application of on-farm management practices to secure the health and well-being of production animals including sheep, cattle and poultry. 

Wendy is a highly dedicated and passionate educator who provides students key learning opportunities to develop skills in animal handling and health-based management as well as interaction with industry to gain real-world experience.  Wendy’s curriculum design has facilitated outstanding student experiences in 1) Developing student skills in animal health; and 2) Student engagement with the animal health industry. This ensures that the students are career-ready when they graduate. Student feedback on their experiences include

“Wendy is a great communicator and coordinator and her passion for student’s education really shone through” “The practicals were amazing! Thank you for using them to catch us up on the skills we missed in the past years while also teaching us new skills.”  “The hands-on experience was without a doubt one of our most useful experiences at uni.”  “They changed our perspective from being imposters to deserving to be in this course” and “were the first hands on things I’ve got to do that relates to what I want to do post-graduation, providing lots of skills for my future career plan.”  “The industry visits were especially eye-opening and very informative – not only were we able to see the work done at the labs but participating in a lab investigation made the visit very engaging”.

We are extremely proud to have educators like Wendy at our university.