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Mark Szegner

1 May 2014

Geography technician claims national award

Department of Geography technician Mark Szegner has been honoured at the Higher Education Academy (HEA) STEM Technicians of the Year awards.

Mark, who began his technical career at Loughborough in 1998, was named Technician of the Year in the Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences (GEES) category.

The awards recognise the valuable contribution made by technical staff in supporting the student learning experience within STEM departments.

Nominees were asked to demonstrate how their skills, actions and good practice have improved the experience of students and how they have engaged and communicated with staff and students.

Since joining the University, Mark has played an important role in developing new modules and improving opportunities available to students.

After taking leave in 2002 to study Cartography, Mapping and Geographical Information Systems at Oxford Brookes University (where he won the British Cartographic Society 2003 Readers Digest Student Award), he worked alongside lecturers at Loughborough with similar interests to create two new modules covering mapping and remote sensing.

He subsequently created a new component in website design which enables students to present findings online - allowing them to be creative whilst acquiring transferable skills, and since 2008 has been teaching students to produce a 10-minute video for a module studying rural spaces in Crete. He has also assisted on the University’s Paris fieldtrip for the last eight years.

Janet De Wilde, Assistant Director (Scotland) and Head of STEM at the HEA, said:

“As the national body for enhancing learning and teaching in higher education, the HEA recognises that technicians, in the field or in the laboratory, have a very important role in supporting the student learning experience.

“These awards celebrate this role and the significant contribution of technicians to learning and teaching, which is often not widely known or recognised outside of their own institutions.”

The winners each received £250 in vouchers in recognition of their contribution to STEM education.

Profiles of all the winners can be viewed on the HEA website at www.heacademy.ac.uk/tech