UCOL Lecturer Wins Prime Minister’s Supreme Teachi

UCOL Lecturer Wins Prime Minister’s Supreme Teaching Award

Marty Vreede, the Head of Printmaking at Whanganui UCOL’s Quay School of the Arts has won the country’s highest teaching award.

Marty was last night named as the 2010 Prime Minister’s Supreme Award recipient for Sustained Tertiary Excellence at a function at Parliament. This is the highest award in the Government’s national Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards, funded by the Tertiary Education Commission and managed by Ako Aotearoa’s Centre for National Teaching Excellence. Marty was also awarded a Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award.

The Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award carries a $20,000 grant, and the Prime Minister’s award, carries a $10,000 grant.

UCOL’s Chief Executive Paul McElroy says the Government award reflects the very high quality of Marty’s teaching and the national and international respect he attracts as a teacher and printmaking practitioner as part of UCOL’s team delivering the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Whanganui. “Marty is passionate about printmaking and teaching, and is described by his colleagues as a man who is generous with his time and knowledge, a man of integrity with a massive heart.”

“Two years ago UCOL appointed Marty as one of our Icons - At UCOL an Icon is an academic staff member who has shown sustained excellence and distinction in their teaching. It is a delight to see this UCOL recognition reinforced by the Prime Minister’s Award. It tells us that the very high value UCOL places on the excellence of our teaching services and the contribution of Lecturers like Marty is up there with the best of the tertiary education sector”.

ENDS

About Marty Vreede

Marty founded the Print Workshop at the Quay School of the Arts in Whanganui 20 years ago, and developed it as a central hub for printmaking in New Zealand. He is respected by colleagues and his students as a dedicated educationalist. He is also an accomplished artist in his own right.

The Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for Teaching Excellence and the Tertiary Teaching Award come almost a year after Marty won a prestigious Fulbright award. This grant allowed him to visit the legendary Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts in Pendleton, Oregon. Founded in 1992, the institute is located on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and represents contemporary Native American art, including printmaking, at its finest.

Marty first came to Whanganui in 1988 as a guest lecturer for the celebrated Whanganui Summer School of the Arts. He was asked to stay and develop a print workshop.

In 1995 he became a Nuffield Foundation Scholar, studying papermaking and printmaking in the United Kingdom. This experience allowed him to develop his ongoing research and facilities for harakeke papermaking - one of a kind in New Zealand.

In 2007 Marty was the first Artist in Residence at the University of Hawaii Print Workshop (Manoa), and has been invited back for another residency.

The Whanganui UCOL Print Workshop is the home base for the Central Print Council of Aotearoa New Zealand: Marty is the Founding Chairman. He runs many workshops for the New Zealand print community there. Toi Whakataa, the Maori printmakers’ collective, also started its life in the Whanganui UCOL Print Workshop under Marty’s supportive guidance.

Over the last four years Marty has participated in more than thirty shows in New Zealand and overseas.

He holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Auckland.

About the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards
The Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards were established in 2001, to recognise and encourage excellence in tertiary teaching and provide an opportunity for teachers to further their careers and share good practice. A key focus is to identify and reward teaching practices that are student-focused.

The awards are open to lecturers and teachers at all of the country’s universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, wānanga, private training establishments and industry training organisations.

ENDS

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