Vice-Chancellor's Education Excellence Awards

Dr JC Penet, School of Modern Languages

Dr JC Penet receives his award for his innovative and sustained contributions to the field of Modern Languages, in particular within the School’s Translation and Interpreting Section. In recent years, Dr Penet has successfully built a profile as an influential scholar and practitioner in translator education that has benefited Newcastle University, but also students and colleagues more widely through his engagement with coaching and mentoring practices. The awarding panel were impressed with how the winnings from Dr Penet's previous Vice Chancellor’s award was used to reinvest in training that has led to the development of Translation and Interpreting Studies within the School of Modern Languages

JC told us “I’m truly honoured to receive the Vice-Chancellor’s Education Excellence Award for a second time. This recognition means a great deal to me, as it reflects my unwavering commitment to co-creating, with our fantastic students and brilliant professional services colleagues (Careers, LTDS), experiential learning opportunities that make education more authentic and situated by connecting students with real-world industry practice. It’s a privilege to support students in developing the critical, analytical and reflective skills they’ll need to thrive in their future working lives. I’ve also found it incredibly rewarding to see how my research into emotional intelligence in translator training has contributed to their growth and wellbeing. Too often, education begins from a place of deficit. It doesn’t have to, and I’d like to believe that my work, both as an educator and a life coach, is helping to challenge this. Change and innovation are never easy, but what a joy it is to help shape empowering learning experiences that allow students to rediscover just how creative and resourceful they truly are.” 

Loyola Study Abroad Centre, International Office

Pictured: Grace Baker and Dina Schwartz 

Loyola Study Abroad Centre, part of the International Office, receives their award for significantly enhancing the educational experience of both students and colleagues at Newcastle and Loyola University, Maryland, through its innovative programme of dedicated support. It is evident the team have gone above and beyond to ensure Loyola students are happy during their time at Newcastle. The panel also acknowledges that this huge team effort has been working together for the benefit of the two institutions for 30 years, and that this award is a recognition of that group effort and the history of the centre. In addition, the project’s civil engineering accreditation is very innovative and offers a model for future collaborations 

Grace explained "The relationship with Loyola University Maryland is a special and enduring partnership - celebrating 30 years in 2025. I've been the Center Manager for ten of those, and it is a role that never grows tired: watching students' personal transformation each semester, providing support and structure to see them flourish. We've also developed innovative programming, which is possible when you work with a forward-thinking partner like Loyola, who also deeply care about the opportunities an international education brings. Thank you for this award, and a special 'thank you' to every school and team across the universities that contribute to the success of the Center." 

Business in Action Team, Newcastle University Business School

The team includes Jo Clark, Dr Lucy Hatt, Steven Sadi, Keira Iveson, Cian O’Sullivan and Jaclyn Wright. The award will be presented at a winter congregation ceremony, 

The Business in Action team, from Newcastle University Business School, receive this award for their transformative work designing and delivering an immersive, experiential learning module for our MBA that bridges the gap between academic theory and real-world practice. The awarding panel found their student-centered offer, and the active learning approach taken, has had an exceptional impact on student learning. The panel also commended the team’s work developing a supportive and collaborative environment for both colleagues and students to flourish within; an approach already being adopted by other programmes within the school. 

Jo told us "I am delighted that the work of our team of colleagues has been recognised with the Vice Chancellor's Education Excellence Award. The Business in Action module, a transformative experience for our MBA students, ensures students have an opportunity, working on live consultancy projects, to apply their academic skills and knowledge in practice. Working together with external learning partner organisations we bring real challenges and business experiences into the classroom. We ensure that this experience benefits not only our students, but also our enthusiastic learning  partners, a range of businesses and charities with whom we work on an annual basis, such as, PWC, Lloyds Bank, Aqua Consulting, Charity Groundwork North East and Cumbria and Northumbrian Water. These strategic learning partnerships are made possible by the effective teamworking between our academics and external relations colleagues, plus, alumni relations and careers advisors. Business in Action is both an enjoyable and rewarding experience so we find that our learning partners are pleased to return year on year to engage with business school MBA students.

Effective team work, internally and externally, underpins all of this activity making it my pleasure to lead the Business in Action, MBA module. This year we were delighted that colleagues from the School of Engineering were able to join us for final presentations. We are looking forward to extending the benefit of working with Newcastle University students by taking an even more collaborative, interdisciplinary, approach in our work with external learning partners in 2026."