Western Sydney University educators honoured in national teaching awards
Four educators from Western Sydney University have been recognised in the 2025 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT), celebrating excellence in teaching practice, curriculum innovation and student-centred education.
The highly competitive national awards celebrate university educators who demonstrate outstanding teaching practice, leadership and sustained commitment to improving student learning experiences across Australian higher education.
Teaching Excellence Award
Dr Rocco Cavaleri from the School of Health Sciences has been awarded the AAUT Teaching Excellence Award, the penultimate national award recognising Australia’s most outstanding university teachers.
The award recognises Dr Cavaleri’s sustained commitment to cultivating learning environments for Physiotherapy students that stretch and engage them intellectually, while fostering equity, support and lasting confidence.
His work harnessing technological innovation – including introducing high-fidelity simulations, incorporating AI patient models and developing a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR) system – has transformed assessment into an authentic and immersive problem-solving experience mirroring real-world encounters.
Dr Cavaleri has consistently shared his approaches and curricula, and passion for teaching, with colleagues across Australian universities. His innovations have not only reshaped Physiotherapy education at Western Sydney University but have been adopted across allied health programs nationally.
This national recognition builds on Rocco’s internal recognition through his receipt of a Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award, Western Sydney University Early Career Teacher of the Year and Western Sydney University Teacher of the Year in 2022, followed by an AAUT Citation received in 2023.
Citation for Technology-Enabled Criminology Education
Dr Ana Rodas from the School of Social Sciences has been awarded an AAUT Citation for innovative technology-enabled Criminology curricula that bridges theory with practice to improve students’ critical thinking and support their identities as justice-oriented practitioners.
The award recognises how Dr Rodas has consistently designed and implemented learning experiences for her students that connect theory to practice, and that foster a sense of agency, identity and purpose.
Her contributions include a range of technology-enabled learning strategies, a widely adopted, pedagogically informed criminology textbook and the creation of the innovative Youth Justice Portal (YJP).
Together these initiatives reflect a sustained commitment to curriculum innovation, scholarly teaching, and student-centred learning, that has demonstrably improved student engagement and learning, fostered critical thinking, and supported the emergence of professionally oriented graduates equipped to contribute meaningfully to the justice sector.
Dr Rodas is a recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching and Western Sydney University Teacher of the Year awards in 2024.
Sport Management curriculum redesign recognised
Dr Michelle O’Shea and Dr Jess Richards in the School of Business have been awarded an AAUT Citation for enhanced Sport Management student engagement and learning through transformative curriculum redesign, scaffolded experiential learning and authentic assessment informed by industry and student-led co-design.
The award recognises their joint redesigning of the Sport Management major to foster students’ cohort identity and meet student expectations as aspiring sport management professionals.
Positioning students, alumni and industry as partners, they implemented co-design, co-delivery, co-creation, and co-assessment strategies across the program, fostering authentic scaffolded learning experiences and assessment, bridging theoretical knowledge with contemporary professional practice. These approaches were enriched and consolidated through introduction of Web 2.0 competencies and the introduction of a Career Ready Toolkit.
Dr O’Shea and Dr Richards received a Western Sydney University Excellence Award in 2024.
A full list of the 2025 AAUT recipients is available here.
ENDS.
26 February 2026
Media Unit