World Medal honours beacon of engineering education
Professor Sally Male, Director of the Teaching and Learning Laboratory in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT), has been awarded the 2023 World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO)Medal for Excellence in Engineering Education.
The award acknowledges Professor Male’s leadership in engineering education research and practice, especially in curriculum development, industry engagement and inclusion, which have helped to provide engineering students of all backgrounds in Australia and internationally with the best possible opportunity to develop their professional capabilities.
The WFEO Medal was established in 1999 to help draw global attention to the need for continuous improvement in the quality, delivery and relevance of engineering education and training. Professor Male was nominated for the Medal by Engineers Australia, of which she is a Fellow.
Professor Sally Male.
She joined the University in 2021 and established the Teaching and Learning Laboratory at FEIT, Australia's only such laboratory. She has hired three lecturers and leads the laboratory's research program in engineering and computing education, as well as capacity building, support and celebration to advance education.
FEIT Dean Professor Mark Cassidy congratulated Professor Male on her achievement.
“We are immensely proud of Professor Male and this outstanding, well-deserved recognition,” Professor Cassidy said.
“Sally Male’s efforts have not just benefited engineering students at the University of Melbourne, but graduating engineers around the country and beyond. Thanks to her rigorous research, innovation and leadership in engineering education, society will see a more diverse and better equipped generation of engineers, who can solve complex challenges with tenacity, creativity and a strong foundation of professional skills and knowledge.”
Professor Male said she was deeply honoured to receive the Medal.
“It is a tremendous honour for me to be nominated and extraordinary to be chosen by WFEO as the Laureate to receive the Medal in 2023,” she said.
Having studied electrical engineering, Professor Male began her research career with a focus on engineering education research. Building on her PhD, Competencies of Engineers Graduating in Australia, she co-authored submissions to Engineers Australia’s development of competency standards and the Review of the International Engineering Alliance Graduate Attribute and Professional Competency Framework.
From L-R: Dr Shannon Rios, Josh Burridge, Prof Sally Male and Dr Ashlee Pearson.
“As engineering educators, we have a responsibility to give every one of our students the best possible opportunity to develop capabilities for successful lives contributing to society using engineering,” Professor Male said.
She has also conducted a program of research to inform enhancements to engineering education, in collaboration with Engineers Australia, the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED) and the Australasian Association for Engineering Education. In the Engineering Thresholds Project, she identified the most transformative and critical engineering foundation concepts needed to develop professional engineers.
In the Enhancing Industry Engagement in Engineering Education project for ACED, she developed national guidelines. In addition, she has led competitively funded projects on Gender Inclusion of Engineering Students’ Workplace Experiences, Intensive Mode Teaching and Virtual Work Integrated Learning in Engineering.
Amongst a host of professional achievements, she is Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Journal of Engineering Education and a former Governance Board Member of the Engineering Institute of Technology.
Founded under the auspices of UNESCO, the WFEO is the internationally recognised and chosen leader of the engineering profession in developing and applying engineering to constructively resolve international and national issues for the benefit of humanity.
Learn more here: https://www.wfeo.org/awards/