The Faculty of Health annual staff awards evening was held on Wednesday, 9th November 2011 at the University Gallery. The evening was attended by Vice Chancellor Professor Caroline McMillen, Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Nick Talley and the Heads of Schools of the Faculty of Health. The School of Nursing and Midwifery would like to congratulate the following staff for their innovation, expertise and ongoing commitment to our students and learning.

Associate Professor June Graham: Conjoint Staff Excellence
Congratulations to Associate Professor June Graham from the School of Nursing and Midwifery who won the award for Conjoint Staff Excellence. June is a valuable and highly capable conjoint staff member who has contributed to the School for the past 20 years. June has made an important contribution to Postgraduate students' learning and she provides professional leadership and sponsorship to the School and University through her work with the Royal Newcastle Hospital Graduate Nurses Association and in her work with a range of professional nursing associations. She also works diligently to ensure that the history of nursing is preserved with the University and for the legacy of future nurses.

Natasha Lawrence: Clinical Facilitator Staff Excellence
Natasha was recognised for her consistent and nurturing support for undergraduate nursing students attending placement at Manning Rural Referral Hospital. She has a well rounded evidenced based knowledge which she uses to support and challenge students. Natasha is strongly focussed on assisting students to meet their learning objectives and she provides them with valuable and constructive feedback to assist them to meet or exceed expectations. Students from the Port Macquarie campus are always enthusiastic to receive a clinical placement at Manning Rural Referral Hospital as they know they will be well supported and effectively guided in their learning by Natasha. She is an asset to clinical education and the University Department of Rural health.

Jenny Day: Community Engagement Staff Excellence
Jenny is a committed academic who has applied a creative approach in assisting students to involve themselves with the community and to better understand how nurses can contribute to health improvements for the benefit of the community. The model of field experience designed by Jenny in the NURS1102 Primary Health Care course has engaged students with community groups early in their program. Jenny's leadership, commitment, hard work and belief in the importance of this course has ensured its success.

MaryAnne Quinn: General Staff Excellence
MaryAnne provides advice to key members of staff of the School of Nursing and Midwifery with novel and innovative ways to facilitate the successful placement of a large nursing student cohort. She plays a pivotal role in the setting up of clinical placement timelines and placement calendars forming the base line for the management of the Schools tutorial registration and enrolment process. Her knowledge and understanding of the nursing placement requirements has been more recently recognised when the NSW Department of Health invited her to be part of an external group providing advice to the Department throughout the creation of a new clinical placement booking system, Clin-connect.

Ms Amanda Morris, Mr Andrew Dunne & Mr Ben Carter: General Staff Team Excellence
The School of Nursing Midwifery eLearning Team brings a commitment to teaching and learning in the online environment that seeks to transform the online learning experience of students. They actively explore and encourage new ways of teaching and learning, which includes the use of web 2.0 technologies including wikis and blogs plus the use of multimedia to offer alternative teaching stimulus material to traditional methods. Student feedback on online courses testifies to the benefits to our students. Additionally, the teams' level of service to both staff and students is exceptional, whether it be developing a new online course, the management of Blackboard or the maintenance of websites, the timeliness and clarity of the support provided, as well as the genuine regard and friendly manner of the team are consistently evident.

Merryn Stacey: External General Staff Excellence
Merryn provides outstanding service to students and staff of all Health Science programs including those within the School of Nursing and Midwifery. In terms of students she has a great understanding of the requirements of the programs and is able to advise students on all aspects of enrolment, courses and completion of the degrees and requirements for accredited practice. She has also been a wonderful support for those staff requiring administration support in terms of their courses, student progression, credit arrangements and policy decisions.