Prof Ronelle Carolissen, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at Stellenbosch University was honoured by the National Psychological Association of South Africa recently.

At their annual general meeting in September, the association bestowed an award for Graduate Teaching Excellence on Carolissen, whose term as Vice-dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Education will start in January 2017.

This prize is awarded to individuals who stand out in terms of excellence in teaching and student accomplishments. Submissions for this award include evidence of module frameworks, student evaluations, at least two letters of support by students and any awards or accomplishments by students that were influenced by the lecturer.

"I am delighted to receive this award as it values my contribution to the nexus of teaching, learning and research over the last 14 years," said Prof Carolissen.

"It also values my core point of departure that research and teaching and learning are not mutually exclusive but that they complement each other fundamentally. I have concretised this point of departure while teaching community psychology, my core field of expertise, at Stellenbosch University.

"One of my favourite quotes relates to cultivating an ethical responsibility among my students who train to be psychologists and teachers. It focuses on social justice in the world today and is an adapted quote from Boler (1999): "Community psychology is a field that has the potential to call us to bear witness; not to develop 'passive empathy' but to examine our ethical responsibilities and action through self-reflection."