UTAR came back with the physical celebration of Staff Long Service and Excellence Awards Ceremony 2022

UTAR came back physically to celebrate the decade-long service of its staff as well as the teaching and research excellence of academics during the UTAR Staff Long Service and Excellence Awards 2022 ceremony held at UTAR Sungai Long and Kampar Campuses on 31 May 2022 and 1 June 2022 respectively.

Held annually, the event aimed to reward staff who have served the University for a decade and acknowledge academics for their excellent teaching and research endeavours as well as the administrative staff for their service excellence.

Present at Sungai Long Campus were UTAR President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat, Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development Ir Prof Dr Goi Bok Min, Vice President for R&D and Commercialisation Prof Ts Dr Faidz bin Abd Rahman, Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, Registrar Yim Lin Heng, Division of Human Resource Director Marchie Lim Pin Sim, deans and directors, award recipients and staff. While Kampar Campus were attended by Prof Ewe, Prof Choong, Yim, Marchie Lim, head of departments, award recipients and staff.

Prof Ewe thanking Long Service Award recipients for their tireless contribution to UTAR throughout these years and commending the Excellence Awards winners for their continuous efforts in bringing improvements

In his opening remark, Prof Ewe expressed his sincere gratitude, “We are very proud to have such loyal and committed people representing our organisation and we value your hard work, extensive knowledge and invaluable experience. You are all important members of the university and your abilities and contributions are of paramount importance for the university’s continued success.”

Prof Ewe thanked everyone for going through the challenges together during the pandemic, “The COVID-19 pandemic presented us with challenges as well as opportunities. We had to respond immediately to constantly changing circumstances and new challenges. We continued to provide education on the highest level and maintained the safety and well-being of the whole academic community. This year, as we celebrate UTAR’s 20th anniversary, I urge all of you to continue to stay united to help the university excel in the years ahead. There are many exciting opportunities ahead of us, thus, let’s move on together and create the history and memories of UTAR, which will lead us to the next jubilees.”

He also added, “As we honour your service milestone today, we hope that this would also serve as an inspiration to other colleagues to continue to help the university grow and enhance its level of service, teaching, learning and research excellence. We are, after all, a university by the people, for the people – working in the interest of the University, the community, the nation and the students. I would like to congratulate all our Long Service Award recipients as well as the Excellence Award recipients in the categories of Teaching, E-Learning, Innovation, Staff Service, and Research.”

The ceremony reached its first highlight showing the recipients of the Long Service Award from both Kampar and Sungai Long Campuses. It saw 32 UTAR staff from Sungai Long Campus and 70 UTAR Staff from Kampar Campus as the recipients of the Long Service Award and they walked away with a crystal trophy.

Continuing taking the centre stage was the presentation of the Excellence Awards. It saw 11 UTAR academics and administrative staff from Sungai Long Campus and Kampar Campus respectively as the recipients of the Excellence Awards.

Each winner of the Teaching Excellence Award, E-Learning Excellence Award, Research Excellence Award, Innovation Excellence Award and Staff Service Excellence Award walked away with a cash prize of RM1,000, a certificate of acknowledgement and a trophy; while the winning research centre for the UTAR Research Centre Excellence Award took home a grant of RM100,000.

The list of the 2022 Excellence Awards winners is as follows:

UTAR Teaching Excellence Award (*in no particular order)

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Dr Swagata Sinha Roy	Faculty of Creative Industries (FCI)	Sungai Long Campus
Beh Hooi Ching	Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES)	Sungai Long Campus
Precilla a/p Rovat @ Robert	Centre for Foundation Studies, Sungai Long Campus (CFS-SL)	Sungai Long Campus
Sheela Devi a/p Sukuru	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS)	Sungai Long Campus
Dr Chin Hon Choong	Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM)	Sungai Long Campus
Dr Tan Ji	Faculty of Science (FSc)	Kampar Campus
Ir Ts Dr Leong Kah Hon	Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT)	Kampar Campus
Ts Dr Lim Ean Heng	Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT)	Kampar Campus
Dr Zam Zuriyati binti Mohamad	Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF)	Kampar Campus
Ms Yvonne Hoh Jgin Jit	Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS)	Kampar Campus
Dr Ling Liong Ngo	Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS)	Kampar Campus
Mr Pan Wai Seng	Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS)	Kampar Campus

Teaching Excellence Award winners from Sungai Long Campus

FAM lecturer Dr Chin expressed his gratitude, “I am grateful for receiving this teaching excellence award. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the recognition and support the University and Faculty have provided me in making this happen. Undoubtedly, this recognition will motivate me to achieve a higher level of excellence. Most importantly, it will keep on reminding me of the duty of a teacher in providing guidance and care to students. Nothing more than our hard work and commitment being appreciated. Again, thank you to UTAR and FAM.”

CFS lecturer Precilla said, “I feel very grateful and blessed to receive the teaching excellence award. The feeling is beyond words when the work is recognised and appreciated.  This motivates me to perform and strive even better in teaching. A big thanks to CFS-SL Head of Department for Department of Science and Engineering Kong Jee Kim, CFS-SL Deputy Director for Academic Wong Jing Tyng, CFS-SL Director Melissa Stefanie Netto and lovely colleagues for the continuous support.” She advised students, “Enjoy the learning process and embrace the knowledge gained by sharing with peers. Good ethics and values will always be remembered and cherished. Dedication, hard work and a positive attitude will lead to success.”

FCI lecturer Dr Swagata said she was both humbled and overwhelmed when she won the Teaching Excellence Award. She enthused, “I feel every lecturer in UTAR deserves the award as all of us worked really hard to carry out our teaching duties. This recognition makes me feel I have done justice to my role and duties as an educator but I would like to reiterate that much thanks go to my colleagues as they have shown and given me endless support in this profession. Not forgetting my Dean for FCI, Dr David Tneh Cheng Eng, has been amazingly supportive too. Family cooperation and encouragement have been important too; so this achievement is not mine alone but of all who have journeyed with me throughout the year.” She advised students to enjoy their learning, “Life is a learning journey, so let us make the most of it, enjoying the happy trails and benefitting from the trials faced. But mostly, believe in yourselves and know that each one of you is unique and special. Always aspire to inspire yourselves and you will sparkle.”

FMHS Lecturer Sheela said, “I am really honoured to receive this recognition from UTAR. Earning a teaching award validates my accomplishments. It is obvious that the pandemic has inspired new teaching methods and creative pedagogy. Teaching is always a joint venture with my students. In nursing, it involves solving real problems for patients and with my nursing experience, I am able to utilise example-based teaching to solve real problems alongside my students. I realised that experiential learning is the most valuable kind of learning. Nothing makes me prouder than seeing my students succeed."

Teaching Excellence Award winner Dr Zam from Kampar Campus

FBF lecturer Dr Zam Zuriyati said, “I am very happy to receive this award. This achievement denotes the patience, hard work and support from various parties.” When asked about how UTAR had helped her in achieving this award, she said, “Continuous teamwork, guidance and training helped me in achieving this award. I am happy to be part of UTAR and will continue to give my best for UTAR in all aspects.”

UTAR e-Learning Excellence Award (*in no particular order)

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Lee Yoon Heng	Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM)	Sungai Long Campus
Dr Aun Yichiet	Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT)	Kampar Campus

Prof Ewe presenting the UTAR e-Learning Excellence Award to Lee (left pic) from Sungai Long Campus and Dr Aun from Kampar Campus

FAM lecturer Lee said, “I feel motivated as MCO was a challenging time but also a good opportunity for me to explore e-learning. During that time, I documented all the processes. By participating in this award, the whole process can be documented properly for my own use and also for teaching and learning purposes later on. “The challenges mainly came from time management. E-learning was something new during the pandemic period but we overcame it,” he added.

FICT lecturer Dr Aun said, “I am honoured and very grateful for the award. I have always felt that there was a bigger dream to achieve than just teaching with slides. When I discovered some novel teaching methods that I find intuitive and fun, I knew at that moment this is the way forward (for my classes). You know you are doing something right when you are energised to keep going, and I am overjoyed to find that students shared the same sentiments. In a way, it felt like this is my calling and I am answering it.” He added, “When you are going the extra mile, there are always extra hurdles to overcome. I see myself as the front end who delivers these perfectly curated videos. But behind the scenes, there are pouring supports from the backend like ITISC for example. Also shout out to Dr Vasaki, my Head of Department for being the kindest soul and for her unconditional belief in me.”

Dr Aun concluded, “This recognition has special sentimental value to me. I would say not everyone is on board with my methods in the early days, which made getting this award even more so special. I grew up here, as a student and am now a lecturer here, so UTAR always has had a special place in me. I am very thankful to UTAR for giving me the stage to show the world what I can do, at the same time bringing UTAR to a new height.”

UTAR Research Excellence Award (*in no particular order)

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Dr Tee Yee Kai	Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES)	Sungai Long Campus
Dr Cheah Phaik Kin	Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS)	Kampar Campus

Dr Tee (left pic) and Dr Cheah receiving the UTAR Research Excellence Award from Prof Ewe

Dr Cheah, the winner of the UTAR Research Excellence Award 2021 for Kampar Campus, said, “I am grateful to UTAR for the recognition and acknowledgement for my work in the investigation of the social and economic impacts and public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. My team has 23 people from five countries and all we could think of when Covid-19 broke out was what we as social science researchers could do to help the problem, while the medical researchers took it upon themselves to develop a vaccine. There were also medical researchers in my team. We knew that vaccine alone was not the answer in addressing the pandemic as there were social and economic impacts that affected people, and these impacts too could be as life-threatening as the Coronavirus.”

She added, “My team is grateful to UTAR, Ministry of Health, Malaysia, University of Oxford, and the National Medical Ethics Committee of the Republic of Slovenia for expediting the ethical clearance for this investigation during the crisis. As everyone was facing the same emergency situation, investigation such as this one was prioritised as it was a novel situation and we did not have any scientific evidence on what was happening across the world. We are also grateful for the funding and support from Wellcome Trust Institutional Translational Partnership Award (iTPA), Thailand, Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (096527), e SonarGlobal project with funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, and the Slovenian Research Agency (Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost RS).”

She concluded, “This project was a steep learning curve for me. In the midst of the pandemic with all the challenges that came with it, my team and I were even more motivated to make a contribution to the world given the crisis and uncertainties that we ourselves were facing. I will live with a lot of stories to tell and inspire my postgraduate students.”

UTAR Innovation Excellence Award

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Ir Dr Wong Jianhui	Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES)	Sungai Long Campus

Dr Wong (left) receiving the UTAR Innovation Excellence Award from Prof Ewe

UTAR Staff Service Excellence Award

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Flora Dicka	Registrar' Office	Sungai Long Campus
Prakash a/l Rama	Department of Safety and Security	Kampar Campus
Mohd Zaini Bin Zainul Abidin	Faculty of Science	Kampar Campus

 

Flora receiving the UTAR Staff Service Excellence Award from Prof Ewe

Prakash receiving the UTAR Staff Service Excellence Award from Prof Ewe

Prakash said, “I’m delighted to receive the UTAR Staff Excellence Award for 2021. It’s fantastic to be recognised and appreciated by the UTAR organisation, but I cannot emphasise enough that I would achieve nothing without my best team members. I’m so grateful to have the team to learn and contribute to every single day. Their support and hard work have made me accomplish so much in a short period of time. I am beyond blessed and humbled. Thank you for believing in me! These awards have given me the inspiration to provide my best abilities and contribution to UTAR and I’m very grateful to the UTAR organisation team and DSS department Head for providing me the opportunity to self-develop my knowledge of safety matters and engage me with related courses to improve the safety and security level for UTAR community. UTAR and its management team have provided a platform for me to perform under the safety issues related to campus and its occupant. During the COVID-19 pandemic period, I gained lots of knowledge and experience to handle the worst situation encountered by the University and I was able to provide a positive outcome for the safety of the UTAR community. UTAR is a platform for the nation’s future by providing the needs and wants of the community with its best ability in the educational system. I hope UTAR will continue to grow more in the future.”

UTAR Research Centre Excellence Award

Name	Faculty/Centre/Institute	Campus
Ir Prof Dr Lim Yun Seng	Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Centre for Power Systems and Electricity (CPSE)	Sungai Long Campus

CPSE Chairperson Prof Lim receiving the mock cheque from Prof Ewe

Prof Lim said, “I feel honoured and pleased to be able to win this Research Centre Excellence Award. I am sure that all the members of CPSE are happy to win this award. This award is the recognition of the efforts of all the members in CPSE. CPSE would like to thank you very much for your support. Let us continue to work together for the betterment of our community and university.” He shared the centre’s future initiative and said, “One of the main agendas of the centre is to establish collaboration with TNB Research. We hope to work together with TNB to develop some important energy projects for TNB.”

Also being recognised was the Belt & Road Strategic Research Centre (BRSRC) which received a certificate of special mention as UTAR’s Most Improved Research Centre.

Dr Ng Kar Yee receiving the Certificate of Special Mention from Prof Ewe

Curtains were drawn on the UTAR Staff Long Service and Excellence Awards e-Ceremony 2022 after a photography session.

Front row, seated: Yim, Prof Faidz, Prof Ewe, Prof Goi, Prof Choong and Marchie Lim with the award recipients from Sungai Long Campus

Front row, seated: Yim, Prof Faidz, Prof Ewe, Prof Goi, Prof Choong and Marchie Lim with Long Service Award recipients from Sungai Long Campus

Front row, seated: Yim, Prof Faidz, Prof Ewe, Prof Goi, Prof Choong and Marchie Lim with Excellence Awards recipients from Sungai Long Campus

Front row, seated: Yim, Prof Ewe, Prof Choong and Marchie Lim with Long Service Award and Excellence Award recipients from Kampar Campus