Dr Paladino, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and Marketing, was one of only four Australian academics to receive an award for ‘Teaching Excellence in Law, Economics, Business and Related Studies’.

Dr Paladino teaches in the University’s New Generation Bachelor of Commerce degree, part of the Melbourne Model.

Announced earlier this week, the 2009 Australian Awards for Teaching recognise the nation's top university teachers and most outstanding programs and services aimed at improving the quality of student learning.

Her nomination recognises her innovative teaching approaches.  The curiosity of her students and their enthusiasm for learning has motivated Dr Paladino to continuously seek teaching methods that are at the forefront of education research, to engage students with the latest research and create memorable learning experiences.

Dr Paladino says that tertiary education provides the best of both worlds – education and business.  “I always tell people I have the best job in the world - you can make a positive difference to students' lives and careers, you can make a difference to public policy and organisational strategies and also to consumers. The mix of tasks, flexible and autonomous working environment, challenges and changes and different responsibilities all culminate to make tertiary education one of the most personally satisfying sectors to work in.”

Winning the award acknowledges Dr Paladino’s commitment to innovative quality teaching and the enhancement of learning by students as well as her role in improving education practices and standards internationally.

Dr Paladino says that although it is satisfying to have the years of work acknowledged by peers her greatest satisfaction is still to watch students' faces when they have understood the meaning of concepts and put them into practice.

The Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Professor Margaret Abernethy says Dr Paladino has always been committed to developing graduates who are highly employable, with strong technical capabilities and the capacity to creatively apply their knowledge to solve complex real-world challenges.

"The rich and diverse student cohort in the new-gen Bachelor of Commerce Degree benefit greatly from Angela's approach to subject design.  Her subjects are designed to ensure that the material is relevant to business and she regularly includes industry practitioners in her subjects – her classes are an excellent example of knowledge transfer, the third strand of the triple helix.  Students learn from industry practitioners and industry  benefits from their engagement with some of the best and brightest students in the region."  

Dr Paladino, a graduate from the University of Melbourne, is a leading expert in environmental marketing and consumer behaviour, with research interests in innovation and corporate performance, market orientation and strategic management and marketing. 

This year she was awarded the Edward Brown Award for Teaching Excellence from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Universitas 21 Teaching Fellowship.

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences was also recognised for its program ‘Beyond Serendipity: Structuring Early Clinical Skills Learning for Medical Students’.  It received an Award for   Programs that Enhance Learning for Innovation in Curricula, Learning and Teaching.

The team from the Medical Education Unit - Dr Jennifer Conn, Ms Margo Collins, Associate Professor Agnes Dodds and Dr Ruth Sutherland – was recognized for the significant impact the program has had on student learning and engagement.  ‘Beyond Serendipity’ recognises the growing need for more structured and developmentally appropriate approaches to early clinical skills learning and teaching to prepare students better for the later years of medical courses.

The program has attracted the highest quality of teaching scores of any component of the medical course. It has shown widespread benefits for students, staff and the institution and has proven to be transferable, as evidenced by its successful implementation at another Australian medical school.

In announcing the awards, the Executive Director of the ALTC Professor Richard Johnstone said the awards celebrated the exceptional effort made by university teachers and general staff to improve the student experience of Australian higher education.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra in November, which will also see the announcement of the Prime Minister’s Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year.