29 November 1995 Lincoln Staff Achievement Awards Presented

Four Lincoln University staff members have received Special Achievement Awards for excellence in research and teaching.

Ecology Reader Dr Steve Wratten and Economics Professor Dr Peter Earl are the research recipients for 1995 with Farm Management Reader Dr Gerald Frengley and Economics Lecturer Dr Ali Arifa named for the teaching awards.

Lincoln introduced its Special Achievement Awards for staff in 1990, the year it became a full and independent university. Two awards for research and creative activity and two for teaching are made annually.

Dr Steve Wratten, of the Department of Entomology and Animal Ecology, has established an enthusiastic insect ecology research group at Lincoln, focusing on solutions to practical problems in insect pest management and the conservation and protection of the environment.

Particular areas of research for Dr Wratten are insect population ecology, insect-plant interactions, habitat management for biological control, the use of biomarkers in ecotoxicology and the molecular ecology of introduced pests.

Dr Wratten's innovations and contributions to insect ecology are well recognised internationally and he is regarded as a leading researcher in his field.

Professor Peter Earl, of Lincoln's Department of Economics and Marketing, has a respected reputation for challenging conventional ideas in traditional economics. His original and creative research has led to international recognition among scholars of new, institutional, behavioural post-Keynsian economics.

In his work he has developed a scholarly approach based on exhaustive reviews of the historical literature and careful observation of actual business practice. This combination produces theoretical ideas that are able to be linked to business and personal behaviour and provide a more detailed description of economic behaviour.

 Professor Earl's research skills have been applied in areas as diverse as corporate strategy, the economic rationale of universities, macroeconomic policy and strategies for teaching economics. He has recently developed a textbook "Microeconomics for Business and Marketing" that has won high praise from leading international economists in this area.

Long-serving Lincoln staff member Dr Gerald Frengley, of the Department of Farm and Horticultural Management, has had a major impact on the teaching of Farm Management at Lincoln.

In 1977 he developed the concept of the major farm project which is a feature of Lincoln's Farm Management teaching.

He also introduced the personal farm study concept as well as the farm tutor system for Lincoln's diploma students and he pioneered the use of interdisciplinary teams to lead field trips and classroom teaching.

In his teaching he incorporates case studies, field trips and tours because he believes in the "practitioner being part of the theorist".

In his lectures he stimulates much debate and discussion and his classroom has been called a "controlled forum for adult learning". He is acknowledged as a teacher who matures his students before they go out into the community, and through his students he has had a major impact on the New Zealand farming community and his major teaching is with senior classes as they round off their degrees with detailed physical and financial analysis work.

His impact with students is such that several have gone on to win various awards, such as the Skellerup Young Farmer of the Year, and many return to discuss and review their plans with a friend and advisor whose judgement is valued.

Lincoln students overwhelmingly regard Dr Ali Arifa, of the Department of Economics and Marketing, as an outstanding teacher, and they confirm this in their evaluations of staff.

In his teaching Dr Arifa achieves highly successful student participation through the use of skillfully thought out questions and the creation of an environment that encourages contributions. His teaching is characterised by a special rapport with students and they comment unanimously on his enthusiasm and energy in the classroom.

Dr Arifa is a versatile teacher contributing across all levels on a range of subjects in Economics and Quantitative Methods.

His award citation notes that rather than merely teaching subjects, he feels responsible for the overall intellectual development of his students. Outside of the lecture theatre he uses his office as a classroom and provides one-to-one teaching that encourages high quality efforts from his students.

Dr Arifa won an award for outstanding teaching at his previous university and now matches it with one from Lincoln.

Lincoln University's Special Achievement Awards were presented by the Vice­-Chancellor, Professor Bruce Ross, at a special staff forum.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.