Malin Selleby named “Teacher of the year” at KTH
Malin Selleby is the winner of Teacher of the year 2020 for the entire KTH, elected by the student union THS. Malin works at the Department of Material Science and Engineering (MSE) and teaches Computational thermodynamics.
What does this prize mean to you?
” It was a fantastic surprise that made me very happy, and a recognition of what I do every day. It must mean that I’ve done at least something right. When I came to KTH, my focus was set on research, not teaching, but it has become more and more fun – especially when you, like me, get to teach what you do research in.”
What makes a good teacher?
” I believe a good teacher tries to convey knowledge in as simple a way as possible, not make it more difficult than it is. It is also important to be receptive to the students' situation and to try to meet the students' wishes - if they are reasonable and feasible.”
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
” Interested students. And cooperation. The compendium I use when teaching has been written by Mats Hillert and me and the exercises have been developed in cooperation with all my doctoral students over the years. Working with doctoral students is fun and stimulating, and producing material together makes it all very rewarding.”
The price especially rewards innovative teaching methods that could serve as inspiration for other educators at KTH, but the price has a positive effect in a wider sense.
“Malin is awarded for her humanistic view of the students and how she uses an entire team to develop her course. This is fantastic for Malin but also for Materials design, for MSE and all of ITM”, says Annika Borgenstam, head of MSE.
Text: Anna Gullers
