Award winners honoured for supporting students

Outstanding efforts to promote academic engagement with students and achieving positive outcomes for the University community have been honoured during a prestigious awards ceremony.

Danilo Mascia and Emily Rathbone receiving their Leeds Partnership Awards

Danilo mascia and emily rathbone receiving awards

The latest in our feature series – profiling winners in all 13 categories of this year’s Leeds Partnership Awards – highlights the outstanding accomplishments of recipients of both the ‘Academic Personal Tutor/Supervisor’ and the ‘Student Academic Rep of the Year’ accolades. 

Academic Personal Tutor/Supervisor Award  

The Academic Personal Tutor/Supervisor category of this year’s Leeds Partnership Awards featured nominations for an exceptional personal tutor, or final year project supervisor who, through their passion and leadership, promotes academic engagement and a sense of belonging.  
 
This year’s award was received by Dr Danilo Mascia, from the Leeds University Business School, for his continuous support towards students as both tutor and supervisor. 
 
Dr Mascia received a vast number of nominations from his students, and was praised for his constructive feedback, welcoming personality and helping to set clear career paths. Nominations also praised Dr Mascia’s ability empathise with students’ personal struggles whilst juggling academia, and taking an active approach in his supervision. 
 
Dr Mascia said: “It was a wonderful and totally unexpected surprise to receive the Academic Personal Tutor/Supervisor Award this year.  
 
“To hear the amount of nominations was particularly overwhelming but very rewarding; I’m just so glad to know that students appreciated my mentoring guidance and the support didn’t go unnoticed.   
 
“We’ve all been through very difficult times in the past couple of years, and knowing that I was somehow able to make a difference in someone else’s life has been truly moving. Thanks to everyone who nominated me.”  

Student Academic Rep of the Year Award 

This accolade is awarded to the school, course or postgraduate research rep who has actively worked in partnership with others to secure positive, student-led change that makes a real difference to staff and students. 
 
This year’s Student Academic Rep Of the Year Award was presented to Emily Rathbone, BA Fashion and Marketing Student Leader, for her dedication and persistency to bridge conversation between her faculty and students. 
 
Emily said: “I’m incredibly grateful to have received the Academic Student Rep of the Year Award, though it came as a complete surprise! It’s always rewarding to see hard work paying off, especially when the wellbeing and experiences of staff and students are positively impacted.” 
 
Nominations have praised Emily’s contributions during a time of uncertainty with the pandemic, during which Emily has remained “committed, supportive and continually working to ensure areas of concern are resolved”. 
 
Another nominator said: “Emily goes above and beyond, constantly pushing for improvements and working towards programme reconstruction to make the course more inclusive and diverse.  
 
“Her hard work and contribution deserve acknowledgement and recognition.” 

Find out more   

The annual Leeds Partnership Awards celebrate the achievements of staff and students who truly put into practice the agreement setting out our shared commitment to work together to support all aspects of our University community.   
 
The winners were announced during a gala celebration in May. 
  
More in-depth profiles of each of the winners will appear on the For Staff website during the coming weeks. These will also be promoted via the weekly All Staff enewsletters and the Staff Twitter account.  

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