Associate Professor Vinh Lu
It is always a sheer joy to know how students and colleagues appreciate your commitment and passion for student learning. At ANU my efforts have been rewarded with a Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Enhancement Grant (2011), the ANU College of Business and Economics (CBE) Award for Teaching Excellence (2012), an ANU Linkage Grant for Teaching and Learning (2013), and the Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2013). At a recent meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC), I won the ANZMAC-Pearson Emerging Marketing Educator of the Year Award. Being recognised for doing the job I love is such a privilege - or one might say it is 'icing on the cake'.
My teaching philosophy resonates strongly with the 'Relate-Create-Donate' perspective of engagement theory. The Relate principle focuses on collaborative team efforts sharpening students' communication, social, management, and planning skills. The Create principle allows students to apply their knowledge towards a purposeful project activity in a problem-based learning scenario. Finally, the Donate principle emphasises the value of contributions to external stakeholders through an authentic learning environment.
In partnership with the ACT Exporters' Network and the ACT Government Business Development Directorate, I have organised the ANU International Business Plan Competition for students in the Research School of Management since 2011. The competition has fostered a dynamic platform for knowledge exchange between the ANU and the business community. Students have remarked that the competition is extremely beneficial for their skill development, as live projects offer them valuable exposure to challenging and practical working scenarios. As the competition coordinator, I am wholeheartedly committed to demonstrating an enthusiastic and passionate teaching persona. At the same time, the students enjoy an engaging, innovative, and authentic learning environment. In this environment, they are exposed to the importance of sustained university-industry linkages, which are in line with the pedagogical goal of 'action-learning practices' of the Association to Advance Collegiate School of Business, as well as the operational objective of the Australian Business Deans Council, who is 'particularly concerned to improve Business education through curriculum development, and forging strong relationships with the business community and government.'
The Competition has received strong support from the institution and external stakeholders. I have, to date, attracted approximately $40,000 in awards, grants and financial support for my teaching activities. The Competition has been featured in a corporate blog and articles in Margin magazine, B2B in Canberra magazine, and ACT Exporters Network website.
