Empowerment for Teaching Excellence Through Virtuous Agency

Hennie Lötter is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His research interests include justice, human dignity, poverty, and environmental ethics. He has published forty articles and four books, the most recent is called Poverty, Ethics, and Justice [2011]. He has given twenty talks on teaching at various forums in the University of Johannesburg. He developed a tutorial programme in his department, offering specialised training to make postgraduate students proficient in tutoring. He played a key role to secure international accreditation for the tutor training programme of the University of Johannesburg. He has served on the Teaching and Learning Committee, the Higher Degrees Committee, and the Research Ethics Committee of his university. He won a Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Award: Teacher Excellence at the University of Johannesburg in 2012. He loves photography, gardening with indigenous plants, and spending time in the Africanwilderness.

• 1. Introduction: Why Teaching Excellence is Controversial.- 2. The Comprehensive Scholarship Functions of Universities [Boyer] .- 3. Twelve Features of University Teaching as Scholarship.- 4. Major assumption: Teaching Excellence Requires Agents, not Patients.- 5. Empowering Abilities Must be Present & Developed.- 6. Virtues Requisite for Making Teaching as Scholarship Excellent.- 7. Conclusion: How to Become an Excellent University Teacher.