VMU community members awarded
Yesterday, VMU Community Christmas and Community V2 Awards were celebrated, the Christmas Tree was lit up at the student square and 9 awards were presented to the best of VMU.
Vivere Cantus Academic Choir started the festival by singing the national anthem, the audience was welcomed by the VMU Rector Prof. Juozas Augutis.
Stefano M. Lanza, Lecturer in Italian at the VMU Institute of Foreign Languages, won the “Friend of the Year” award. In this category he was nominated together with Kestutis Vitkauskas, lecturer at the Faculty of Law, and Rimantas Plunge, a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts.
Nemira Mačianskienė, a lecturer at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Kristijonas Jakubsonas, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, and Teresė Ringailienė, a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanitarity, were nominated to become the “Most creative lecturer of the year”. While receiving the winner’s award, Jakubsonas joked that students might have chosen him as the most creative, as he once came to the lecture wearing a sweater featuring a unicorn. “Less scrolling, more creativity” – the teacher wished the VMU community.
Asta Kazlauskienė, a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanitarity, Kristina Juraitė, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, and VMU librarians were nominated for “Help of the Year”. VMU library staff won. Rita Bačėnaitė, who came to receive the award, thanked the students: “We value you as our friends and are always very welcome.”
Another nominee, “Volunteer of the Year”, was established by the Department of Student Affairs. The award was given to Indre Baltakyte, for volunteering for the “Road Sign Star” project and for most volunteering hours for both university activities and events.
The Miguel de Cervantes Spanish Language and Culture Club, the VMU student creative group Declamationes and the VMU basketball team were all nominated for the title of “Organization of the year”. VMU basketball players won the award. Taking the statue away, the team representative was delighted that such organizations could grow at the university.
Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences Rytis Pakrosnis, Lecturer at the Faculty of Arts Vitalija Truskauskaitė and Lecturer at the Faculty of Humanitarity Asta Gustaitienė aspired to become the “Humor of the Year”. The award went to Rytis Pakrosnis.
The nominees for “Innovator of the Year” were Mindaugas Norkevičius, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy, Vigilija Žiūraitė, a lecturer at the Institute of Foreign Languages, and Justinas Kisieliauskas, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Management. Justinas Kisieliauskas won.
Candidates for the best “Lecture of the year” were “Interview Art and Practice” (lecturer Rytis Zemkauskas), “Gender Psychology” (lecturer Kristina Žardeckaitė-Matulaitienė) and “Entrepreneurship” (lecturer Osvaldas Stripeikis). “Gender Psychology” was selected as the best lecture of the year. When taking the award, K. Žardeckaitė-Matulaitienė was delighted that after this course, students take a different, non-appearance look at a person and realize that we are each unique and individual.
“Teacher of the year” award was given acording to the survey “Teaching and study assessment” that took place in spring of 2019. The award was given to Vitalia Lanza, a lecturer in Italian at the Institute of Foreign Languages. In her opinion, this award is for the entire VMU community: “I bow my head against professors who have taught responsibility and discipline, I bow my head against students whose criticism has prevented me from falling asleep, and the good word that has inspired me. I bow my head to those of my colleagues who bring in experience and wisdom.”
During the awards performers like Vytenis Danielius and Isabella, the band Begėdiai and the academic choir Vivere Cantus (conducted by Rolandas Daugėla) showed their talent to the audience. In the lobby of the Great Hall there were Christmas workshops, a photo session with Santa and various activities.