Boogaard awarded National Lecturer of the Year 2023

Arnold Bregt, Dean of Education at WUR, was also present at the award ceremony. He congratulated Boogaard on her win. “Every year, I nominate someone for this award. This was the first time we’d made it this far, and now we’ve won it. Fantastic.” Bregt also praised the presentations of the other three finalists.

It all came together

Boogaard looks back on a “wonderful day”. “Well-organised, great speeches by the others, really inspiring. The support from Wageningen was fantastic.” She certainly wasn’t expecting to win. “But it was just perfect. It all came together. It is time for these types of topics and educational formats in higher education.”

Boogaard normally gives her lectures in English, but had created a special mini-lecture in Dutch for this final, entitled “De noodzaak tot kennisdiversiteit in het hoger onderwijs” (The need for knowledge diversity in higher education). She also used illustrations that form an essential part of her lectures. “It is important that we learn from different types of knowledge in education,” says the newly minted Lecturer of the Year. “According to many students, the curriculum is too Western. African philosophy is therefore a great enrichment.”

Historically oppressed voices

During Boogaard's lectures, historically oppressed voices and colonial legacies are addressed. “Voices we do not hear enough. It is very important that we do not speak on behalf of or about these voices, but with these voices, and that we collaborate.” That is why African colleagues regularly provide lectures.

In those lectures, Boogaard uses a dialogical approach. “It is not about whether something is right or wrong: we think and speak in terms of difference and diversity. We listen to each other to better understand each other. In doing so, I invite students and myself to engage in very critical self-reflection. It is important that we dare to look into the mirror when it comes to our colonial legacy. We reflect on it together.”

The reflection takes place in a safe learning environment, one of the other pillars of Boogaard’s lectures. “I think that I spend 50 percent of the time on designing processes and techniques where I invite all students to contribute in order to ensure that everyone feels that they have the opportunity.”

A different view of the world

That Boogaard’s lectures sometimes really change the life of her students is evident from the e-mails that she still regularly receives. Last week, she received an e-mail from an ex-student who attended her African Philosophy course a few years ago. She wrote to Boogaard that she had realised how the lectures had changed her view of other cultures. “In particular the unconscious prejudices that I had of African cultures,” she wrote. “I am grateful that I am now aware of them.”

Boogaard also sees change in her students. She talked about this on Dutch National Radio, where she was interviewed shortly after being awarded Lecturer of the Year. “That is one of the biggest compliments that I can get as a lecturer. It has changed their view of the world and opened their eyes. It does not get any better than that for a lecturer.”