Over the past two years, Dr. Dieter Schonwetter, professor and director of academic services, was asked to help establish the Scholars for Health Innovations and Future Teaching (SHIFT) initiative at Torrens University in Adelaide, Australia.
SHIFT is a two-year mentorship program designed to cultivate the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) among health and allied health academics. Through this initiative, he has had the privilege of mentoring three emerging academic leaders – Dr. Manisha Thakkar, Dr. Accamma Oommen, and Dr. Dhivya Rajasekaran – who in turn mentored a community of practice of approximately 30 health professionals.
Together, this mentorship structure has led to the development of 12 SoTL research projects, resulting in numerous scholarly outputs including conference presentations, publications in preparation, and an invitation to contribute a book chapter describing the SHIFT model.
Torrens University has awarded the three SHIFT peer mentors the Vice Chancellor’s Academic Leadership Award for 2025 in recognition of the leadership and impact of this initiative.
“While the award itself is limited to Torrens staff, it is deeply meaningful to see these early-career scholars recognized for the leadership they have developed through the mentorship process,” Schonwetter said.
“For each of them, this distinction represents an important milestone that will strengthen their academic profiles and open further opportunities for leadership and scholarship in teaching and learning.”
Schonwetter said the greatest reward is seeing these colleagues grow into confident scholarly leaders who are now mentoring others in their own institution.