Professor Sally Fincher from the University of Kent has become the first British academic in 30 years to receive the SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education.

Each year, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) honours an individual or group in recognition of their long-lasting impact on, and significant contribution to, computing education. Their contribution may take the form of curriculum design, innovative teaching methods, textbook authorship or the development of new teaching tools. Recipients are selected from nominations by SIGCSE members.

Professor Fincher will be presented with her award at the 41st SIGCSE Technical Symposium in Milwaukee, USA, 10-13 March 2010. She will also give the keynote address at the Symposium.

Sally Fincher is Professor of Computing Education at the School of Computing, University of Kent, where she leads the Computing Education Research Group. She is co-editor of the Journal of Computer Science Education, a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Engineering Education, and a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching. In 2008, she was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and was recognised as Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2007. She was made a National Teaching Fellow in 2005.

Professor Fincher said:

" One of our challenges is to bring the intellectual excitement of computing to the fore. SIGCSE has been a champion for this over many decades, supporting computing educators and contributing to an evidence-base of successful practice through their conferences and publications. SIGCSE takes their role seriously, and it is a great honour to be selected for this award. "

Professor Simon Thompson, Head of the School of Computing, added:

" I am delighted to see Sally's award, which recognises the excellence of her approach to teaching innovation informed by evidence gleaned from her research in the area. "

The SIGCSE award was initiated in 1981. Past recipients include: Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon University; Grace Murray Hopper, Rear Admiral USN, Digital Equipment Corporation; Alan Perlis, Yale University; Mordechai Ben-Ari, Weizmann Institute of Science; Eric Roberts, Stanford University; and Alan Kay, Apple Computer.

Published 4 December 2009
Contact: M.L.Bowman@kent.ac.uk