Suzanne has been nominated for Teacher/Trainer of the Year based on her exceptional teaching in the Certificate IV in Screen and Media Digital Design, Diploma of Screen and Media (Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects), and the Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media (Content Creation and Design) in the College of Vocational Education at RMIT. She is also the Program Coordinator Screen, Media, and Digital Technology.  

Suzanne has a Bachelor of Media Communications from Southern Cross University, a Master of Multimedia from Swinburne University of Technology, and a Diploma of Vocational Education and Training from Fortress Learning.  She has a diverse background in media and communications.  Initially Suzanne started out in web developing and then upskilled on the job as a graphic designer and went into a successful freelance business with a partner for 16 years. The business involved a range of clients from small styles to large style scale graphics to multi-media ventures. Around 2001, Suzanne combined working in the industry and teaching in vocational education. Teaching enabled Suzanne to keep up with industry trends as well as utilise her background skills. Though teaching is her principal occupation, Suzanne does freelance work for not-for-profits.  

Suzanne has a great understanding of the diverse needs, abilities and backgrounds of her student cohort.  For her efforts, Suzanne was the recipient of the RMIT College of Vocational Education Creative Industries 2023 Educator of the Year Award. Suzanne gets a range of students that have lots or no experience, and sometimes no interest. As an experienced teacher she knows that she must keep students engaged if they are to succeed. She does this by setting rules of engagement out in the classroom. The rules of engagement are that she expects students to come to class on time, pay attention, ask questions, and don't slack off. Suzanne refers to these as building good habits, which she believes produces good student outcomes which will then increase motivation.  

Suzanne actively seeks feedback from her students to make improvements to her courses. For instance, Once the Certificate IV in Screen and Media was delivered, she worked closely with students and teachers to monitor student progress and feedback around the design and experience to inform any improvements. In another example, her students provided her with feedback that there were too many assessments. Suzanne listened and was able to empathise with her students. In response, she merged assessments together to reduce the number of assessments.

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