By Sofie Astrup, AAU Communication and Public Affairs and Marianne Fuglsang Welling Farsinsen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: AAU

"Mette Thuesen is my biggest inspiration. When I become a psychologist, I will take her approach with me." This is one of the great statements from the students' motivation, which forms the basis for the appointment of external lecturer Mette Thuesen from the Department of Communication and Psychology as this year's Humanities teacher at SSH.

Mette Thuesen teaches at the psychology programme, where the students who have nominated her describe that she is an extraordinary teacher and clinical psychologist who combines deep professionalism with a practice-oriented approach. She balances professionalism with humor and empathy and inspires her students with her great knowledge and ability to make serious topics present and relevant. 

The art of creating a safe learning space

Mette Thuesen is both happy, proud and overwhelmed that the students have pointed to her as Teacher of the Year, especially because the students also describe that she creates a safe learning space.

"I want the students to relate to the material personally and take a stand – they should not just be replenished with new learning. For me, learning is not just about gaining new knowledge, but changing your experience of yourself and others and the world. I emphasize that the psychology study is a professional education and therefore include both research, theory and practice, and try to put these into play against each other," says Mette Thuesen.

In the motivation from the students, it is described that Mette Thuesen shows great interest and commitment in the students' learning, and that she, in her teaching, actively seeks to meet the fear of 'saying something stupid', which the students may bring with them from a performance-focused learning environment.

"In the contact with the students and their curiosity and openness, I find great inspiration in my own process of understanding complex phenomena, and I am kept awake in relation to my own understandings when I work on formulating and communicating the material. In addition, I find it so important to try to help 'equip young people' for practice, where a good psychologist can alleviate a lot of human suffering," concludes Mette Thuesen.

Mette Thuesen is now a candidate for the title of Teacher of the Year at AAU, which will be announced at AAU's annual celebration on 4 April 2025.

SSH honours several teachers in the humanities

• Study Board of Danish, English, Cultural Understanding and Applied Philosophy: Jens Damgaard Thaysen
• Study Board of Learning, IT and Organisation (LIO): Nikolaj Klee 
• Study Board for the Master's Programme in ICT and Learning: Christian Dalsgaard 
• Study Board of International and Cross-Cultural Studies: Sophie Gulstad