Lena Tacke of RWTH’s Religious Education Department Honored with Teaching Award

The Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ina Brandes, presented Dr. Lena Tacke with the NRW Teaching Award at a ceremony on November 27 in Düsseldorf.

 © MKW / Christian BohnenkampIna Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, presents Lena Tacke (left) with the NRW 2023 Teaching Prize.

Lena Tacke is currently Interim Professor of Religious Education at the Institute of Catholic Theology at RWTH Aachen University. She studied theology and German language and literature at the University of Münster and has been a research assistant at the Chair of Practical Theology at TU Dortmund University since 2019.

Together with Dr. Vanessa Henke from the Institute for General Didactics and School Pedagogy at TU Dortmund University, Tacke received the special prize “Teaching and Learning in a Team”, worth 50,000 euros. Tacke and Henke are working together on the BNERoom project, developing serious games for student teachers dedicated to selected sustainability goals of the United Nations. Tacke was honored for addressing current societal transformation processes in religious education. In order to continuously improve teaching and examination formats, she evaluates teaching and learning arrangements developed together with students.

The NRW Teaching Award was presented for the third time now. A jury of lecturers, students, and university pedagogy experts select the award winners in five categories. Faculties, departments, and student councils can nominate candidates; instructors also have the opportunity to nominate themselves.