Teaching Awards Recognise Commitment to Teaching and Learning

Posted on: 10 June 2013

The Dermot McAleese Teaching Awards were presented recently to teaching assistants in the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy in recognition of their outstanding contribution in the pursuit of teaching excellence. 

The recipients from the School’s four departments were Robert Ryan of the Economics Department, Georg Urich of the Philosophy Department, Michael Courtney of the Political Science Department and Martina Byrne of the Sociology Department.

The awards, presented by Senior Lecturer Patrick Geoghegan, are in honour of former Whately Professor of Political Economy Dermot McAleese. The awards were established thanks to the generosity of graduates of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy who donated to Trinity in recent years. Professor McAleese provided further generous financial support to sustain these awards for the decades to come.

Senior Lecturer Patrick Geoghegan with Dermot McAleese Teaching Award winners Michael Courtney, Robert Ryan, Georg Urich, Martina Byrne and Prof Dermot McAleese 

The winners were selected through a nomination process which involved assessing their creativity in delivering tutorials; the role of their tutorials in stimulating critical thinking amongst the students; their responsiveness and engagement with students; good organisation and problem solving; and the contribution of tutorials to the overall delivery of the course.

Speaking at the awards, Peter Simons, Head of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, commented: “I would like to congratulate this year’s winners who are being recognised for their outstanding commitment to achieving excellence in teaching and learning. Their creativity, leadership and engaging teaching methods have enhanced the delivery of our courses and the learning experience of our undergraduate students.”

The presentation was followed by a public Lecture on “Women in Politics” organised by TCD’s Policy Institute. Speakers at the lecture included Gail McElroy, Professor of Political Science, TCD and Ms Rachel Nolan, former Minister for Finance, Natural Resources and the Arts, Queensland state government, Australia. Senator Ivana Bacik acted as a discussant and the lecture was chaired by Prof Catherine Lawless, Director of the Gender and Women’s Studies.