NUI Galway lecturer wins national teaching award

NUI Galway lecturer in geography, John Morrissey

By Declan Varley

NUI Galway Lecturer in Geography, Dr John Morrissey, is among fifteen higher education staff representing six different institutions recognised as exemplifying excellence in teaching at the annual National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) awards. The award presentations will take place at a special ceremony in Dublin in September.

Now in its fifth year, the NAIRTL awards recognise higher education teachers who demonstrate outstanding dedication to their teaching and have made an exceptional impact on student learning. This year’s winners are no exception and were chosen from thirty-one detailed submissions from fourteen different Higher Education Institutions across Ireland. The 2012 winners represent disciplines as diverse as business, chemistry, geography, the humanities, paediatrics, and physical sciences, and were nominated by senior staff in their institution to go forward for the highly competitive award.

Dr Morrissey is a Lecturer in Geography and Director of the MA in Environment, Society and Development at NUI Galway. His research interests are in geopolitics and post-conflict development, which he has published on widely. He was an IRCHSS Fellow in 2007/2008.

His teaching is driven by a passion for engaging his students and to this end he is a keen advocate of both field-based learning and technology-enhanced learning. In 2011, Dr Morrissey won NUI Galway’s President’s Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2012 he completed an MA in Academic Practice at NUI Galway.

Dr Jim Browne, President of NUI Galway, said: “It is great news that Dr Morrissey has been recognised by NAIRTL as an exemplary teacher. NUI Galway has a successful record at the NAIRTL awards, with awards being presented to our lecturers each year since the formation of NAIRTL. This is a huge achievement and a testament to the quality of nominations put forward by this University. Dr Morrissey was a recipient of our internal awards for teaching excellence in 2010-11. This scheme recognises the outstanding efforts academic staff make to ensure NUI Galway students receive the highest quality learning experience. We look forward to continued collaboration with NAIRTL and to further success in the national awards scheme in 2013.”

NAIRTL was established in 2007, and its vision is one where research and teaching go hand in hand. Previous recipients of the National Award for Excellence in Teaching include senior and junior staff members from thirteen different Higher Education Institutions in Ireland.