Recipients announced for DCU President’s Awards for Teaching Excellence for 2023
Recipients of the DCU President’s Awards for Teaching Excellence 2023 were announced at a ceremony held at the university’s Glasnevin campus earlier today.
The annual awards recognise the excellence, innovation and commitment of staff involved directly or indirectly with teaching at the University.
At the ceremony, Dublin City University President Professor Daire Keogh said:
These awards are a welcome opportunity for the University to celebrate the excellence of all of DCU’s teachers, as well as colleagues who support our teaching staff. Their innovative teaching approaches, depth of expertise and commitment are all reflected in the nominations. So too, is the ‘human touch’ and empathy that is a hallmark of DCU Teaching and Learning.
The award recipients are listed below, along with a quote from their nomination applications.
Teaching Support: Michele Somers, School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at the DCU Institute of Education
Michele is a partner in collaboration around designing and developing practical work on our campus. This is such a highly valued quality because it means that practical work becomes a team effort, providing a mixture of content and pedagogical knowledge that is essential to teach any practical work and is a great example to the future teachers who take our laboratory module.
Team Award: The Law and Government Lecturers Team, School of Law and Government, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The law lecturers recognised that many of their students had never prepared for or sat an in-person State or university exam due to COVID. The lecturers adopted a collective approach to reduce student anxiety. In response to the student needs the lecturers held a Zoom meeting in early November to discuss revision, answering problem-based questions, and writing essays. 300 students jumped onto the Zoom meeting. It proves that the lecturers share a common approach to problem-based questions and essay writing.
New Lecturer Award: Martin Venker, School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Health
He goes above and beyond in his teaching and lectures and really cares about us and our issues outside of the module. A polite man, with a brilliant genius in his teaching methods, his people skills are top class.
Distinctive Approaches to Teaching Award: James Lovatt, School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies at the DCU Institute of Education
James is a wonderful teacher and a great colleague. He has left a lasting impression on hundreds of science teachers who are out in the secondary school system, who recall his innovative approach to science teaching as inspirational.
Distinctive Approaches to Assessment & Feedback Award: Siobhán Russell, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Faculty of Science and Health
Siobhán is an excellent lecturer and very supportive for all the students in the class. Her passion for mental health nursing is demonstrated through how she teaches students in her class, she makes the topics very enjoyable and interesting.
Distinctive Approaches to Innovation in Teaching: Marta Rocchi, DCU Business School
She loves what she teaches. She’s a very kind person and made it clear that she cares about her students. Marta is interactive and engaging with the class. I feel that she has gone above and beyond to engage and allow her students to develop and grow not only individually but also in our development of ethics.
Overall Academic Award: Dónal Mulligan, School of Communications, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Overall, Dónal's innovative approach to organising and communicating lecture material to this diverse class and his outstanding willingness to provide support and accommodation greatly influenced my and my class's learning and success during the module. Dónal, as a lecturer, was highly effective in facilitating my learning, providing continuous support throughout the module.