July 2008 NUI Galway Teachers Win National Awards

Two NUI Galway academics will be honoured by the National Academy for the Integration of Research & Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) in their new programme of awards honouring exemplary teachers who are also innovative researchers in higher education in Ireland. Dr Peter Cantillon, Department of General Practice and Dr Ray Murphy, Irish Centre for Human Rights, were selected for two of the five national awards. Dr James Browne, President of NUI Galway, said: "It is very good news that two members of NUI Galway academic staff have been recognised by NAIRTL as exemplary teachers, and for NUI Galway to win two of the five awards is a huge achievement and a testament to the quality of the nominations put forward from this institution. Both Dr Cantillon and Dr Murphy were recipients of our internal awards for teaching excellence in 2006-2007, which 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 2009". Teaching and research are both central to the role of academic staff, and excellence in teaching and in creative and scholarly work go hand in hand. The NAIRTL Awards aim to acknowledge and reward academic staff that are successful in uniting these two roles. The awards are intended to recognise teaching accomplishments and to promote public recognition and celebration of the teaching profession. Nominations were invited from the NAIRTL partner institutions, (CIT, NUIG, TCD, UCC and WIT). The awards ceremony will be held later this year. For details of all award recipients nationally check out the NAIRTL website http://www.nairtl.ie/index.php?pageID=68 From 2009 it is envisaged that this initiative will be open to all higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland. ENDS