Please forgive the rather indulgent nature of this post, but it is always lovely to be appreciated and thanked for the work that you do. This is particularly rewarding when those who are showing appreciation are those you closely work with; students and staff. Therefore we, as a department, were delighted when we were notified that we had been nominated for 5 awards at this year’s Newman SU Excellence Awards 2018.

It was a real honour and privilege to receive 3 awards and a ‘highly commended’ on the night, as well as the recognition of the standard of our work in the Newman Theology and Philosophy department.

Staff Member of the Year

We were thrilled that David McCloughlin was awarded Staff Member of the Year. David is retiring in the summer after many years of service at Newman. He is going to be greatly missed. However, it was wonderful that his tireless contribution to the university – on so many levels – was recognised in such a warm-hearted way.

Unfortunately, David had picked up a virus and was not able to attend the night and so I had the privilege of accepting the award on his behalf.

You’re Great Award

Another member of our team, Eamonn Elliott (Senior Lecturer – Education & RE and CRSS), was awarded a ‘You’re Great award’ for his support, encouragement and high standard of teaching.

Unsung Hero Award

The many ancillary tasks and responsibilities allied to the delivery of lectures often go unnoticed. However, these are often just as important as what actually happens in the classrooms and lecture theatres. We are particularly fortunate at Newman because, as it is a smaller institution, we can develop a much closer and collaborative working/learning style with our students that makes teaching (and, I hope, learning) a much richer and rewarding experience. It was therefore a real joy to be nominated by our students and to receive the ‘Unsung Hero’ award.

Outstanding Feedback – Highly Commended

Student feedback is something that we as a department take very seriously and we spend a lot of time aiming to make all feedback as positive and useful as possible. A few years ago we instigated a policy of ‘feed-forward’ rather than ‘feed-back’ and this has informed our practice ever since. It was therefore particularly gratifying to receive ‘highly commended’ in the ‘Outstanding Feedback’ category.