New Vice-Provost and Annual College Officers Announced
Posted on: 15 June 2016
The new Vice-Provost and a number of new Annual College Officers were announced today.
Professor Chris Morash has been appointed as Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer. He is joined by Professor Paula Murphy who has been appointed as the new Registrar, Professor Neville Cox as Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Richard Timoney as Junior Proctor, Professor Aidan Seery as Senior Tutor and Professor Kevin Mitchell as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science Education.
They were nominated by the Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast and the appointments were ratified by the Trinity Board today [June 15th]. The Provost wished them all well in their new roles which they will start on July 4th, 2016.
Professor Morash is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing in the School of English and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (FTCD). He joined the staff of Trinity in 2014 from Maynooth University where he was the founder of the Centre for Media Studies. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and is chair of its Culture and Heritage Policy Sub-committee. He was also a former Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. He has published histories of Irish theatre and of Irish media, both extending from the 17th century to the present as well as studies on the Famine and is working on a book on Yeats.
Congratulating him on his appointment, Dr Prendergast said: “I know that Chris will bring a great deal to the new role. His appointment comes at a very exciting time for Trinity in terms of teaching, learning, research and innovation. It is also a time of tremendous challenge for the university in terms of funding that will be a priority for us in the coming months.”
Professor Morash commented: “This is a challenging time for Irish third-level education, but challenging times can be opportunities both for change, and for deciding what is important to defend. I’ve been waking up every morning with a sense of the challenges and the possibilities of this post. And, at a personal level, as a Canadian-born Vice-Provost, there is a sense of making history in a small way – and that’s exciting as well.”
Along with Professor Morash a number of new Annual College Officers were appointed:
The new Registrar, Professor Paula Murphy (FTCD) is Professor in Zoology in the School of Natural Sciences. Her research interests are in the genetic regulation of embryonic development.
The new Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Neville Cox (FTCD) is an Associate Professor in the School of Law. A practising barrister, Professor Cox’s research interests are Comparative Law, Employment Law, Sports Law and Torts.
The new Junior Proctor is Professor Richard Timoney (SFTCD) a Professor in Mathematics. His research interests are complex and functional analysis.
The new Senior Tutor is Professor Aidan Seery who was elected by the tutors is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education. His field of interest is in the philosophy of education with particular regard to the connection between education and self-formation and the nature and status of knowledge in educational research.
The new Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science Education is Professor Kevin Mitchell ( FTCD). He is an Associate Professor in Developmental Neurobiology in the School of Genetics and Microbiology. He is interested in the genetics of brain wiring and its contribution to variation in human faculties.