Post by Dr Conner McAleese (AFHEA)

I am honoured and astounded that I have been named the recipient of the Jim Stewart Tutor of the Year Award for a third consecutive year. When I first won this award, I hadn't even heard of it. Now, it is one of the proudest accomplishments I take from my time as a Ph. D. student. Twenty students took time out of their studying, working, and building their own extracurricular activities to write some of the most heartfelt and thoughtful praises I have ever had the pleasure to receive. I am indebted to their consideration in taking the time to nominate me for such a prestigious award. I now know that the three greatest strengths I bring to those I am privileged to teach are: 1. An approachability that allows students to feel comfortable enough to speak up when they are unsure of the materials. 2. A conversational tone that allows difficult theory or dense texts to become accessible. 3. And a level of enthusiasm that can reignite student's passion for English Literature. I was always nervous teaching English Literature modules as none of my prior degrees were in English Literature. I always felt like an imposter in the classroom. I felt like a tutor that had the potential to do a great disservice to those students who were unfortunate enough to be placed in my class. To counteract these feelings, I made it my mission to make sure that no student ever sat through one of my tutorials and thought it a waste of their time. I am grateful for those feelings of inadequacy, they pushed me to be a better educator (though it would be great if they could Foxtrot Oscar now!). I am even more grateful that I was successful in my mission: none of my tutorials have ever been called a 'waste of time'. Thank youProfessor Daniel, Dr Michael Morris, Dr Timothy Morris, Dr Matt Graham, Dr Johanna Linsley and Dr Aliki Varvogli for trusting me with your modules - I couldn't have done it without your faith! And, as always, it's important to remember that this award is named after the late, great Jim Stewart, a beloved colleague of many of my mentors at the University of Dundee. I hope that my mantra of 'there are no wrong answers, only weak arguments' is an ethos continued by each of the students I have been so fortunate to teach over the past three and a half years! And I am so proud to see so many of them achieving more than I ever could have during their undergraduate degrees. And to celebrate, I get to give my first lecture of this year's Summer School with the Academic Skills Centre!