Ms Tara Foley receives 'Outstanding Colleague Award' at UCC University Staff Recognition Awards Ceremony

6 May 2022

Congratulations to Ms Tara Foley, Senior Technical Officer in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience who was awarded an ‘Outstanding Colleague Award’ at the 2021 University Staff Recognition Awards Ceremony which was held on the 26^th April 2022.

The University Staff Recognition Awards reception which had been deferred from November 2021 due to Covid-19, was held in the Aula Maxima and also relayed live online. Before presenting the awards, UCC President John O’Halloran welcoming the award winners, staff and guests and spoke of the exceptional service, work and dedication of the awardees, and he noted the particularly difficult year that had preceded the awards ceremony. Award recipients were introduced by Dr Anne Gannon, Department of Human Resources. 

Introducing Tara, Dr Gannon spoke of Tara’s qualities, achievements and dedication to the Department and University;

“Tara has been working in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience for the past 16 years and has always shown a great spirit of collaboration. She knows the qualities and skills of everyone and is able to bring colleagues together to share their theoretical and technical knowledge. Tara acts as a bridge between the different departments and will not hesitate to put equipment at the service of other researcher groups outside the department that are in need.Tara is involved in many practical courses, last year she had to work out the conversion of live courses into an online version, this was a complicated task to accomplish but Tara overcame the many difficulties. Feedback from the students on her courses has been very positive highlighting how clear and didactic that they have been. Her work will have positive and long-term impact on students and their future”.

Professor Aideen Sullivan Head of Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience congratulated Tara on her achievement saying that

"Tara is an amazing colleague, who can always be relied on to help all staff and students. She has an excellent breath of technical knowledge and experience, and plays a crucial role in supporting all of the research activities in our Department. She also contributes really important pastoral support to many postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers and is always available to them when they need a friendly boost. I was involved in recruiting Tara 16 years ago and I have been pleased and proud to see her progress in her career. Her input is really important in the research and teaching successes of our Department. She is a helpful, dedicated and supportive colleague who truly deserves the Staff Recognition Award.”

Ms Tara Foley, Outstanding Colleague Award winner

The University Staff Recognition Awards Programme was inaugurated in 2010, to provide a formal process for acknowledging outstanding achievements by UCC staff and for recognising and celebrating these achievements.  The programme complements informal recognition and appreciation of colleagues’ contribution to the University and the wider community on a day to day basis.  The Awards Programme offers a number of award categories which may vary from one year to the next. 

The awards ceremony can be viewed at this link, Ms Tara Foley is introduced by Dr Anne Gannon at 1:10:30.

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News item and photographs B. Riedewald