WIT Press Release

Title: WIT Director congratulates Tramore academic on prestigious appointment in Scotland

Release date: Thu, Jun 05, 2008

WIT Director congratulates Tramore academic on prestigious appointment in Scotland

Prof Kieran R Byrne, Director, Waterford Institute of Technology has congratulated an academic from Tramore, Co Waterford on her appointment as Principal of the third oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Dr Louise Richardson will be Principal at University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland with effect from January next.

Dr Richardson (50) is currently Executive Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and is one of the world’s leading authorities on the study of terrorism and political violence.

Scotland ’s top-rated university and a leading European research centre, the University of St Andrews has 6,800 students and over 1,800 staff.

Congratulating Dr Richardson on her appointment as Principal at St Andrews, Prof Byrne said, “Dr Richardson is a very highly regarded academic leader and can now look forward to leading Scotland’s first university into a seventh century of achievement and distinction building on a reputation won since the 15^th Century.

“In the 28 years since she received her Bachelor’s degree in history from Trinity College Dublin, Dr Richardson has earned Master’s degrees in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Harvard and in History from Trinity College Dublin. She also has a Doctoral degree in Government from Harvard.

“She has won the Levenson Prize, awarded by the undergraduate student body to the best teachers at Harvard. In addition, Dr Richardson has received teaching awards from the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha for outstanding teaching in Political Science; the Abramson Award in recognition of her ‘excellence and sensitivity in teaching undergraduates’ and many awards from the Bok Center for Teaching Excellence.

“Her research has been recognised with awards from such organisations as the Ford Foundation; the Milton Fund; the Sloan Foundation; the Center for European Studies; the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the United States Institute of Peace.”

Dr Richardson who grew up in Tramore has taught and written widely on terrorism, international relations and British foreign and defence policy and her recent book What Terrorists Want is regarded as one of the most comprehensive and intellectually rigorous analyses of terrorism ever produced.

As Executive Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, Dr Richardson is the senior administrative officer and is responsible for the coordination of academic and administrative activities and the strategic management of administrative operations. She also represents the Radcliffe Institute on Harvard’s Administrative Council and on other University-wide committees.

She is one of those credited with transforming Radcliffe from the former women’s college at Harvard to an internationally respected Institute for Advanced Study which fosters inter-disciplinary collaboration between the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

Since her arrival at Radcliffe in 2001, she has spoken widely across the United States and abroad, to schools and universities, Harvard Clubs, academic conferences, Government officials and the security services. She has also been called to testify as an expert before the US Senate and appears regularly in the media.

In addition to her executive duties, Dr Richardson serves as Senior Lecturer in Government at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School . She is highly regarded both as an academic and an administrator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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