Dr Sara O'Sullivan B.A.(Mod), MSocSc, PhD.
Contact Details
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Biography:
| I have been a Lecturer at University College Dublin since 2000. My main areas of research are gender, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), sociology of higher education and sociology of the media. I also teach qualitative research methods to graduate students and have a particular interest in the process of analysing qualitative data. I am on sabbatical leave until August 2012 and will be spending spring 2012 as a visiting scholar at the Sociology Department, New York University. In 2007 I edited Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map, published by UCD Press. I was a UCD Fellow in Teaching and Academic Development 2007-2009 which allowed me to develop my interest in SoTL, with a particular focus on the sociology classroom. I am currently completing in a research project titled 'Investigating links between attendance at small group sociology classes, student attainment and student motivation' (HS-E-10-190-OSullivan). Professional Activities: UCD Fellow in Teaching & Academic Development (2007-2009) (see http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/ucd%20fellowships%20report%202007-09.pdf) Council Member Economic and Social Studies (2006-present) |
Research Interests
| Sociology of Gender. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Sociology of Higher Education Qualitative Research methodology Sociology of Media. Sociology of Health and Illness. Research Projects 2010-2011 'Investigating links between attendance at small group sociology classes, student attainment and student motivation' (HS-E-10-190-OSullivan). 2007-2010 Sponsor : UCD Fellowship in Teaching & Academic Development Title : The First Year Experience |
Research Projects
| Sponsor : Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Title : Evaluation of Climate Change Lectures Start Date / End Date : 03-JUN-08 / 25-AUG-08 |
Edited Books
| O'Sullivan, Sara (Ed.). (2007) Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map. Dublin: UCD Press. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| O'Sullivan, Sara (2012) 'Onwards and Upwards? Gender and Work in Ireland'. Sociology Compass, (6/5):376-388. [DOI] [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, Sara (2012) ''All Changed, Changed Utterly'? Gender role attitudes and the feminisation of the Irish labour force'. Womens Studies International Forum, 35 (4):223-232. [DOI] [Details] |
| Gibney, A,Moore, N,Murphy, F,O'Sullivan, S; (2011) 'The first semester of university life; 'will I be able to manage it at all?''. Higher Education, 62 :351-366. [DOI] [Details] |
O'Sullivan, S; (2011) 'Applying the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in an Irish Context: Mission Impossible?'. Teaching Sociology, 39 (3):303-319.  [DOI] [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, S; (2005) ''The whole nation is listening to you': the presentation of the self on a tabloid talk radio show'. Media Culture and Society, 27 . [DOI] [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, Sara; (2001) 'The Illusion of Consumer Participation: The Case of Talk Radio'. MC Reviews, . [Details] |
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| O'Sullivan, Sara ; (1999) 'In Search of the Radio Audience'. Diegesis, 5 (Winter). [Details] | |||||||||
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Book Chapters
| O' Sullivan, Sara; (2007) 'Gender' In: O' Sullivan, Sara (eds). Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map. Dublin: UCD Press. [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, Sara; (2007) 'Gender and Attitudes to Women's Employment: 1988-2002' In: Betty Hilliard and Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig (eds). Changing Ireland in Comparative Perspective. Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, Sara; (2006) 'The Illusion of Consumer Participation: The Case of Talk Radio' In: Jack Selzer and Dominic Delli Carpini (eds). Conversations: Reading for Writing. 6th Edition. Milton, MA: Longman. [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, Sara and Anne Stakelum; (2004) ''Lay Understandings of Health: A Qualitative Study'' In: in Kaisa Kauppinen and Ian Shaw (eds.) Aldershot: Ashgate (eds). Health and Illness: European Perspectives. Kaisa Kauppinen and Ian Shaw (eds) Constructions of Health and Illness: European Perspectives. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Details] |
| OSullivan, Sara; (2000) 'Talk Radio' In: in M. Peillon and E. Slater (eds.) (eds). Memories of the Present: Ireland 97-98. Dublin: IPA. [Details] |
| OSullivan, Sara; (1997) 'The Ryanline is Now Open: Talk Radio and the Public Sphere' In: in Mary J. Kelly and Barbara OConnor (eds.) (eds). Media Audiences in Ireland: Power and Cultural Identity. Dublin: UCD Press. [Details] | |||||||||
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Other Journals
| O'Sullivan, S and P. Lewis; (2006) ''Future Directions for Research on Radio Audiences'' Recherches en Communication 26 :165-182. [Details] |
Conference Publications
| O¿Sullivan, Sara, Niamh Moore and Elizabeth Noonan ; (2011) A Stimulus for Change? The impact of SoTL work at University College Dublin International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Milwaukee, Wisconsin, , 20-OCT-11 - 23-OCT-11 [Details] |
| Messineo, Melinda J. and Sara O'Sullivan ; (2011) How the Practice of Sociology Can Inform Interdisciplinary SOTL International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning , 20-OCT-11 - 23-OCT-11 [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, S., Kelly, T., McMahon, L., Moore, G., Nithiam, D., Slevin, A., Surgenor, P.W. G., & Wixted, L. ; (2011) Vocabularies of motive: Students¿ accounts of attendance and non-attendance at Sociology seminars 38th Annual Sociological Association of Ireland [Details] |
| O'Sullivan, S., Gibney, A., Moore, N. & Murphy, F.; (2010) The First Year Experience at University College Dublin 29th Annual Conference of the First Year Experience, Denver Colorado [Details] |
| Gibney, A., Moore, N., O'Sullivan, S. and Murphy, F.; (2008) 'Won't someone tell me all I need to know?':First Year Expectations of University Life Universitas 21 Teaching & Learning Conference, Does Teaching and Learning Translate? [Details] |
| Moore, N., Gibney, A., O'Sullivan, S., Murphy, F.; (2008) Channelling Innovation: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Academic Policy Formulation 30th Annual EAIR (The European Higher Education Society) Forum [Details] | |||||||||
| Lewis, Peter and Sara O'Sullivan.; (2007) Future Directions for Research on Radio Audiences . In: Frédéric Antione eds. Proceedings of IREN International Colloquium Louvain-La-Neuve and Brussels, , 09-NOV-06 - 10-NOV-06 [Details] | |||||||||
| Lewis, Peter and Sara O'Sullivan; (2004) Listening to Listeners . In: Jean-Jacques Cheval eds. Proceedings of GRER/IREN International colloquium Bordeaux Radios, Services, Publics¿ La radio à quoi ça sert? (Radios, Programmes, Audiences¿ Are you, , 01-APR-04 - 03-APR-04 [Details] | |||||||||
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Research Papers
| O'Sullivan, Sara and Anne Stakelum ; (2002) Lay Understandings of Health in Co. Louth A Qualitative Study. Navan: : Research Papers [Details] |
Associations
| Association: American Sociological Association, Function/Role: |
| Association: European Sociological Association , Function/Role: |
| Association: Sociological Association of Ireland, Function/Role: Member |
Conference Contributions
| Sara O'Sullivan (UCD), Tina Kelly (UCD), Lean McMahon (UCD), Gemma Moore (UCD), Diane Nithiam (UCD), Amanda Slevin (UCD), Paul Surgenor (UCD) and Lisa Wixted (UL); (2011) Vocabularies of motive: Students¿ accounts of attendance and non- attendance at Sociology seminars. [National Refereed Conference Paper], Sociological Associatation of Ireland, UCC , 06-MAY-11 - 08-MAY-11. |
| O'Sullivan, Sara et al; (2010) The First Year Experience at University College Dublin. [International Refereed Conference], 9th Annual Conference of the First Year Experience, Denver, Colorado , 12-FEB-10 - 16-FEB-10. |
| Sara O'Sullivan; (2010) Teaching and learning solutions to problems impacting on student learning in large first year classes. [International Refereed Conference], SoTL Commons Conference, Georgia Southern University, Statesbor USA , 10-MAR-10 - 12-MAR-10. |
| Sara O'Sullivan; (2010) 'All changed, changed utterly? Gender role attitudes and the feminisation of the Irish labour force. [International Refereed Conference], American Sociological Association 105th Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia , 13-AUG-10 - 17-AUG-10. |
| O'Sullivan, S; (2009) Designing, Implementing and Revising a Learning Outcomes Based Curriculum: The Experience of the UCD School of Sociology. [Invited Oral Presentation], Primer Seminario del Bologna Expert Team (Spain), Resultados de Aprendizaje: Descripción, Desarrollo y Evaluación, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha Toledo , 10-DEC-09 - 10-DEC-09. |
| O'Sullivan, S; (2009) Using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to Enhance the First Year Experience in Sociology: Mission Impossible?. [National Refereed Conference Paper], Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Conference, QUB, Belfast , 08-MAY-09 - 10-MAY-09. | |||||||||
| O'Sullivan, S; (2009) Enhancing The First Year Experience in Sociology. [Poster Presentation], Irish Universities Quality Board Conference Striving to enhance the Student Experience: Implementing a Student Centred Approach to Learning- The European Standards and Guidelines (Part 1) in action, Dublin , 03-NOV-09 - 03-NOV-09. | |||||||||
| Moore, N., Gibney, A., Murphy, F. & O'Sullivan, S.; (2008) Policy and practice at third level. [International Refereed Conference], European Association of Institutional Research, Copenhagen , 11-AUG-08 - 14-AUG-08. | |||||||||
| Gibney, A., Murphy, F., Moore, N. & O'Sullivan, S.; (2008) Won't they tell me all I need to know. [International Refereed Conference], Universitas 21 Teaching and Learning Conference, Glasgow , 21-FEB-08 - 24-FEB-08. | |||||||||
| Gibney, A. et al; (2008) Channelling innovation in a time of change: Incorporating the scholarship of teaching and learning in policy formulation. [International Refereed Conference], 30th EAIR Forum, Copenhagen , 24-AUG-08 - 27-AUG-08. | |||||||||
| O' Sullivan, S; (1998) In Search of the Radio Audience(s): Participants, Fans, Listeners and Irish Talk Radio. [International Refereed Conference], International Sociological Association 14th World Congress, Montreal , 26-JUL-98 - 01-AUG-98. | |||||||||
| O' Sullivan, S; (1998) More Than Just Entertainment? A Sociological Investigation of an Irish Talk Radio Show. [International Refereed Conference], American Sociological Association 93rd Annual Meeting, San Francisco , 21-AUG-98 - 25-AUG-98. | |||||||||
| O' Sullivan, S; (2001) 'Lay Understandings of Health: A Qualitative Study'. [International Refereed Conference], 5th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Helsinki , 28-AUG-01 - 01-SEP-01. | |||||||||
| O' Sullivan, S; (2003) 'Health,Illness and the Media'. [N/A], Sociological Association of Ireland 30th Annual Conference, Cavan.April 2003, Cavan , 25-APR-03 - 27-APR-03. | |||||||||
| O'Sullivan, S.; (2006) Religious Transformations at Home and Abroad. [Chaired Session], SAI Annual Conference, Sligo , 05-MAY-06 - 07-MAY-06. | |||||||||
| O'Sullivan, S; (2004) In Seach of the Radio Audience. [Oral Presentation], Radio Studies Network Meeting, University of Luton , 29-JAN-04 - 29-JAN-04. | |||||||||
| Peter Lewis (London School of Economics) and Sara OSullivan (University College Dublin); (2004) Listening to Listeners 2. [Oral Presentation], Sounding Out 2, University of Nottingham , 08-JUL-04 - 10-JUL-04. | |||||||||
| Lewis, Peter (LSE) and O'Sullivan, Sara; (2004) Listening to Listeners. [National Refereed Conference Paper], Radios, Services, Publics La radio à quoi ça sert? (Radios, Programmes, Audiences Are you being served?), GRER/IREN International colloquium , Bordeaux, France , 01-APR-04 - 03-APR-04. | |||||||||
| Peter Lewis (London School of Economics) and Sara OSullivan (University College Dublin); (2004) Future Directions in Radio Research. [National Refereed Conference Paper], International Radio Summer School, University of Siena, Italy , 26-JUL-04 - 31-JUL-04. | |||||||||
| O'Sullivan, Sara; (2003) From Silence to Openness? Talk Radio and the Transformation of Irish Society. [Other], The Radio Conference - A Transnational Forum, University of Madison, Wisconsin , 28-JUL-03 - 31-JUL-03. | |||||||||
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Committees
| Committee : Research Support Group, New Era Programme Retention Project 2003-4 |
| Committee : Faculy of Human Sciences, Modularisation Liason Committee |
| Committee : Sociological Association of Ireland Executive Committee 1996-2001 |
| Committee : Irish Journal of Sociology |
| Committee : College of Human Sciences, Teaching and Learning Committee |
| Committee : UCD School of Sociology, Undergraduate Studies Committee | |||||||||
| Committee : UCD School of Sociology, Executive Committee | |||||||||
| Committee : College of Arts and Human Sciences, Timetabling Committee | |||||||||
| Committee : College of Human Sciences, Committee to consider Mature Student Applications | |||||||||
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Employment
| Employer: University College Dublin Position: College Lecturer |
| Employer: NUI Maynooth Position: Assistant Lecturer/ Occasional |
| Employer: North Eastern Health Board Position: Qualitative Research Consultant |
| Employer: University College Dublin Position: Faculty of Arts Fellow |
| Employer: UCD Position: Occasional Lecturer |
| Employer: University College Dublin Position: Occasional Lecturer and Tutor |
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| Employer: Kimmage Manor Position: Development Studies Centre |
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| Employer: Trinity College Dublin Position: 1st Year Sociology Tutor |
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Education
| Year 1993 Institution: Trinity College Dublin Qualification: BA (Mod) Subject: |
| Year 1994 Institution: University College Dublin Qualification: MSocSc Subject: |
| Year 2001 Institution: University College Dublin Qualification: PhD Subject: |
Other Activities
| Course Co-ordinator ‘Qualitative Approaches to Research Practice’, PhD Programme, Institute for the Study of Social Change, 2004–5. |
| Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Sociology 2003–4 and 2005–6. |
Internal Collaborators
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Tina Kelly (UCD), Lean McMahon (UCD), Gemma Moore (UCD), Amanda Slevin (UCD) and Paul Surgenor (UCD) |
External Collaborators
| Lisa Wixted (UL), Diane Nititham (University of Illinois at Chicago) |
Teaching Philosophy
| As a teacher my goal is to facilitate student learning. My role is to create opportunities for active, experiential and collaborative learning. I do not assume that because I am teaching students are learning and so I use a variety of techniques to monitor what students are learning. |
Modules Coordinated
| 201200 SOC20040 Sociology: Sociology of Gender |
| 201200 SOC40330 Sociology: Qualitative Research |
| 201200 SOC40130 Sociology: Qualitative Data Analysis |
Enhancement of Teaching
| I revise my modules on an ongoing basis, drawing on new pedagogic research, information and advice from workshops I have attended, mid-semester student feedback, student attendance data, and UCD module enhancement information. For example, in 2006-7 I redesigned SOC 20040, making use of some of the strategies outlined at a 2005 UCD T&L workshop. The aim was to address an orientation towards surface learning, focussed on the terminal examination. This problem was evident from low levels of student engagement, poor attendance at seminars and a higher failure rate than in other sociology modules. Short assignments were designed to accommodate different learning styles and formative feedback was given on each piece of work submitted. I continued to refine this model further over subsequent years. The initiative was successful: regular formative feedback saw the quality of student work improving each semester, student engagement at seminars was much better, student evaluations of the course were positive, the numbers of students achieving an A grade rose from 0 to 7% and the failure rate declined from 19% (2005-6), to 5% in 2007-8. I find mid-semester feedback essential for pinpointing ways I can enhance student learning for a particular cohort. I use the feedback to create a list of things that are working well, changes that I can implement immediately, and changes I will consider when revising the module. I report these back to the class, closing the feedback loop. I have found students welcome even small changes e.g. using more visual material in lectures. |
Review and Enhancement of Curriculum
| In 2011 I created a new module (SOC 40130) in response to a need identified at school and college level for graduate level training in qualitative research analysis. The GRIF provided funds for me to attend a NVivo workshop and to purchase the software. The module takes an innovative approach. Students learn how to use the latest qualitative software, an important and marketable skill. In their work they learn about qualitative data analysis either working with their own data, or with archived material from the UK ESDS Qualidata archive (launched in 2003) or the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (launched in 2010). This cutting edge approach capitalises on archived secondary data, a resource that constitutes a major development in both sociology, and qualitative research. The module introduces these resources and encourages students to consider using them in their dissertations and theses. Qualitative data is expensive and time consuming to collect and is often under-analysed. These new archives have huge potential for sociological research and are particularly useful for researching sensitive topics, hard to access populations and over-researched populations. For example the Growing Up in Ireland study, archived with the IQDA, consists of 120 interviews with 9 year old children and their parents, an invaluable resource for researchers. This new module can be seen to make an important contribution to developing and enhancing graduate education, a key goal of the UCD Education Strategy. Student feedback on the module has been very positive. A typical comment was 'I loved that it was a practical, hands-on course, teaching important skills for qualitative data analysis. The active discussions also showed me a new way to analyse interview scripts'. In 2013 I will do research to allow me examine the outcomes of this innovative approach in more detail. |
Developing as a Teacher
| I regularly attend key teaching and learning workshops and conferences, in Ireland, the UK and the USA. I have found these very useful for keeping up-to-date with innovative teaching and learning ideas. I have particularly benefited from attending the following workshops and conferences: *ERSC workshop on secondary data analysis, Cambridge University, June 2004. *ERSC workshop on PhD Supervision, Paul Atkinson and Sara Delamont, St Catherine's *College Oxford, July 2004. *CAQDAS NVivo 8, Introductory Workshop, University of Surrey, January 2010. *'Best Practice in the First College Year', Gardner and Barefoot, 29th FYE conference Denver Colorado, February 2010. *SoTL Commons Conference, March 2010 Georgia Southern University. *'Effective Teaching' Workshop, Professor Richard Felder UCD/ DRHEA May 2010. *Preconference T&L workshop, American Sociological Association Annual conference, Atlanta, August 2010 *Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data, University of Leeds, April 2011. *ISSOTL Conference, Milwaukee, October 2011. I have used this knowledge to enhance my own modules and design new modules (e.g. SOC 40130). It has also guided me as a PhD supervisor and a doctoral studies panel member. Finally as school head of T&L I have drawn on this material in the orientation and support of sociology tutors, and to advise colleagues in my school on module assessments, seminars and 1st year issues. |
Innovation & Leadership
| I have used a SoTL approach to develop feasible solutions to T&L problems at UCD. This combination of an engaged problem-solving approach and a solid evidence base has provided the foundations for my role as a UCD leader in teaching and learning. |
