New Dean of Celtic Studies
E-mail: ucdnews@midir.ucd.ie
Seosamh Watson has been elected dean of the Celtic Studies Faculty.
Originally from Belfast, he graduated in Classics at King's College Cambridge and subsequently did postgraduate studies Celtic Studies at Edinburgh University and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. He gained a PhD in Modern Irish from UCD and joined the Irish Department in 1970.
Since 1994 he has been head of department and director of the Irish Language Archive founded by the late Professor Tomás de Bhaldraithe whose Festschrift he edited.
He is an editorial board member both of the RIA Historical Dictionary of Irish and the UNESCO Atlas Linguarum Europae at Florence University. Aidhm phearsanta dá chuid an Ghaeilge a cur chun cinn sa pobal i gcoitinne: bhí sé ar bheirt bhunaitheoirí Oideas Gael, eagraíocht a thosaigh ag obair sa Ghaeltacht i 1984 as son theanga agus chultúr na Gaeilge ar leibhéal íseal. Faoin am seo tá foirgnimh úrnua dá cuid féin ann agus suas le 1,000 ag glacadh páirte in imeachtaí bliantúla, gan trácht ar an fhostaíocht áitúil sa bhreis a cruthaíodh.