Visiting Professor
CurrentFollowing thirty years teaching in the English Department of University College, Dublin (1971 - 2001) I was recruited to teach in China.Over five semesters at one of China's elite universities, I taught (with my partner, Professor John Blair) a course devised for the BFSU graduate School of English and International Studies called "Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons". Especially devised for this university, the course aims to help Chinese students understand the Western world through systematic comparisons across designated domains, both traditional and modern (such as "Language", "Education", "Health and Bodies","Governance" and "Values and Worldviews". This course is now published -- and going into its third edition -- by Fudan University Press in Shanghai.While in this position, I also helped set up the only Irish Studies Centre in China -- where I subsequently have taught and will be teaching again this year (2015).