Dr. Kathleen Heaslip Wodala worked at the English Department of József Attila University for twenty years. She originated from Scotland and had degrees in French and German. She began her career at (JATE, now called SZTE) University of Szeged in 1974 as a British Council lector. Her husband being Hungarian, after her years with the British Council were over, she remained in Szeged as a full-time assistant lecturer at the Department. She was involved in teaching language, methodology, and translation studies. Since her family was bilingual (Kate also spoke excellent Hungarian), she made a scientific study of the subject, writing and defending her doctoral thesis in 1985 on the basis of her experiences with her own children. The work was published under the title The Development of Reading Skills in an English-Hungarian Bilingual Child (the Initial Stages). During her later years with us, she held speech technique classes, using excellent methods with outstanding results. In addition to all her family and teaching activities, she managed to find time and energy to sing in the Szeged Bartók Choir, help her colleagues, teach Scottish dances on summer courses, and assist in organizing the English Department at the University of Toulon in France.
It is to commemorate and prolong her presence at this Department that the Award named after her will be presented annually, to a student who has demonstrated outstanding ability in some respect.
Since the original intention was to prolong Kate’s life at the Dept/Inst with another twenty years, the Award will be awarded twice more, in 2013 and 2014.
Award winners:
1995 Gáspár Róbert
1996 Varga Edina
1997 Kovács Ágnes Zsófia
1998 Vékony Attila
1999 Szarvas Júlia
2000 Dragon Zoltán
2001 Rauzs Orsolya
2002 Kelemen Csilla
2003 Balogh Erzsébet
2004 Maczák Zsuzsanna
2005 Janurik Boglárka
2006 László Zsuzsa
2007 Borthaiser Nóra
2008 Hajdú Richárd
2009 Makra Péter
2010 Nagy Éva
2011 Ótott Márta
2012 Bálint Réka
2013 Sallai Boglárka Judit
On the 19th March, 2011 I was honored to receive the Kathleen Heaslip Wodala Memorial Award. By presenting me with the 17th Wodala Memorial Award, my professors expressed their appreciation of my academic performance and the reliability I demonstrated during my studies. It was a wonderful and unforgettable gesture which, to this day, has been encouraging me to continue my research on American drama and theater. Since then, I have written and defended my MA Thesis, and been admitted to the English and American Literature and Culture PhD program. The program is challenging, but very rewarding as I proceed, publish more and more articles and go to more and more conferences. Owing to the insightful comments of my professors here in Szeged as well as other professors whom I meet at conferences, I can widen the scope of my project. It still includes American drama and theater on which I will write my dissertation in a few years.
Márta Ótott