Ann awarded Fife Provost’s Prize

A member of University of St Andrews staff inspired by her daughter-in-law to take on an evening degree at St Andrews while working full-time has graduated with a hat-trick of awards, including the prestigious Fife Provost’s Prize.

Ann McDonald, from Guardbridge, said she was shocked and surprised to be awarded the annual Provost’s Prize for the most outstanding graduating Evening Degree Student for 2021-2022. As well as the Provost’s Prize, Ann received a Distinction for her MA General Arts degree and two other academic awards: a medal for her performance in a Computer Science module and a Deans’ List citation, an annual award for academic excellence promoted by the Deans of the University.

Graduation was a real family affair with daughter-in-law Rachel Wilson also celebrating receiving the same degree at the same ceremony.

Ann, a Business Development and Contracts Assistant, said: “I was pleased to hear that my degree award was with Distinction, which is really what I was aiming for, but excited to receive notification that I had made the Dean’s list for 2021/22, been given a medal for performance on IS2901 and received the Fife Provost’s Prize award.

“Receiving a degree from the University of St Andrews is an accolade in itself, but to receive it in the year that the University was ranked first in the UK made it even more special.  In the Evening Degree students in all modules will be at different stages of their degree so it was really nice to see so many of the friends I had made graduating at the same time. The fact that Rachel, my daughter-in-law, also graduated made it very much a family occasion.”

Ann explained: “This was actually Rachel’s second graduation this year, although the other one was online. After being made redundant due to the pandemic she decided on a career change. It was actually the CodeFirst:Girls course offered through the University’s School of Computer Science that spurred this career change and, earlier this year, she started a full-time software development course. Between both courses she spent almost every day either in online classes or completing course work, sometimes until midnight. However, all the hard work paid off and she is now starting a new job on 5th July. We are all very proud of her.”

Congratulating Ann on her academic success, Kelly Maher, Head of Research Business, Development & Contracts, said: “It hasn’t been easy or plain sailing, including a couple of years of mostly online learning during the pandemic. The team and I have been very supportive of Ann throughout and we are all very proud of her.”