Siobhan Kattago and Ene-Reet Soovik have been awarded the University of Tartu Badge of Distinction

This year’s recipients of honorary decorations of the University of Tartu have been announced. From the Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics the University’s Badge of Distinction was awarded to Siobhan Ann Kattago, Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, and Ene‑Reet Soovik, Editor of the Department of Semiotics.

Siobhan Kattago has worked in the Department of Philosophy since 2015, and her contribution to the provision of English-language political philosophy courses has been very significant. Her courses in philosophy of memory and history have always been highly popular. What is particularly commendable is that these courses are also open to guest students and deal with very sensitive topics from our recent history, along with philosophical attempts to understand them.

Another major reason to express thanks to Siobhan is the great work she has done in supervising Master’s students in philosophy. She is by far the member of staff in the Department of Philosophy who has supervised the largest number of Master’s students — which is noteworthy, because the previous English-language Master’s curriculum in philosophy allowed students to engage in a great deal of individual work with a supervisor. The student feedback has been very warm regarding her thoroughness and sensitivity. All of this means a large workload for the instructor — Siobhan has handled this very successfully, and the Department of Philosophy is very grateful to her!

Having long served as editor of the journal Sign Systems Studies, Ene-Reet Soovik has successfully transformed the semiotics journal into a high-quality scholarly publication, characterised by not only high-quality content but also thoroughly edited texts.

Thanks to Ene-Reet’s support as editor, several doctoral theses in semiotics and colleagues’ monographs have been published, not to mention the articles.

Over the years, Ene-Reet has made significant contributions to the development of Estonian literary ecology and ecocriticism, as well as to the international presence of Estonian material in these fields through her research and teaching. In addition to her publications, she has edited special issues on these topics, thus being a central scholar in the field in Estonia.

Of special note is Ene-Reet’s research series on the work of Jaan Kaplinski, an Estonian writer, poet, philosopher, and public intellectual, thus being one of the main researchers of Jaan Kaplinski and, via the Kaplinski Society, also an important promoter of his legacy.

Amid all this, Ene-Reet remains a pleasant and always collaborative colleague.

The University’s honorary decorations recognise excellent work results or a significant contribution to the University’s activities. The honorary decoration was established in 2003.

Rector Toomas Asser will hand over the decorations at a formal ceremony on 21 November at 16:00 in the University of Tartu assembly hall. University members are invited to congratulate their colleagues. Further information can be found on the university's news.