a presidential encounter - National University of Ireland, Galway

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CLASS NOTES 1950s Rose Donnellan BSC HDE 1952, ARACI 1976 has worked as a scientist in Ireland, the UK and Australia. She has been married to Lloyd Saldanha, BSc Elect Lond, for 40 years. They emigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1974, after which Rose was admitted as Associate Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and then employed at the Government Laboratories in Sydney as a scientist from 1974 to 1992. Now retired, her hobbies include travelling. She and Lloyd visited Galway in 2002 for her 50-year class reunion. Dr Ben Corballis MB 1955 is a US-born doctor who studied at the University came back to visit NUI Galway in November 2008 where he found the changes “astounding”. He has this message for his former classmates: “I’ve been retired since 2002. I still run a small medical liability company which keeps my mind active. My health remains excellent thank God (I haven’t gotten thin yet, though!) My love to you all.” (Ben Corballis was interviewed for NUI Galway’s ‘The University in Living Memory’ oral history project – see feature beginning on p16.) 1960s Anne M Holton BA 1965, HDip in Ed 1966 is lecturing at Carlow College, St Patrick’s Carlow, and working as a post-primary diocesan advisor in religious education in the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. Anne graduated in 1966 and has attended several reunions since. Donal J Lydon KC*SG BA 1966, HDip in Ed 1967 is President of the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland, a 32-county association of all Papal Knights and Dames in Ireland. Donal was knighted by His Holiness John Paul II and invested as a Knight Commander with Star of the Pontifical Equesterian Order of St Gregory the Great. He was the first Papal Knight in the diocese of Raphoe (1996). Agnes O’Farrell, neé Dungan BA 1969, HDip in Ed 1970, MEd 1980 is married to Bernie O’Farrell BAgrSc 1971, MAgrSc 1982 whom she met whilst at University. They have three sons and a daughter. Agnes taught for six years before having a family. She returned to work in administration in the University and has held the post of Accommodation Officer since 2003. Agnes would love to hear from fellow students of the Class of 69. 1970s 2004 Alumni Award Winner Anne Butler BE 1976 is an environmental consultant. A founding director of the Environmental Protection Agency, she also worked in local authorities and in a structural engineering consultancy. Anne was President of Engineers Ireland in 2005/2006, only the second woman President in its 174-year history. Barney Callaghan BComm 1978 was elected District Governor for Rotary International, District 1160 (Ireland) for 2011-2012. Rotary has 76 clubs throughout the island of Ireland with over 2,500 members. The post will require Barney to serve on the national executive in the preceding two years and for a further year after the year in office. Paddy Prendergast BSc 1978 (Geology) retired from the Defence Forces in 1996 having spent 15 years in the Ordnance Survey. He is now lecturing on undergraduate and masters courses in the Department of Spatial Information Sciences in Dublin Institute of Technology. He is also involved in several research projects and is “playing a bit more golf”. Eamonn Siggins BA 1979 is Chief Executive at the institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland (CPA). Having served in the Defence Forces for 14 years he retired in 1989 to join the CPA. He subsequently became Deputy CEO and then CEO in 1993. Seamus Mac Daibheid BA 1979 graduated in Psychology in 1979. He is a Redemptorist priest and works in ministry as a Redemptorist, using counselling skills in his work, although not a fully trained counsellor. He lives with the Redemptorist Community, Mount St Alphonsus, South Circular Road, Limerick. 1980s Tom McHugh BE 1980, HDipSysAn 1987 works as an operational asset manager with Main Roads Western Australia, the state road authority responsible for managing and operating the state’s highways and main roads, and lives in Perth. Dr Michael Van Dessel MB 1982 has been a senior partner at the Spinney Medical Centre, St Helen’s, Lancashire since 1991. He was additionally appointed medical director of Aspect Health Ltd in 2008. Michael continues with a varied portfolio including teaching, training, service development, GP consulting and faculty work. He is a keen Evertonian and a regular visitor to the Pays Basque for family holidays. Jimmy Walsh BComm 1982 is Managing Director, Dara Creative, a graphic design consultancy and winner of the eGovernment Education Awards 2009. The agency was also a winner of the Irish Design Effectiveness Awards (IDEA) 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Sarah H Manning BA 1982, LLB 1985 became a solicitor in 1988. She graduated from Suffolk Law School, Boston, Massachusetts with a JD cum laude in 1991 and passed the Mass Bar Exams the same year. Since then she has practised within the litigation department of Nutter, McClennen & Fish, a law firm with offices in Boston and Hyannis, Cape Cod. She lives in Osterville, Cape Cod with her children Emily (17) and Conor (15) and works in the Hyannis office of Nutter. Maria Ní Mhurchú BA 1983 is to have her third book, Caite le Chéile, published by An Sagart later this year. The book contains three plays, two of which have already been performed and also a new play called Réiltín, which she hopes will be performed at the book launch. Daniel Kennedy BComm 1983, LLB 1987 is a practising solicitor. He works with Deloitte & Touche, specialising in indirect taxation, following a period working in Australia. He is married to Amanda and is the proud father of two-year-old twins Danny and Ava. Martin Doyle BSc 1984 is a senior IT project director, applications IT with Oracle US. He lives in Colorado with wife Hilda Nic Chárthaigh and children Kieran and Olwyn. He sails and is learning to play the piano. Rory Coll BComm 1985 has recently set up his own business, Coll & Co, in Barna village. The company specialises in personal tax, pensions and, more recently, redundancy advice. Rory is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He worked for several years in the KPMG (Stokes Kennedy Crowley) Galway office, providing audit and business advice to local companies. He then moved into industry, holding a number of senior financial positions in both Ireland and the US. Eugene Howley BE 1986 qualified with a BE in Industrial Engineering in 1986. He now works with Wyeth Medica in the area of production planning. His thoughts on NUI Galway? “Happy days – great memories.” John Ryan BSc 1987 pursued postgraduate studies in the Department of Industrial Microbiology in UCD, graduating in 1995 (PhD). After working for the Smurfit Group for two years he became an environmental consultant working with various companies in Ireland. In 1999 he and some colleagues established Certification Europe Ltd, an accredited certification, inspection and training company. Headquartered in Dublin, the company trades internationally. John is also a director of the Independent Small & Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) and External Examiner on the MSc Environment & Health and Safety programme at IT Sligo. Rosemary Lafferty BComm 1988, MBS (Marketing) 1989 invented a new charity concept, ‘Pass the Present’, which has now been taken up by Oxfam Ireland, with which she volunteers part-time. Educating children about good hygiene to prevent the spread of cholera, providing schoolbooks so a child has a chance of a better life or simply providing clean water for families in Africa are just a few examples of what Pass the Present can do. Joan Killeen BE 1988 lives in Canton Fribourg in Switzerland and is married with two daughters, aged five and seven. She is at home with the children and working part-time as an English teacher. Nigel Rusk BSc 1988 moved to London at the end of 1989 where he began a career in finance. He later gained an accountancy degree. In 2003, he relocated to Scotland and lives in Aberdeenshire with his wife and two sons. Nigel works in the oil and gas industry. Orla Martyn BA 1989, LLB 1991 no longer practises as a barrister. After a year as Advisory Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General, she was seconded to Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform as Legal Advisor to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. Frank Gibbons BSc 1989 and his wife, Brooke Harvey, live in Lexington, Massachusetts, and welcomed their twins Liam and Natalie to the world on 26 March, 2009. 1990s Christina Storey BSc 1990 went on to DIT Kevin St in Dublin to complete an honours degree equivalent (GRSC II) and later to TCD to take a PhD in Organic Chemistry. She now is a senior environment, health and safety consultant with PM Group. Married and living in Cork, she has two lively children. Dr Anthony Ryan MB BCh BAO 1990 is coauthor of a recently published medical textbook, Teaching Atlas of Musculoskeletal Imaging (Peter L Munk and Anthony G Ryan; Thieme Publishing). It is the latest addition to the popular Teaching Atlas series. James Geoghegan DipAContEd 1991 graduated with a postgraduate diploma in journalism. He has since worked for a variety of publications including The Farmers’ Journal and is now a sports reporter with The Meath Chronicle. James McInerney BSc 1991, PhD 1995 works in NUI Maynooth as a senior lecturer in Genetics and also runs a research group in the area of computational evolutionary biology. Joseph Deignan BComm 1992 works in solar energy across five countries in central and south eastern Europe. Find out more at: www.linkedin.com/in/nextgenerationsolar. Mary Bernadette Garrihy MB 1992 moved to the UK in 1998 and is now working as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at University Hospital Birmingham and is also a Senior Clinical Lecturer. She lives in south Staffordshire with her husband, Jonathan Carter. GET CONNECTED Meet up with your old classmates without leaving your chair! Go to: ‘NUI Galway Alum’ on Facebook (www.facebook.com) and ‘National University of Ireland Galway’ on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) 1 2 3 4 9 10 5 6 7 8 11 12 1 Agnes O’Farrell 2 Paddy Prendergast 3 Eamonn Siggins 4 Jimmy Walsh 5 Martin Doyle 6 Rory Coll 7 Eugene Howley 8 Barney Callaghan 9 Joan Killeen 10 Christina Storey 11 James McInerney 12 Mary Bernadette Garrihy 44 45
CLASS NOTES Ursula Bracken BA 1993, HDip 1994, MA 1995 worked as a French and English teacher for nine years before returning to college to study Communications in NUI Maynooth three years ago. She now works for RTÉ as a weather presenter and was recently nominated for the TV Now awards 2009. She lives in Firhouse, Dublin. Dr Brenda Gannon BA 1994, MA 1996 is an economist and Deputy Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology at NUI Galway (see feature by Brenda on p20). She graduated from NUI Galway in 1994 (BA Economics and Legal Science) and in 1996 (MA in Economics). She previously worked in the Economic & Social Research Institute, Dublin. In a voluntary capacity, Brenda is currently President of JCI (Junior Chamber International) Galway. Thomas J Carr BA 1994, LLB 1996 is a partner in New York law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC. Before entering private practice, he worked in the District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, NY, where he prosecuted serious crimes. He also served as a DWI Prosecutor for Delaware County and was the Deputy Legislative Director for the New York State Assembly Minority. Thomas is an active member of the New York State Bar Association, the Albany County Bar Association and the New York State Defenders’ Association. Jill Murphy BA 1994 is in the US Army. She has been a mechanic, a legal specialist, a civil affairs team leader in Afghanistan and an army nurse in Iraq. She is currently a nurse case manager for outpatient wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC, and lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Dolores San Diego-Cleofas MSc 1995 is Dean of the College of Engineering at the National University in Manila. In 2006, she completed her Doctor of Education and is now enrolled at the University of the Philippines, studying for a PhD in Water Resources Engineering. She is a proud mother to daughter Iris Samantha. Barbara Hawkins BComm 1995 is Director of Support Services at Special Olympics Ireland (www.specialolympics.ie). Dr Aisling Carroll MB, BCh 1996 is joining the staff of Southampton University Hospital as a Consultant Cardiologist in Adult Congenital Heart Disease, having completed her subspecialty Cardiology Fellowships in Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation at Mayo Clinic, US. Benny McDonnell BA 1997, MA 1998 is a writer. His play, Bondi Beach Boy Blue, will feature at Listowel Writers’ Week 2009. Stephen Glennon BA 1998, HDip 1999 graduated from NUI Galway with BA (1998) and Higher Diploma in Applied Media Communications (1999). The Athleague, Co Roscommon native is a full-time sports reporter with The Connacht Tribune and recently received an award from Camógaíochta na nGael for best provincial coverage of camogie. Recently married, Stephen lives with his wife, Edel, in Craughwell, Co Galway. Ann-Marie Ryan BComm 1998 is Human Resources Manager in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. Married to Clareman David Henchy, she lives on a farm on the Shannon Estuary close to Newmarket-on-Fergus. Richard (Richie) Farrell BE 1998, HDipSysAn 2000 moved to Australia just over seven years ago and lives in Sydney. He works in investor relations for a leading Australian energy company. He is doing an MBA through the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney. He has been married for three years. Colm Boyd BE 1998 is an Associate Director of RPS Consulting Engineers, based in its Galway office. Martin Burke BE 1998 worked for Nortel for nine years before joining Cisco two years ago. Married to Miriam, they have three children (Éabha, 5; Charlotte 2; and Ruairí, 2 months). He lives in Claregalway. 2000s Tom Flynn BA 1999, HDip in Ed 2000 graduated from NUI Galway in 1999 with an Honours degree in English Literature and Sociology. Two years later he took a HDip in Ed and is currently teaching language support at a primary school. He has published a history book, Westports of the Western World and a sports directory for Mayo VEC. He is also completing an EFL course at NUI Galway. Róisín Howard (Née Flanagan) BA 2000, MPsychSc 2002, DPsychSc is married to Noel Howard MB, BCH, BAO 2001, MMedSc 2007. They had a baby girl, Matilda, last year. Róisín is working with the HSE as a Clinical Psychologist and Noel as a GP in Galway. Mark Reddington BE 2001 is a senior estimator for fire-rated Schuco Jansen Steel Glazing Systems at Skelly Opening Solutions (KCC Special Products Division) in Dublin. Sandra Coffey HDip A 2001, MA 2005 has joined The Western People newspaper in Mayo as a senior journalist, working from the newspaper’s Claremorris office. As well as the day job, she is also a soprano singer and has previously appeared on RTÉ television. She has recently launched a website, www.sandracoffey.ie Civil engineering graduates Niamh Kilgarriff BE 2002 and Odran Madden BE 2000 got married in August 2008. Anne-Marie Glynn BSc 2003 was subsequently awarded a PhD from EMBL, Heidelberg (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) and the University of Dundee in 2008. She works at the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) as its Courses and Workshops Programme Manager. Gearóid Ó Cuinn LLM 2006 has begun a charity cycle to Gaza along with four other Irish cyclists. The money raised will go the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. The marathon cycle started in late May, the first leg of their journey taking them from Glasgow to Galway. Edel Golden BA 2004, LLB 2006 completed a Masters in Commercial Law in 2007 and is currently in the middle of her apprenticeship in Dublin. Dervla Kavanagh BSc 2006 has recently completed a locum assignment in the Beacon Hospital’s Biochemistry Department. She is a qualified medical lab scientist and with the HSE recruitment ban in place she is looking for employment. Suzanne Young BA 2006, MA 2007 graduated with a BA (hons) in 2006 and stayed on to do an MA in Classical Civilisations. She tutors students occasionally and does exam invigilating. Brendan Glynn BA 2006, LLB 2007 is currently devilling in Dublin, having been called to the Bar in 2008. Denise Griffin BA 2007 graduated in 2007 with a BA Hons in Social & Political Science and Philosophy. After doing a TEFL course and spending some time in Spain learning Spanish, she has returned to Galway, where she works as a Legal Secretary. Yvonne Dowe BA 2007 graduated with a BA in Geography and History in 2007. She started a postgrad in Primary teaching at Mary Immaculate in January 2008 and has recently graduated. She lives in Doonbeg, Co Clare. Stuart Nealon BA 2007 is doing a one-year taught Masters in Philosophy and Literature at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. David Moriarty LLM 2007 graduated with LLM International Human Rights Law and works for Oxfam Ireland. Vincent Walshe BE 2008 is working in Navan with civil engineering contractors Ward & Burke. Vincent commenced his Civil Engineering degree at NUI Galway in September 2004, graduating with first-class honours in October 2008. Company in focus BSM – from Galway to the world A company founded by two NUI Galway graduates has built a world-class reputation in providing operational-excellence consultancy services to life sciences firms. Founded by Sean Jackson BE 1987, MEngSc 1998, PhD 1991 and Maurice Hannon BE 1986, Parkmore-based BSM has a global customer base and in 2008 set up BSM-USA Inc in Baltimore, Maryland as a platform for growth in the US market. Its client list includes Wyeth, Pfizer, Abbott, Schering Plough, Baxter and Roche. BSM employs 20 graduates, six of whom are NUI Galway alumni (apart from Sean Jackson and Maurice Hannon): Pat Sheehan BE 1986, Martin Commins BE 1986, MEngSc 1998, Chris Monaghan BE 1998, Seamus Coyne BSc 1997, Lorcan Mannion BE 1992, MEngSc 1994 and Ian O’Toole HDipSysAn 2003. Zoology expert receives US government award An NUI graduate from Cong, Co Mayo is the recipient of a prestigious conservation award from the US government. Patrick Kelly BSc 1981 is Professor of Zoology and Coordinator of the Endangered Species Recovery Programme within the Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus. In April, he learned that he had been named by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a ‘2008 Recovery Champion’ for California and Nevada. His award citation from the Fish & Wildlife Service read as follows: “Dr Patrick Kelly is a Recovery Champion for his work in conserving riparian brush rabbits. His leadership in recovering this species is particularly notable in that after the 1997 Central Valley floods there was concern that riparian brush rabbits no longer existed. Dr Kelly has been applauded for his ‘watchful eye, passionate commitment, scrupulous focus and leadership.’ His work has included capturing animals for a propagation program, health-checking the young, radiocollaring and tagging, releasing into the wild, and then monitoring the rabbits for survival, healthy reproduction, and habitat use. Dr Kelly has introduced riparian brush rabbits onto the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent private land. He has saved the riparian brush rabbit from the brink of extinction and transported it to the road to recovery.” Patrick completed a BSc (Hons) in Zoology at NUI Galway in 1981 and enjoys visiting the campus and “old Galway haunts” on trips home to Cong. He says he had many mentors in the Zoology Department but especially Prof James Fairley, who is now retired in Belfast, and Prof Emer Colleran (also retired). He would be interested in hearing from NUI Galway undergraduate and postgraduate students in environmental science and conservation ecology who have an interest in applied research. He is also happy to provide information on his own research. He can be contacted by email at: pkelly@esrp.csustan.edu. Patrick Kelly, Professor of Zoology, California State University, Stanislaus, is pictured with one of his endangered species 1 2 3 4 9 10 5 6 7 8 11 12 1 Ursula Bracken 2 Dr Brenda Gannon 3 Jill Murphy 4 Dolores San Diego-Cleofas with daughter Iris Samantha 5 Dr Aisling Carroll 6 Benny McDonnell 7 Stephen Glennon with wife Edel 8 Ann-Marie Ryan 9 Róisín, Noel & Matilda Howard 10 Sandra Coffey 11 Niamh Kilgarriff & Odran Madden 12 Vincent Walshe 46 47
Page 1 and 2: A PRESIDENTIAL ENCOUNTER President
Page 3 and 4: INTERVIEW UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE NUI
Page 5 and 6: GALWAY UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION Fundra
Page 7 and 8: UNIVERSITY NEWS Extensive coral ree
Page 9 and 10: STUDENT NEWS Sporting honours never
Page 11 and 12: FEATURE Maths makes its mark Tony B
Page 13 and 14: FEATURE One track mind One track mi
Page 15 and 16: COVER STORY Add a university educat
Page 17 and 18: PROFILE FEATURE Leading from the fr
Page 19 and 20: PROFILE AN ALUMNUS IN... Man of man
Page 21 and 22: ALUMNI NEWS GALWAY EVENTS NUI GALWA
Page 23: ALUMNI NEWS US EVENTS NEW ENGLAND N
Page 27: Exclusive to NUI Galway Graduates T

a presidential encounter - National University of Ireland, Galway

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