Opportunity to give back

An opportunity to give back MU’s Covid-19 Student Support Fund

Every year, the Maynooth Student Emergency Fund serves as a lifeline for students who find themselves facing extraordinary financial challenges that, for them, may mean all the difference to staying in college or even avoiding homelessness or going hungry.

Covid-19 has hit students from disadvantaged backgrounds particularly hard. Families and individual students are coping with unemployment or lack of sick pay when they miss work. This, in turn, means less money for food, rent and transportation.

1992 David Keenan

BSc 1988, PhD 1992 Senior Vice President, Global Quality and Operations & General Manager Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Ireland Ltd.

David Keenan was the first in his family to attend college. Today he has overall responsibility for the quality, manufacturing and global supply chain for a $2 billion pharma company, Mallinckrodt

“Returning to education was more costly than expected. During the year, I found myself in need of assistance. I felt so guilty to ask for help but I must say I was treated with serious empathy and reassurance. The Student Emergency Fund was the difference between me eating or getting a weekly Leap Card, I would appeal to people to help with this fund when possible but also utilise it when needed. Thanks so much for your support, forever grateful.”

Nigel, 3rd Year Social Science

The shift to largely remote learning has meant a new set of challenges and expenses. While government schemes have broadened access to laptop computers and internet dongles, it’s not enough. They need more costly broadband packages (their mobile phone hot spots and packages hardly sufficient for the rigorous work college demands)--or headsets to drown out roommates or family members. Ruth Killeen, Student Budget Advisor, says she has not only seen the volume of students coming to her increase, but the overall size of an individual’s emergency need has increased too. She says there are students who can’t go home for various reasons – maybe they live in temporary accommodation and there’s no place to study. Maybe they live with family members in high-risk groups. IT connectivity and David Keenan grew up in Clondalkin and landed at Maynooth to pursue a BSc in Biology and Chemistry. He stayed to do his PhD in Chemistry, spending eight years in Maynooth. “I say that I could have been a priest!” he says. His PhD pursuit led to an introduction to his now wife, Nicola Gardiner. David was her Chemistry demonstrator – a story he’s no doubt passed along to their daughter, Emily, now in her fourth year at Maynooth studying the same course. With his vantage point as a Maynooth alumnus-turned-parent, Keenan says MU’s growth hasn’t compromised the close-knit student experience. “There’s still a family feeling around the place. I see it with my daughter. They get to know their lecturers and if they have a question and email them, they get back right away. It’s the same as when we were there.” Upon graduation, Keenan landed a job in Ireland as a process chemist. “I had never been in a chemical plant or pharmaceutical company until my first day on the job. It’s so different now with work placements,” he says, and has taken current MU students into Mallinckrodt on placement. higher-cost broadband packages are also a major problem, she says. Can you help? By supporting MU’s Student Emergency Fund, you will be directly helping students whose already stark needs have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. For example:

A gift of €25 will help fund a student’s food for a week.

A gift of €50 will help fund a student’s utilities for a month.

A gift of €100 will help fund a student’s textbooks and learning materials. A gift of €250 will help fund wi-fi connectivity for one year. A gift of €500 will help fund a student’s accommodation for one month.

A gift of €1,000 will help fund a student’s work placement costs for a year. A gift of €2,500 will help fund a student’s accommodation for a full semester.

“What may not sound like much to you means the world for those who need it,” says Marianne Dunne, Director of Student Services. “Students tell us that without the Student Emergency Fund they wouldn’t have stayed in college.” Please consider supporting these resilient Maynooth students by donating at: mu.ie/ covid19appeal or contact Maynooth.

foundation@mu.ie.

He then moved into pharmaceutical manufacturing at U.S. and Swiss companies. Today, as Senior Vice President for Global Quality and Operations & General Manager, Keenan has global responsibility for all manufacturing, quality and supply chains and manages 400 employees across teams in Ireland, US, and Japan. He says his joint degree in Maynooth was critical to his career path. “When you end up in management roles, it’s never one discipline you’re dealing with. It’s not just chemistry or biology or business.”

It was also important to his ability to progress, as the focus of the pharma industry in Ireland has changed, and continues to shift rapidly.

“Thirty years ago, the industry in Ireland was predominantly small molecule chemical processing. Over the years, the industry has shifted to large molecule biologic processing and is now moving into specialised highend manufacturing. The joint Bio-Chem degree helped me understand that better.”

Remember Maynooth

Legacy gifts make a lasting impact at Maynooth University. Some alumni and friends may choose to leave their entire estate or a home, others leave a specific gift, but every legacy, large or small, ties together the past and future at Maynooth University.

For more information on how to leave a legacy to Maynooth University, or to let the University know that you have already quietly made plans, please email Maynooth University’s Director of Development and External Relations, Rebecca Doolin, at Rebecca.doolin@

mu.ie.

Some companies also, he says, are shrinking their manufacturing footprint. Instead, they collaborate with contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) to produce product. “Ireland is also home now to virtual companies managing supply chains around the world – companies that have no manufacturing presence in Ireland but manage the manufacture and supply of products through contract manufacturers. The industry in Ireland has changed significantly since I joined it in 1992 and is still changing. In the past, my job would have been based in the US. Now I can do it from here.” “Ireland has stayed ahead of the curve, but graduates need to understand that the industry is constantly changing and they will need to get their heads around that.” For example, he says, Covid-19 has meant less international travel and managing teams remotely. “I look back on my time at Maynooth with very fond memories. I know the skills that I learned from my time there have been instrumental in my success. Ireland and the pharmaceutical industry has changed so much since I graduated, but Maynooth University has continually evolved to meet these challenges and, importantly, has not lost what makes it such a special University to attend.”