The Bridge 2011 - Maynooth University Alumni Magazine

Winter 2011

Maynooth Alumni Magazine

Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board 40 Years of Geography Alumni in the News Computer Science Silver Jubilee

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Plus Graduate Profiles, Events in the Spotlight, Graduations and much more‌

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Wİnter ’11 Editor Karen Kelly Design www.unthink.ie Print Spectrum Print Logistics Paper Offset

Welcome to the Brİdge 01 Welcome

Greetings and Hello.

02 Introducing our new President

Professor Philip Nolan joined NUI Maynooth this year as President. Read about his plans and vision for the University.

04 Events in the Spotlight

So many events in 2011 but here are some of our favourites.

06 Alumni Ball 2011 The fourth annual Alumni Ball was a ball!

08 Ireland’s Urban Structure

Alumnus Edgar Morgenroth, currently Associate Research Professor at the ESRI, argues the case for forging links between Ireland’s parishes, villages, towns and counties.

09 40 Years of Geography at Maynooth!

It all began in 1971…

10 Towards a Second Republic Will change do us good?

12 Princeton Review NUI Maynooth becomes the first and only university outside of North America to feature in the Princeton Review.

13 Alumni in the News

Maynooth Alumni hit the headlines in 2011.

14 Children of the self-absorbed

Professor Brendan Gleeson argues that cities are increasingly designing children out of the equation.

16 Computer Science Celebrates Silver Jubilee So many reasons to celebrate…

18 Dublinked

Dublin's Local Authorities and NUI Maynooth invite businesses, technologists and researchers to join unique data network.

19 Where are our Alumni now?

Graduate Profiles.

22 Graduations Conferrings in 2011.

23 Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board (MAAB) Alumni help strengthen the Maynooth Alumni Association.

24 The Morpeth Roll 19th Century Social Network.

Welcome to this year’s edition of the Maynooth Alumni Association magazine, The Bridge. I hope you will enjoy our 2011 publication which features a wide variety of articles on topics ranging from finance, sociology, history and geography.

The ‘Where are they now’ section on alumni includes profiles on alumni from every decade since the 1960s.

Our new President, Professor Philip Nolan, shares his thoughts on his vision for the University and how alumni can contribute to the University’s Strategic Planning Process. One group who are doing just that is the Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board (MAAB). Established in February, MAAB is a new initiative for 2011 from the Alumni Office. Read more about MAAB on page 23.

Over the next few months, the Alumni Office will be launching a new on-line community website for Maynooth Alumni.

Alumni will soon be able to register via this website and once registered, be eligible to sign up for alumni events, modify their contact details on-line and receive regular emails and communications from the Alumni Office. Keep an eye out for that!

Thanks to all (alumni, staff and academics) for their support and commitment in producing this year’s magazine which will be available on the Alumni website, http://alumni.nuim.ie.

If you need any copies for fellow alumni, please contact me on 01 708 6492 or by email at alumni@nuim.ie All the best,

Stay Connected

Maynooth Alumni Association Your alumni association can help make your investment in education go even further. For more information, please visit http://www.alumni.nuim.ie.

Karen Kelly, Alumni Office, Riverstown Lodge, Maynooth, Co Kildare.

Tel: (01) 708 6492 or log on to →http://alumni.nuim.ie/connected Some of the Alumni benefits from Maynooth - Annual Alumni Magazine – The Bridge - Graduate discounts on the University’s sports facilities – Gym and Swimming Pool - Graduate membership of the University’s library - Assistance in organizing reunions and events - Bank of Ireland affinity credit card - Discounts on accommodation for hotels locally - Opportunity to establish Chapters regionally and abroad - Seasonal alumni events

Karen Kelly Alumni Officer

→ http://alumni.nuim.ie/services

Maynooth Chapters

The best way to keep in touch!

A note from the Presİdent It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this year’s edition of The Bridge.

Since arriving on campus in August this year I have experienced firsthand the warm welcome and collegiality that so many alumni reminisce about.

Maynooth is a very special place and I look forward to working with you and the wider University community over the coming years to consolidate NUI Maynooth’s distinctive and special contribution to our national system of higher education and to further strengthen our national and international reputation.

We are always delighted to hear from past students – as graduates of Maynooth you are the cornerstone of our reputation. I invite all of you to stay in touch and stay connected with your alma mater and I look forward to meeting you at one of the many alumni events over the next twelve months.

Warmest regards

Professor Philip Nolan, President, NUI Maynooth

As time goes by it may not be as easy as it once was to meet up with classmates from your university days at Maynooth.

Setting up a Chapter is a great way for graduates to keep in touch with each other and the University. A Chapter joins people together and is open to all graduates on an equal basis. The Alumni Office will assist you whenever possible in recruiting members and organising events. The most common aims of University Chapters include: - Maintaining contact with Maynooth - Advocates for your Alma mater - Facilitate social gatherings - Networking opportunities - Assist in fundraising initiatives - Build Alumni commitment The Bridge is a magazine published by NUI Maynooth.

Contributions in the form of articles, graduate profiles and photographs are welcome. We would be delighted to receive your comments and ideas for future editions – please email alumni@nuim.ie The opinions and views in this publication are those of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by NUI Maynooth. While every care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the compilation of the magazine, NUI Maynooth cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or effects arising thereof. However any errors or omissions should be brought to the attention of the alumni office.

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‘Maynooth is on a trajectory to be Ireland’s best university.

I would hope in ten years time that alumni can say that’s something we contributed to and of which we’re proud’.

‘We need to unashamedly tell the country and the world that we have extraordinary good educational programmes and a wonderful experience for students and that Maynooth should be the university of choice for people for their degrees’ he stressed.

Introducing Professor Philip Nolan Professor Philip Nolan was appointed President of NUI Maynooth on 15th August 2011. A Dublin man and the first generation of his family to go to university, Professor Nolan was previously Registrar and Deputy President of UCD until his Maynooth appointment. Speaking to The Bridge, he outlined his vision for the University over the years ahead and how alumni will be a key contributor to these plans.

‘Maynooth is a wonderful university with a particular history that in one form or another, has served the country well for over two hundred years. It has particular strengths in the humanities, social sciences and science and engineering so my first objective is to build on that history and strength and ensure that NUI Maynooth is and continues to be a leading Irish University and really establishes itself on the international stage’. With these opening words from the conversation with Karen Kelly, Alumni Officer, Professor Nolan proceeded to discuss the four pillars that will be instrumental in delivering his strategy during his Presidency.

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The first of Professor Nolan’s pillars is in the realm of education, teaching and learning. ‘Perhaps the trait that Maynooth is most famous for is the quality of our education and what we do for our students.

All of our alumni report very fond memories of their time at Maynooth, of the individual teachers that inspired them and of the learning atmosphere and learning environment. They would assert that from the perspective of a student, Maynooth is Ireland’s best university. We need to make this known, to confidently assert it to the rest of the world’. Professor Nolan commented that in particular, one of the characteristics of a Maynooth education is that it is an education for life, that it provides students with the learning and the skills that are necessary for work certainly but for life and citizenship also.

Acknowledging the role played by John Hughes, former President of NUI Maynooth in the area of research, Professor Nolan sees a strong research infrastructure as being the second pillar in his strategy. ‘John worked very hard to build a strong research base. Over the next ten years, we will be working to consolidate our research infrastructure and research base and to establish Maynooth internationally as a centre for research. We are strong in the humanities including the very innovative area of digital humanities and many alumni know that. Maynooth is certainly strong in the social sciences and what is special here is the way we think about society in spatial and geographical as well as sociological and economic terms’. Speaking about computing and electronics and information and communications technology, the President believes entities such as the Hamilton, Callan and Innovation Value Institutes are showing that in that those advanced areas of technology, Maynooth is right at the cutting edge. ‘We have something very particular and special to offer in this area of research and we see ourselves as being partners nationally and internationally in these areas of strength’.

Professor Nolan’s third pillar concerns internationalisation. ‘The experience that alumni are proud of, their recollections of their educational and happy times at NUI Maynooth can only attract more and more people from outside Ireland to want to come and study here and that brings great benefits to the institution’. Commenting that such an experience will only make for a more interesting and intercultural environment, he is also of the belief that there are real benefits to be had for the region. ‘The employers located in this region want to employ very good graduates but they also want to employ graduates from diverse backgrounds, with diverse ways of thinking. Having an internationalized university is not only good in itself but it also has a very positive impact on the attractiveness of the region as a place for employers to set up’. The demographic of Maynooth Alumni, by virtue of this international focus will, he believes, become much more international.

He plans to re-establish connections with our international alumni community so as alumni can support the University in a variety of ways.

Finally, the fourth pillar of the University strategy over the next ten years will be engagement – seeking partnership with enterprise, the community and the State, Professor Nolan will explore all avenues for opportunities for learning and scholarship. ’We have to be active in these areas and not take a passive role.

Active engagement on the part of the University is a critical part of our strategy over the next decade’.

Alumni, he believes, will have a role to play in this. ‘Just as many of our alumni will have traveled nationally and settled internationally, many of our alumni remain local and involved in the local community, in local enterprise and administration, so again I would like to see an engagement between us and them, in partnership to do new things in the region’.

As a result of the global and broad social reach of Maynooth Alumni, Professor Nolan appreciates how influential and supportive alumni can be to a university. Speaking about the Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board which was formed earlier this year, he is clear about the need for alumni to contribute to the strategic vision for the University. ’The most important thing that alumni do is to prevent the University from being too inward looking. Alumni can say look, there’s a world here that your students graduate in and your research gets applied into; you need to think about us when you’re making your plans and when you’re running your institution. Alumni are appropriately proud of the institution they’ve come from. They want to see it prosper – the support of our alumni will be critical to the delivery of the strategy’.

Professor Nolan’s ten year journey with NUI Maynooth began this year. His vision for the University is based on inclusion. ‘The only way that everybody believes in it is if everybody has contributed to it.

Maynooth is on a trajectory to be Ireland’s best university in terms of the teaching it offers and for some focused areas of research where we can claim to be the best in the country and establishing because of that, a very clear position on the international stage. I would hope in ten years time that alumni can say that’s something we contributed to and of which we’re proud’. Watch this space!

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EVENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Saro-Wiwa private prison letters donated to University NUI Maynooth has received a unique gift with the donation of private correspondence from renowned Nigerian writer and social activist Ken Saro-Wiwa written while he awaited execution in Port Harcourt detention centre from 1993–1995. The letters were donated by Irish missionary nun, Sister Majella McCarron, who had supported Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni people in their struggle to protect their homeland for many years. The donation was made on the 16th anniversary of his execution, which took place on 10th November 1995.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Saro-Wiwa handwrote 30 letters to Sister Majella while he was on death row. The letters, which were smuggled out of the Port Harcourt detention centre in bread baskets between October 1993 and September 1995, detail the harsh realities of life as a political prisoner and the hardships and deprivations he suffered. The letters also speak of the increasing political turmoil in Nigeria and of Saro-Wiwa’s hopes for a peaceful future in that country and in Northern Ireland.

INTEL CEO marks 5th anniversary of IVI Organisations no longer have to ‘shoot in the dark’ with regard to their IT investments as the IT-CMF framework from the Innovation Value Institute (IVI), founded by Intel and NUI Maynooth, has established itself as ‘an invaluable evaluation and strategic tool for companies and entities throughout the world across all industries and sectors’, Intel CTO Justin Rattner said as IVI marked its 5th anniversary.

Mr Rattner said the development of the ITCMF was a priority for Intel and was a unique contribution to securing the future role of IT in the workplace. In the past five years IVI has achieved a number of significant milestones including moving from start-up to an international organisation with over 75 members across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, UK and Ireland, training more than 500 CIOs and leading IT executives from over 20 countries and developing specialised IVI research into specific industry issues, including Sustainable ICT, Cloud Computing and security.

Gain in 2011 World University Rankings The World University Rankings, published today by Thomson Reuters, show NUI Maynooth is now numbered among the top 400 universities in the world and is the only Irish university to increase its ranking this year. The rankings are based on 13 separate performance indicators designed to capture the full range of university activities including teaching, research volume and influence, industry income and international outlook.

The ranking caps a highly successful year for NUI Maynooth which continues to be the fastest growing university in Ireland, with 9% increase in CAO undergraduate first preference applications, 12% increase in postgraduate applications and ranked 4th in research income per academic in Ireland.

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Professor Philip Nolan, President of NUI Maynooth commented that ‘these distinctions are testimony to the calibre of teaching and research at NUI Maynooth and on the priority we place on equipping our graduates with the best possible qualifications and skills’.

New Framework for Understanding Origin and Evolution of Animal Species An international research project led by Dr Davide Pisani, an evolutionary biologist from NUI Maynooth, and financed by Science Foundation Ireland and NASA, has made a fundamental breakthrough in the study of the relationships between groups of animals, providing a new framework to understand the origin and evolution of animal species.

The three year project, which used phylogenomic methodologies developed over the past ten years, analysed the largest hereditary (genomic) data set of 255 genes and over 49,000 amino acid positions from 33 different species. The study focused on tardigrades, or ‘water bears’ as they are more commonly known, an animal group that has existed for over 600 million years, has proven to be the one of the most resilient on the planet, and can even survive in outer space. Dr Pisani’s research findings have groundbreaking ramifications for the way we classify groups of animals, their relationships with each other and our understanding of how they have evolved as well as having significant implications for scientists in other fields such as synthetic biology, geology and parasitology.

Minister launches University collaboration The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn T.D. formally launched BioAT – a unique PhD collaboration between Dublin City University, NUI Maynooth, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)

NUI Maynooth points increase NUI Maynooth has experienced the highest growth in CAO first choice applications of any university in Ireland this year. The number of first choice applications to the University grew by 8% year-on-year, while the number of students applying to third level institutions remained flat. In recent years NUI Maynooth has been Ireland’s fastest growing university and shows a cumulative growth in CAO first choice applications of 55% over the past five years.

This year NUI Maynooth saw particularly strong growth in the demand for specialty subjects in Arts and Sciences, indicating students are thinking ahead to possible career opportunities at an earlier stage.

Individual subjects like Psychology (505 points) Media Studies (455 points) and Science Education (470 points) all experienced strong demand growth.

Points for general Arts admission (the University’s most popular course) rose to 380 while the BSc in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Chemistry saw a surge in points from 365 to 400.

Key teaching degrees at NUI Maynooth; Primary Teaching with Froebel (465) and Science Education (470) have also held up well despite the perception of current challenges in employment and NUI Maynooth’s new degree Law (LLB) has points of 460.

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and Institute of Technology Tallaght - which will add strength and depth to Ireland’s important biopharmaceutical and biomedical device industries. One of the first significant university collaborations in this area, BioAT (BioAnalysis and Therapeutics Structured PhD Programme) will help drive Ireland’s push for cures to diseases like Alzheimer’s, Cystic Fibrosis and Cancer. A total of 29 doctoral researchers have commenced the four year Bio Analysis and Therapeutics doctoral programme which will deliver multidisciplinary PhD projects with applications to cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurodegenerative and infection / immune diseases. The programme is structured to ensure the highest level of transferrable skill and knowledge between academia and the needs of industry and works to develop graduates entrepreneurial skills as well as the highest quality of academic research.

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LL.B. Degree accredited by the King’s Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns has accredited NUI Maynooth’s new four-year, full-time undergraduate LL.B. Bachelor of Laws degree. This adds to the Department’s portfolio of accredited law degrees, which includes the B.C.L. (with a focus on Law & Arts) and the B.B.L. (with a focus on Law & Business). The new LL.B. was designed to reflect recent research on what legal education does well and what it fails to do adequately. It was also tailored to reflect the needs of potential employers in highly competitive markets, including large international law firms, multinational businesses, regulatory agencies and international organisations.

Accordingly, it emphasizes legal writing and advocacy skills and incorporates experiential learning wherever feasible.

The King’s Inns accreditation will add to the range of choices available to law students at NUI Maynooth and enhance their ability to compete internationally.

The Department of Law has experienced rapid expansion at NUI Maynooth. This September, three new postgraduate degree programmes were introduced; LL.M. – Master of Law (for law graduates), M.L.S. – Master of Legal Science (for graduates from any discipline) and the LL.M International Business Law (dual degree with the Catholic University of Lyon).

5 years of 2 the Maynooth Chamber Choir In May this year, the Maynooth Chamber Choir celebrated its silver anniversary with a gala concert with former President Mary McAleese as Guest of Honour. The Chamber Choir, consisting of twenty two students from NUI Maynooth and St Patrick’s College Maynooth was conducted by Aengus Ó Maoláin, a graduate of music at the University, former President of the Maynooth Student’s Union and inaugural member of the Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board (MAAB).

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Speaking after the performance, President McAleese congratulated the Choir on their twenty five years and, quoting Yeats, noted that that the choir’s dedication and passion for music epitomised ‘education not filling the pail, but lighting a fire’. The Maynooth Alumni Association invited a number of alumni as guests to this anniversary event.

Cerebeo new spin out Cerebeo – a new company dedicated to improving the speed, efficiency and effectiveness of the €1 billion Outsourced Drug Research and Development industry was spun out from NUI Maynooth earlier this year. Cerebeo is a specialized outsourced research company using some of the most innovative models and techniques available in science and is the second company spun out from the research of Professor John Lowry, who was winner of the 2009 Enterprise Ireland Lifesciences Commercialisation Award. The company is targeting a turnover of €6m by 2016 and will be recruiting two technicians by the end of this year.

Researchers point way to free citywide broadband Scientists at the Hamilton Institute at NUI Maynooth have devised a solution to what is a major challenge for cities worldwide – the provision of widespread, free, effective broadband for all their citizens. For more than 10 years, this has been a goal of cities in their drive to support the ‘smart economy’ but it had remained elusive due to technological limitations.

The two main barriers to creating successful municipal wireless networks are Interference from the many WiFi transmitters in close proximity to each other and Fairness – the allocation of bandwidth evenly between users. Professor Doug Leith and colleagues Ken Duffy and David Malone have developed software programs which circumvent the Interference and Fairness issues meaning the WiFi transmitters operate effectively. The software has been proven in trials and the NUI Maynooth team is currently preparing for large scale demonstrations in association with industry partners with a view to bringing the software to market as soon as possible.

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1. Dean McCarthy (BSc 2008) 2. Class of 1996 (l-r); Vivienne Lee, Louise Gargan, Brendan McEvoy, Maura Flynn Dempsey, Patrick Neylon, Mark Greville 3. (l-r); Gemma Ennis, Professor Tom Collins, Interim President, and Ann O’Brien, Director of Access 4. Sandra Hughes (BA 2009) 5. (l-r); Professor Chris Morash, Professor Tom Collins, Interim President, Mary O’Donnell and Professor Peter Denman

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Celebrate & Connect

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‘Celebrate and Connect’ was the theme of this year’s annual ball held in Pugin Hall on Saturday, 11 June. Alumni from the graduating classes of 1971, 1991 and 1996 celebrated on the night.

Apropos graduates from every decade since the 1960s were represented at the Ball. Minister for State, Brian Hayes TD, who is a 1991 History and Sociology graduate, was guest at the President’s table which also hosted representatives from across the education sector.

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Professor Tom Collins, presented two awards on the night. The President’s Alumni Award this year went to writer Mary O’Donnell.

Mary is a prominent writer, has published six collections of poetry, three novels and two collections of short stories. She is an influential drama critic, has presented on national radio, and has written many articles across a span of academic journals and glossy magazines. Her status has been recognised by admission to Aosdána, the elite association of Irish writers and artists.

She has been recognised by numerous awards and honours including the Listowel Writers’ Week prize, the William Allingham Award, the V. S. Pritchett Prize, and earlier this year, the Fish International Short Story Prize. Alongside her national and international prominence, Mary has maintained a close connection with Maynooth, serving as a member of the University’s Governing Authority and as a guest lecturer of creative writing to a select stream of our English students.

Gemma Ennis was inducted into the ‘Made in Maynooth’ Alumni Hall of Fame. Gemma, an Access Student graduated with a BA in German and Mathematics in 2002. She worked in the NUI Maynooth Access Office where she developed a number of very successful school outreach programmes, in particular ‘Sowing the Seeds of Science’, before completing a Higher Diploma in Primary Education. She is currently acting deputy principal in Kilbride National School, Trim. In her acceptance speech Gemma commended the work of the Access Office and in particular, Ann O’Brien, Director of Access.

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Within Ireland there are ongoing debates about rural development, urbanisation and regional development. These debates are typically carried out in the context of fairly sharing resources, history or personal freedoms. The wider implications for the economy are rarely considered in the debate. However, a large literature shows that the nature of the settlement patterns and the types of urban centres that develop will have a crucial impact on national competitiveness, productivity and growth. This literature points particularly at the important role of urban centres.

Of course the focus on spatial issues in the Economics literature is not new. For example Adam Smith in his famous The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776 observed that ‘There are some sorts of industries, even of the lowest kind, which can be carried on nowhere but in a great town.’ Over the last two decades a substantial body of research has quantified the impact of space on the development of modern economies and key underlying factors.

One of the overarching processes that have influenced economic development has been globalisation, which has seen increasing trade in goods and services and the movement of capital and workers and has thus resulted in increased international competition. Countries have responded to this competition by addressing shortcomings in the factors that determine competitiveness which has resulted in the convergence of some factors such as corporation tax rates and basic human capital indicators. However, for other variables, and particularly those that are less evenly distributed within countries are observed to diverge. This implies that specific locations are becoming more important – place matters more.

Professor Willie Smyth, Dr Fran Walsh (Proinnsias Breathnach), Professor Dennis Pringle, Professor Patrick Duffy.

A number of papers have shown that higher employment densities increase productivity.

This is due to production externalities e.g. shorter transport distance, increased supply and demand for skilled labour (competition), increased interaction. Furthermore, many papers have shown agglomeration economies and coagglomeration economies i.e. that there are returns from additional scale. However, the impact of the agglomeration economies appear only to apply to places very close to the agglomeration. In summary scale, density and distance matter for economic development.

Of course cities can become too large, congested or sprawled making them relatively more expensive and at some point uneconomic. It has also been shown that growth is reduced if too large a proportion of the population becomes concentrated in one city.

When the economic recovery in Ireland gains momentum growth in Ireland is likely to follow the same underlying principles as elsewhere.

Thus growth will be predominantly urban.

However, Ireland has a poor urban structure with relatively low urbanisation, relatively small cities and a high concentration of the population in one city. This could reduce growth compared to what would be possible if Ireland had a spatial distribution of the population similar to that of other EU countries. While this distribution is to some extent driven by the historical settlement patterns which cannot be changed quickly, other factors such as poor planning and a tendency towards ‘parish pump politics’, also play an important role. In the context of the international experience, it would be more sensible to concentrate resources and to forge closer links among parishes, villages, towns or counties.

Ireland’s Poor Urban Structure will Reduce Growth Alumnus, Edgar Morgenroth (BA 1994, MA 1995), currently Associate Research Professor at the ESRI, argues the case for forging links between Ireland’s parishes, villages, towns and counties.

40 Years of Geography This year the Geography Department in Maynooth celebrates its 40th birthday and all past students, staff and lecturers are invited to join in the celebrations.

The Department will host a full complement of social and academic events. This semester we began with a very special event on 19th October; a meeting of song and conversation with one of Kildare’s most important cultural figures, Luka Bloom. Two public lectures were held this semester; Derek Gregory, a leading figure in modern human geography, gave a talk on 25th November about the historical geography of aerial warfare and on 8th December one of our most distinguished alumni, Gerard Toal, Professor of Government and International Affairs at Virginia Tech and the academic most responsible for developing the field of Critical Geopolitics, gave a talk on post-conflict society in the Caucasus. You can learn more about these events here – http://geography. nuim.ie/studygeography/anniversary/events.

We are, of course, in nostalgic mode and are seeking the help of our alumni in creating a visual and oral history of the Department. So, please seek out your old field trip and other photos, scan them and send files along to us.

The details of the project and the many ways you can get involved are detailed here – http://geography.nuim. ie/studygeography/anniversary/history. To get you in reflective mode, we have up on the web some back issues of the Geography Department magazine, Milieu, still going strong after all these years – http://geography.nuim.ie/ study-geography/alumni-network/past-issues-milieu.

Perhaps you can remember contributing to the magazine.

You may remember reading it –we defy anyone to forget once they have read the footnotes for Denis Pringle’s article on ‘Geography and Sex’ in the inaugural issue!

We have also created a webpage with links to all the articles by members of the Department that have been published in the journal, Irish Geography – http:// geography.nuim.ie/studygeography/anniversary/ publications. You will probably need to be logged in via a University to download these for free but you can in any case preview the first page of each article which may indeed be enough to set alight your memories of lectures and tutorials. At the end of this history project we hope to have a fine website for our alumni but also a film of the history of the Department which we will launch with a red-carpet première in June 2012 for students, lecturers and staff, past and present.

Professor Mark Boyle is head of the Geography Department at NUI Maynooth.

Professor Gerry Kearns joined NUI Maynooth this year from Virginia Tech where he was Professor of Government and International Affairs. In November 2011, he gave the third lecture in the Professorial Inaugural Lecture Series which was launched earlier this year at NUI Maynooth.

Save the Date, June 2012 Geography Department Film Première → 01 706 6492 or email alumni@nuim.e

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2012

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While the focus of public attention has been on fixing the banks and getting the economy moving again, there is the danger that the deeper challenges of constructing a more democratic and effective political system, of delivering quality public services accessible by all, of reducing inequalities, of weaning ourselves off dependence on fossil fuels and moving to a carbon-neutral society, and of raising the quality of public deliberation and engagement will be seen as less pressing.

They see a reformed political system, as a means to a more egalitarian and sustainable society, with an economy that serves the good of society rather than giving priority to the needs of global capital and its allies within Ireland.

Achieving such an Ireland will require a decisive move to a new model of development, the need for which has been largely missing in the reform debate so far.

Mapping Options for Ireland’s Future Development While the 2011 general election was full of the promise of reform, what has been delivered by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition has been rather piecemeal and incremental. We still await the constitutional convention, promised for this autumn and now postponed until the spring of 2012. In the meantime, energies dissipate and expectations decline.

Yet, the need for radical change remains. While the focus of public attention has been on fixing the banks and getting the economy moving again, there is the danger that the deeper challenges of constructing a more democratic and effective political system, of delivering quality public services accessible by all, of reducing inequalities, of weaning ourselves off dependence on fossil fuels and moving to a carbon-neutral society, and of raising the quality of public deliberation and engagement will be seen as less pressing.

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In this context, it is important to hold to ambitious agendas for change. Foremost among these over the period of the general election was mention of the need for a second republic to re-found the institutions of the state and of the economy, embodying new values and a new vision of the sort of society we aspire to. ‘Towards a Second Republic’, a new book by Peadar Kirby and Mary P Murphy published by Pluto Press and launched in the Mansion House, Dublin, on November 3rd is the first book-length treatment of what a second republic would entail.

While a new republic inevitably requires major reforms to our electoral and party political systems, to the way the state’s bureaucracy functions, and to relations between the executive and the legislature, the authors believe that the reform agenda has been too limited to these types of reform. Indeed, they worry that we could reform our systems of governance without equally thorough reforms to our economy and society. No reforms would be complete for example without addressing the issue of gender equality. Furthermore, they raise the possibility of whether a second Irish Republic would embrace the whole island, the nationalist and unionist traditions, and the sectors of Irish society that identify with neither.

–– Kirby and Murphy map out the options facing Irish society around three models, or ways in which the state and the market interact. The first is the current model, inherited from Celtic Tiger Ireland, which is a radical free-market and neoliberal model in which the state sees its role as being to service the needs of global capital in the first place and only weakly attend to the needs of the most vulnerable in society thereafter. While this model has bankrupted the state, ruined the banking system and led the economy into its most severe recession since independence, there are few signs of any decisive move away from it.

–– However, a second model is emerging from civil society, particularly from the trade union and other social movements, as well as from sectors of the political left. This is labelled in the book as a developmental social democratic model under which the state would set more robust social goals and seek to develop an economic system to achieve these goals, particularly through investment in strengthening Irish enterprises across a broad range of activities. Such a model will require a more broadly based and just taxation system from which quality public services could be funded.

–– The contours of a third model are also visible on the horizon of some sectors of civil society which seek to respond to the twin challenges of greenhouse gas emissions which are causing global warming, and of peak oil which is going to see the price of oil and oil-based products climb steadily. These are leading society into a time of huge uncertainty which will require a transition to a steady-state economy based not on economic growth but on the redistribution of goods and services. Achieving this may well make necessary a very different model, what the authors call an ethical or ecological socialism, as incentives dramatically change for all of society.

Yet, outlining ideal-type models is the easy part.

More difficult is to identify as clearly as possible the social forces that support these different models and that can help to make the transition to a new model. In this regard, the relationship between ideas, interests and institutions becomes crucial. Clearly, the economic and banking collapse has opened up new spaces in which to debate ideas, spaces that had been largely closed down during the Celtic Tiger.

But ideas on their own don’t being about change.

This requires that wider sectors of society begin to identify their interest with the change agenda, begin to see that the sorts of changes being promoted would best serve their needs. This is beginning to happen but needs to go much further. Finally, only when broader sectors of society support the need for the fundamental changes outlined here can institutions be built that give a more permanent expression to these changes. A crucial part of the institutions that might build a new Irish society relate to developments in the European Union and the book examines how out of the present crisis in the EU may emerge institutions that better facilitate an alternative model, effectively moving us closer to Berlin and farther from Boston.

‘Towards a Second Republic’ therefore maps out an agenda for long-term and radical change at this crucial moment in our history. Its authors see it as a tool to aid debate and guide activism rather than simply as an analysis of where we are now at. As such its value will lie in the extent to which it clarifies options and encourages action to achieve them.

Dr. Mary P Murphy is a lecturer in NUI Maynooth in Irish Politics and Society. Her work is widely published and she has made regular appearances on Irish television.

Professor Peadar Kirby is currently Professor of International Politics and Public Policy at the University of Limerick.

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Princeton Review

Alumni in the News NUI Maynooth graduates have a broad business and social reach.

See for yourself just some of the ways the University’s graduates made their mark on the world during 2011.

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NUI Maynooth becomes the first and only university outside of North America to feature in the Princeton Review This Autumn, prospective US undergraduates will be turning once again to the Princeton Review’s college guide ‘The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition’ for guidance in choosing their preferred university or college. But this year they will find a a new choice: the NUI Maynooth. NUI Maynooth is the first and only international university outside of North America to be selected for the publication since it its inception in 1992. The ‘Best Colleges’ review, which features the top 15% of all US colleges, is internationally recognised as the key resource used by US students in finding an educational institution that best suits their requirements both academically and personally.

The selection process is based on an assessment of the academic programmes offered by the universities, combined with a student survey conducted by the Princeton Review with students who have attended the college, covering areas such as ‘Academics’, ‘Student Life’ and the ‘Student Body’. The Princeton Review conducted surveys among 5,000 current NUI Maynooth students as part of the assessment process.

Discussing this achievement, Prof Lawrence Taylor, Vice President for International Affairs at NUI Maynooth said: ’It is an honour for NUI Maynooth to be the first and only university outside North America to be included in the Princeton Review ‘Best Colleges’ guide.

Our selection can be understood as a Quality Mark for the University. The feedback of former students is critical to the selection process and our inclusion is testament to our focus on an excellent academic record combined with a dynamic, student-friendly environment. Our approach is in line with the American educational philosophy that considers the many factors, both academic and social, that determine the best ‘fit’ between student and university. Finding a university which suits the whole person is critically important in order for a student to excel, and the Princeton Review helps students to find the educational institution where they can best develop both academically and socially.’

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For many students in the USA, the possibility of attending university in Ireland is attractive and becoming more of a reality. The cost of studying in Ireland can often be less than studying ‘out of state’ in the US, and the high quality of Ireland’s education system is recognized worldwide. The intimate, collegiate campus and the variety of degrees offered by NUI Maynooth are similar in many ways to selective universities in the US, known as liberal arts and sciences colleges. These colleges offer the highest quality of education in an intimate campus setting that focus on the student’s personal development in addition to their academic achievements.

Student feedback on NUI Maynooth from the Princeton Review ‘The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition’ included: ’The academic standard at Maynooth is impeccable, with lecturers, lecture halls, tutors, and labs of the finest stature’ ‘Almost all my lecturers are great orators that bring their subjects to life, creating a genuine interest among their students’ ‘Continually encouraging us to engage in discussions, to ask questions, and to develop not only a well-informed but an independent way of thinking’ ‘There is always someone that you can approach for help and guidance’ ‘I like the friendliness of everyone on campus, from the President right down to the cleaners’

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1. FORMER PRESIDENT OF NUI MAYNOOTH, BECOMES PRESIDENT OF ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND → Tom Collins (BA 1975) Professor Tom Collins became the third president of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland – Medical University of Bahrain, earlier this summer. He is currently chair of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in Ireland and was also an advisor to the Irish Government on Adult Education during his time as Director of the Centre for Adult and Community Education at NUI Maynooth. Professor Collins holds a First Class Honours Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Maynooth where he also completed his PhD in 1988.

2. BECOMING A SENATOR IN SEANAD ÉIREANN → Marie-Louise O’Donnell (MEd 1981) A native of Foxford, Co. Mayo, Marie Louise was nominated by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, to stand in the 24th Seanad. Senator O’Donnell has been involved in third level education throughout her career and has lectured extensively in Ireland, Europe and the USA in Education, Irish Drama, Irish Culture and Language. A regular reviewer and media contributor, she presents a weekly show on RTE’s ‘Today with Pat Kenny.’

3. ECONOMICS AND FINANCE GRADUATE, IS ON THE WINNING TEAM → Barry Cahill (BA 2002) Playing for Dublin in the nail-biting All-Ireland senior football final against Kerry in September, Barry Cahill and fellow alumni, Alan Brogan, Bernard Brogan, Ger Brennan, Declan Lally and David Henry brought the Sam Maguire Cup back to Dublin after a sixteen year gap.

Congratulations to the Dubs and the Kerry team (which also included another NUI Maynooth alumnus, Marc Ó Sé) for a fantastic sporting occasion. All seven alumni were graduates of the MBNA-GAA Sports Scholarship scheme run

by Tom Maher, GAA Officer for NUI Maynooth.

4. SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA → Margaret Wagner Dahl (BA 1988) In March, University of Georgia President Michael F Adams, named Margaret Wagner Dahl an administrator with nearly 30 years of experience at the intersection of biotechnology and economic development, Special Assistant to the President for the Georgia Health Sciences University/UGA Medical Partnership.

5. PERFORMING THE ROLE OF MARIA CALLAS IN THE NATIONAL CONCERT HALL, DUBLIN → Regina Nathan (BA 1982) Internationally renowned Regina Nathan enraptured audiences with her virtuoso performances in this year’s much acclaimed Casta Diva concerts. In lyric soprano roles which have taken her across Europe, as far as Kuala Lumpur and New York’s Carnegie Hall, Regina has appeared on stage with, amongst others, Placido Domingo and Frank Patterson. A recording artist with many solo CD’s, Regina was also awarded a Higher Diploma in Education from Maynooth in 1983.

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‘Narcissism is not just tolerated in our day and age, it is glorified… The hallmarks of cultural narcissism are deeply woven into the fabric of our current society’.

Children of the Self-Absorbed A well read, well analysed friend recommended a book to me which he thought helped explain adult anxieties of our age. This was the American psychologist Nina Brown’s 2001 Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up’s Guide to Getting over Narcissistic Parents. It sounded intriguing and promising. Could the uncertainties, the restless fluidities and the relentless search for completion that seems to define my (middle ageing) generation be explained by past parenting?

I tracked the book down immediately and pored over it on the train from Dublin to Maynooth.

The more I read, however, the more I realised that Brown’s message – at least for me – was not about the failings of the past. I raked my memory but couldn’t recover a culture of selfabsorption amongst my parents’ generation. At least not in the modest middle class circles I was part of whilst growing up in Australia during the 1970s. No, the more I read and thought about it, the more I realised with creeping trepidation that her analysis implicated my post-1950s generation in the epidemic of narcissism and its consequences for children today. Our children.

In Australia our parents’ generation were the beneficiaries of a golden economic summer. There was a pretty steady enhancement of working and middle class well-being during this time.

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They experienced a run of continuous economic growth that stretched from the late 1940s to the early 1970s and many did very well from it. Most, however, had smelled the whiff of privation early on through exposure to depression and/or war.

Many had their parents’ straitened experiences stamped on them in some way. I was aware of this as a child – of what people had ‘been through’ – but it wasn’t presented to us with pity.

I don’t think self-absorption describes their mindset or their rearing of children, at least generally. There was restiveness and unhappiness with roles, especially as the age of freedom dawned in the 1960s. Women regained identities beyond the anonymous confines of traditional marriage, and many other values and cultural outlooks were able to flower. But it’s fair to say that adults weren’t as focused on themselves as we are.

Not so for neo-liberalism’s children. And here we can cut to Ireland of the Celtic Tiger boom years. Unlike the ‘Pope’s Children’, the tiger cubs were the product of two intersecting changes to social values and roles. The first was ‘cultural pluralisation’ – the blowing open of narrowly stereotyped roles and values from the 1960s in the face of feminism, gay rights, environmentalism and the like.

Brendan Gleeson, Professor of Geography and Deputy Director of NIRSA (National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis).

The second was the great prioritisation of economic values, and material gratification that followed in the wake of the world neoliberal ascendancy from the mid-1970s.

One dimension of the new narcissism is its childlessness – the adult gaze reflected back to itself through the looking glass of a society besotted with the here and now, not what is to come.

The result was a relentless underlining of the individual as the centre of social life. From this flowed outwards a culture increasingly devoted to the needs and the anxieties of the ‘self’, expending enormous energies on the repair and development of ourselves. The ‘Me’ generation was proclaimed in the 1960s but most of our parents looked on with bemusement, too busy with babies to join the happening. The message was really picked up by those who followed in their wake.

Children by their nature demand a different perspective on time. They are fragile, sensitive and often unpredictable; their ‘now’ is not the solid, rational and knowable ‘here’ of we adults. Their developmental needs question our momentary wants and impress upon us the importance of the future as a horizon of social concern.

Since the 1970s kids and young people have been reared in an increasingly atomised, liquefied culture where social relationships and values are fluid, and the only thing that is really solid is the individual. At the (beginning and the) end of the day there is me.

The rise of an increasingly agonised consumerism captures these changes. Children and young people have emerged as massive new consumption markets.

Teenagers face an ever proliferating array of electronic must have’s – phones, music players, games – that have been incorporated in everyday culture as the necessary not optional mainstays of networking and friendships.

We are now familiar with the increasingly alarmed debates about the penetration of children’s lifeworlds by advertising which is attempting to push new, annually obsolete ‘necessities’ into the core of family and civic life. The sexualisation of children’s fashion is merely the sharpest edge of this wedge that is trying remorselessly to open out childhood to the claims and dictates of consumption. More generally, society seems ever more focused on a self that isn’t childlike or young. The individual at the centre of our society is an adult. The Australian commentator Anne Manne has written of ‘The New Narcissism’ in Australian (and Western) society. Manne writes, ‘Narcissism is not just tolerated in our day and age, it is glorified… The hallmarks of cultural narcissism are deeply woven into the fabric of our current society’.

And yet contemporary Western societies remain transfixed with the present, and its relentless speeding up. Our institutions, communities, built environments, values, habits and consumption increasingly betray our neglect of children and young people. And very dangerously for children, our contemporary work habits, our work obsession, are a central feature of a narcissistic age.

We are starting to learn how much the contemporary workhouse culture is harming our children and young people. Parental absenteeism is hurting and harming kids.

Part of my work in recent years has pointed to the neglect of children in our urban environments, to urban processes that seem mindless of children’s needs. I’ve written and spoken on this in Ireland in recent years. People here get it.

My starting point is that many developed nations, especially the English speaking ones, have for some time neglected children in their collective thinking and in their public policies.

Our cities are increasingly designing kids out. But this is more than a problem of urban thoughtlessness.

It betrays a deep self-absorption in a society that has generally neglected its regenerative systems, including those that care for children.

Anne Manne senses ‘something fundamentally flawed’ in our contemporary social makeup. It is a special perversity of the age that we should spend so much time before the mirror without ever noticing our darkening blemishes.

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Coincidently it is also 100 years since the birth of the father of Computer Science, Alan Turing.

To mark these milestones, the department will hold a reunion of computer science alumni around Easter of 2012 to which we hope as many of our past students as possible will attend.

Calling all Computer Science Graduates

25 Years of Computer Science at Maynooth 2012 marks several significant anniversaries for Computer Science in Maynooth – it marks 25 years since the foundation of the department with the appointment of Professor Meng Er; it is ten years since the first graduation class from the denominated degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering.

The creation of the Chair of Computer Science in 1987 at what was then St Patrick’s College marked the expansion of the Science Faculty with a new subject.

The department was based in Logic House. In those days all undergraduate students enrolled for just the general science BSc degree and graduated with either a three-year general degree or a four-year double honours degree. Therefore, the first computer science graduates were those eight who accepted the general degree in 1990. At that stage the department staff consisted of the professor one permanent academic, and a secretary with additional teaching by contract and occasional staff.

The following year the first honours class graduated, although at that stage computer science was offered only as part of a double degree. The first graduates with Single Honours Computer Science emerged in 1997. The other major programme offered at that time was the Higher Diploma in Information Technology, the oneyear conversion course. For several years, the numbers on the HDipIT dominated the department’s teaching, peaking in 1999 when 140 students were enrolled.

In 1993, the department moved into the Callan Building on north campus, sharing with Biology. The department has always been keen to expand its portfolio of courses.

In 1996, under Professor David Vernon, the MSc in Software Engineering was inaugurated, combining advanced postgraduate modules with industrial practice and scheduled to allow part-time participants from industry. However, the main expansion of the department came in 1998 with the start of the denominated degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSSE).

This resulted in a rapid expansion of the department with the addition of ten new permanent academic posts in three years and a large extension on the Callan Building tripling its lab and office space. The CSSE degree has been restructured twice since then to address problems caused by the lack of qualified applicants after the dot-com crash. The third professor, Ronan Reilly, ensured it is now more integrated into the general undergraduate programmes with a common first year shared between science allowing students to transfer in second year. In addition, computer science is now integrated into the Arts, Multimedia and Music Technology curricula – it is possible to take an undergraduate degree combining computer science with almost any other subject on campus.

As well as teaching, research and outreach has equally been a priority in the department. The first PhD student graduated in 1998 and staff have been leaders in EU and SFI grants worth several million euro, particularly in the areas of digital holography, computer vision, geo-computation and principles of programming.It is also notable that three research institutes on campus owe their origin to initiatives started by computer science staff – Hamilton Institute, National Centre for Geocomputation and An Foras Feasa. The department’s Summer School for Chinese students has become a regular fixture. The department also runs an annual computing summer camp for teenagers and staff have given public lectures for primary school children.

Our undergraduates have competed in international competitions and have twice been highly placed in the finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Seoul and Paris. Our students have also contributed to the NUI Maynooth robot soccer team who have done well in international Robocup finals, winning it once in a joint team with Newcastle University from Australia.

As well as being a significant anniversary, 2012 is a significant milestone for the future of Computer Science at Maynooth. We are launching two new degrees – the BSc in Computational Thinking is a new three-year accelerated undergraduate programme in computer s cience, mathematics and philosophy for highly qualified applicants. In addition the department is lead partner in a new European Erasmus Mundus MSc in Dependable Software Systems with St Andrews University and Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy. Our alumni celebration will highlight these developments with keynote speakers from Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft followed by a party in the new Phoenix student restaurant. We look forward to meeting our past.

Imagine Cup 2008, Paris, France ‘Acid Rain’ team with Aodhan Coffey (Team member), Liam Cronin (Microsoft), Karl O'Dwyer (Team member), Brian Byrne (Team member), Tom Lysaght (Mentor) l-r: John Harpur (Lecturer), James Cotter, Cormac Corish, Margaret Slattery Ruan Ó Tighearnaigh, Professor Meng C. Er, Martin Fay, Leo Ruaine, Philip Fitzpatrick, (missing from photo Antoine Farrugia)

Maynooth Alumni Association Stay Connected, Keep Connected

Get in touch If you are interested in attending this reunion, please email the alumni office at → alumni@nuim.ie.

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Where Are Our Alumni Now? Eugene Magee

Martin Nugent

1964 BA

Dublinked Dublinked opens window on €27 billion EU open data market Dublin’s Local Authorities and NUI Maynooth invite businesses, technologists and researchers to join unique new data network.

John Tierney Dublin City Manager and Professor Philip Nolan.

Get in touch Alumni wishing to get involved in Dublinked email dublinked@nuim.ie or visit → www.dublinked.ie

Across the EU, public sector bodies are estimated to be sitting on a potential treasure trove of data, worth up to €27 billion*. Through a unique initiative between Dublin’s Local Authorities and NUI Maynooth, businesses, technologists, app developers, researchers and entrepreneurs have been invited to join Dublinked – a membership network to mine, exploit and utilise public data to generate new revenue streams and address regional challenges.

Dublinked is a data sharing initiative that sees previously unreleased public operational data being made available online for others to research or reuse. With the initial data coming from Dublin City Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, South Dublin and Fingal County Councils, it is expected that other public and private organisations in Dublin will link up with Dublinked to share their data and invite research collaborations.

The information is curated by NUI Maynooth to ensure ideas can be commercialised as easily as possible and to minimise legal or technical barriers that can be impediments for small and medium businesses (SMEs) seeking to develop and prove business ideas.

The initial release of data consists of over 100 environmental, traffic and planning datasets including planning application data from across the region, water flow, rainfall and energy monitoring and air, water pollution and noise maps for the Dublin region.

Dr Ronan Farrell, Director of the Callan Institute at NUI Maynooth is Dublinked Co-ordinator.

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He sees businesses and entrepreneurs using this data to develop innovative and interesting business ideas which would drive job growth while also enhancing city living. ‘We have seen fantastic examples in other cities of new user interfaces for public transport information, the property market or healthcare data. One of the unique benefits of Open Data is that applications developed here can easily be adapted for other cities around the world and we look forward to working with our Dublinked partners to develop new businesses from Dublin’, he said.

Dublinked is unique in providing both open data and an additional research zone, where members can access additional datasets and participate in regular member events (membership fees vary and are based on company size).

Jonathan Raper is CEO of PLACR, a UK company specialising in the use of open data similar to that provided by Dublinked.

His view is that ‘Open Data is incredibly exciting and its potential is practically endless. However one of the issues can be that public sector bodies often do not move at the pace that SMEs require to prove their ideas and get it to market. What is exciting about Dublinked is that the Local Authorities have partnered with NUI Maynooth to remove many of these impediments. This is a key learning from around the world’. *2009 EC Report – Re-use of Public Sector Information – Review of Directive 2003/98/EC

1972 BA

1960s

1970s

In the college of my generation, it was impossible to separate the recognized college of the National University from the Major Seminary and Pontifical University.

For me and my contemporaries, the University was really a place or state where we spent time before continuing into Theology and on towards the Priesthood.

Many did not complete that journey so there are plenty of us lay graduates from the pre-NUI Maynooth era.

St. Patrick's College Maynooth had its first intake of lay students in 1968. I arrived with a small number of others in 1969. It immediately struck me as a friendly and welcoming institution if somewhat quaint. The lecturing staff were predominantly clerical—An tAth. Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich (later Cardinal) was Registrar, an tAth. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (Ollamh na SeanGhaeilge), Fr Liam Ryan (Professor of Sociology): all brilliant and kind men. By the time I was in third year, the numbers of lay students and lay staff were increasing dramatically.

The College bore no real resemblance to the modern day Maynooth but it was nevertheless a unique, intriguing place.

There were only 300 undergraduate students and no more than four postgraduates in the Schools of Arts, Philosophy and Science.

The Faculty were entirely clerical, the students were entirely male, residential and seminarians. Yet it was a place of high quality learning and academic achievement; probably because we had little else to do!

The atmosphere was designed to be monastic in the original sense, bound into a programme of prayer and silence.

The campus was an inspiring beautifully maintained, almost sylvan setting. Mind you this sylvan tranquility was pierced almost every day by the clamor from some of the bloodiest ball games I have ever witnessed!

Perhaps more in keeping with our surroundings, we had the highest quality musical and theatrical performances in the Aula Maxima. On the Seminary side of things, we had amazing liturgies and liturgical music in the four chapels including of course, the spectacular Pugin College Chapel.

Many of these things were difficult to leave behind as were the people with whom I shared them. The people were amazing and the relationship unique because of the unusual place we found ourselves. Those who stayed the course, ended up as Parish Priests, Clerical Academics, Bishops and Church Leaders. The rest of us have gone on to have careers in Law, Medicine, Politics, Academia, Business and even the Stage. I have yet to meet one who does not reflect fondly on ‘the Maynooth experience’.

I travelled daily by bus from Edenderry, Offaly and as the next few years passed so too did a growing number of fellow students from the Maynooth hinterland. I studied Irish and Sociology for my BA. and studied for my HDip Ed while doing my teaching practice in Kilcock. I moved after three years to Clongowes Wood College, Clane, where I am now Assistant Headmaster. I returned to study in Maynooth a number of times; to do a Masters in Irish (1983) and later a Higher Diploma in Educational Management (1993).

What would be my highlights? Meeting and falling in love with my wife Mary O’Donnell; being part of the winning Sigerson Cup team in 1975; graduating with an MA in 1983; continuing to live nearby so I can have the pleasure of occasionally walking through the College grounds; to take pride in the growing reputation of NUI Maynooth and finally, meeting the many friends I made while studying there who have gone on to make a significant contribution to Irish society especially in education.

Mary Dunne 1977 BA

In September 1974 I joined a long queue of students waiting to register for first year. There was a significant number of us from rural backgrounds, others the eldest of the family and therefore the first of the family to obtain a leaving certificate or indeed register for third level.

My years in Maynooth were indeed some of the happiest years of my life. As students we were fortunate to have had gifted teachers in the Geography Department like Paddy Duffy, William J Smith, Fran Walsh and Denis Pringle. Geography was no longer the study of mountains, rivers and lakes. Field trips to the Burren were educational and entertaining. Professor Pete Connolly had the gift and capacity to keep us spellbound by his insightful analysis of the works of Thomas Hardy and Dickens. Professors Liam Ryan and Micheál Mc Greal sensitized us to sociology and social psychology.

College life centered on Callan Hall and the Russell library as the new campus did not exist at that time. A friendly atmosphere was a unique part of the Maynooth experience and I made life-long and true friends during my time in Maynooth. I have recently attended the weddings of my friends’ children and it’s wonderful to catch up on all the happenings.

I graduated on November 9th 1977 with a BA in English, Sociology and Geography.

On completion of my post-graduate course in Froebel College, Sion Hill, I began teaching in Kiltale NS, Co. Meath.

I later became a principal and during this phase I was seconded to the Primary Curriculum Support Programme (PCSP) and worked as a Geography facilitator.

I now work for the Department of Education and Skills as a Primary School Inspector in the Dublin/Meath area.

I have had wonderful opportunities in my life so far and in many ways the opportunities which have come my way are as a result of the influence and impact of my undergraduate time in St. Patrick’s College Maynooth. I look forward to the next reunion in the college and a chance to catch up with contemporaries from those happy and exciting times!

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Deirdre Heaney Constant

Patrick O’Meara

1980 BA / 1981 HDip Ed

1983 BA

1980s

Only three things have really shaped me.

First is family: I was born into one where hard work, aspiration and education mattered most. Thanks to Donogh O’Malley, I enjoyed a financially painless school life in Tipperary and I arrived in Maynooth on 2nd October 1977, two days after my 17th birthday. I met Michael Ryan, roommate, soul mate and lifelong friend, along with Brendan Fox, Martin Fitzgerald, Jack Caesar, Liam McNiffe, Mark O’Carroll and others. They have all gone on to have spectacular academic and teaching careers. I was lucky. These extraordinary people helped to shape me and they have had the most profound influence. Greater now in wisdom and girth, we meet regularly.

Maynooth offered a shy, uncertain young man a secure, rich learning environment, formally and informally. We learned to work and party hard as a matter of principle.

Some did wonder if Maynooth at that time could offer the full university experience.

Whether it did or not, it has been the second great influence in my life. At 20, I wasn't ready for teaching. So after two summers on the beaches of Los Angeles, I spent eleven incredible years learning by doing, in Foróige, under Michael B Cleary, probably the leading educationalist of his generation. Foróige has been my third vital shaping influence. Ann and I now live happily in London. I am a director at BITC, where companies work to improve their environmental and social impacts.

Maynooth was the springboard to all that I have done in my working life. In it I laid the foundations of my most important friendships and gained the knowledge of how to conduct them. I owe it much.

Niamh O’Gorman (MacMahon)

I began a BA journey in Maynooth in history and geography in the fall of 1980. My first impression of Maynooth was how connected it was to the larger world. Because of its history and connections to Catholic groups globally, I knew students from several African countries, India, the US, Germany and Malta.

Professors in Maynooth were responsible for encouraging me to look to the larger world and question the processes that shaped it. Several months ago my niece, who currently attends Maynooth, inspired me to contact some of my teachers. I got in touch with Dr. Prionnseas Breathnach and Professor Paddy Duffy. They not only remembered me and my friends but they had pictures from our geography field trip taken in 1982! I still remember the dry wit of Dr. Pringle who managed to make me laugh even in statistics class. Along the way I was also influenced by Professor Vincent Comerford in history who supervised my thesis project and in the process, helped me to develop both my writing and thinking.

Perhaps the best part of being a Maynooth student was the friends I made. Over long discussions about how to save the world, I bonded with a unique and eclectic group of people. I still remain friends with many of them today. They too played a part in shaping who I became.

I moved to NY in 1986 after completing a graduate degree in counseling at UCD. I got a job as a high school guidance counselor and eventually moved into academia and became an academic advisor. Last year I took a senior advising position in the Department of Economics and Business at the City University of New York (CUNY) I am married with two teenage children and live in Dobbs Ferry, on the Hudson River about 40 minutes from mid-town Manhattan.

I have never forgotten the excellent teachers who opened my mind and helped me develop as a professional. I am grateful to Maynooth for introducing me to a very diverse student body; it prepared me well for my life in NY. I have many happy memories of my college days spent in Maynooth.

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Brendan McEvoy

MA 1993

Seaghan Kearney

BA 1996, HDipIT 1997

2001 BA

Aoife Barron 2007 BSc

1990s

1990s

2000s

I took a circuitous route to NUI Maynooth, completing my Bachelors degree in Business Studies in University of Limerick and then spending a year in Spain teaching English, before attending Maynooth to complete an MA in Economics and Finance. It was only the second year the course had been run and it was a relatively small class of about 25 people from wide ranging backgrounds.

My classmates were a fabulous group of people and while we worked very hard, we had great fun too acquainting ourselves well with the Maynooth social scene! The course was very challenging and highly stimulating and I found our lecturers extremely accessible and helpful and have fond memories of many lecturers including Prof Paddy Geary, Margaret Hurley and Tom McCarthy. I also tutored 2nd year BA students, which was a great experience.

I was fortunate to spend four great years in Maynooth both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate.

Although it’s probably clichéd; my days in Maynooth were some of the best in my life. Four years when not too much seemed to matter in the outside world, Maynooth lived up to and exceeded all expectations for student life. The Roost, the SU, the odd fry in the Rye and trips down the country with the lads to play a Gaelic match - life couldn’t have been any better.

I arrived in NUI Maynooth in 2003 to begin my BSc in Biological Sciences; a new Degree course at the time. As clichéd as it might sound, the four years I spent at NUI Maynooth were the most enjoyable years of my life to date; I made some great lasting friendships, had lots of laughs on the buzzing social scene and to top it all, I left in 2007 with a First Class Honours Degree.

A student of Maths and Irish, I got all my exams and thankfully never had to repeat any. My graduation day was marked by the unfortunate events of 9/11; a day that changed the world in more ways than one.

I spent the preceding year as President of the Student’s Union after a keenly fought contest with the outgoing President Noel Hogan. It was a year I thoroughly enjoyed gaining lots of experience, working hard on lots of projects and making many friends.

Having completed my final year project in the Microbiology Department, I decided a career in Microbiology was for me, so almost immediately after completing my finals in June 2007, I planted the seeds of my career as a Quality Control Microbiology Analyst in Wyeth Biopharma (now Pfizer) in Grange Castle, Dublin. Here I spent 16 months learning the ropes in the industrial field of Microbiology in one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical therapeutics producers, getting hands-on experience in laboratory work and in the production process of sterile vaccines.

Graduating in 1993, the economic circumstances weren’t unlike the current challenging environment, but I was fortunate enough to be accepted on the Bank of Ireland Graduate Programme. I am still there all these years later, having been able to benefit from a very diverse career all within one organisation starting out in retail banking, moving to Corporate Finance, followed by Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Markets and Risk.

I absolutely loved my time in Maynooth.

I made some great friends, learned much and it is also lovely to think that I graduated from the same college as my father had 28 years previously!

My first three years were spent doing a BA in History and Geography which I enjoyed immensely. I followed this up by completing the Higher Diploma in Information Technology in 1997.

There are so many good memories from my time in Maynooth – the Outdoor Pursuits Club, the Bar-Exs, Geography field trips to Galway and Westport, assisting the Maynooth Ladies Soccer Team but mostly my memories are about the friends I met while I was there.

It’s funny the things you remember - hours spent playing cards in the canteen, sitting around the Arts Block between lectures, crossing the bridge umpteen times a day, films for £1 in the Aula on Sunday evenings, chatting to people in the library, walking everywhere looking for people (as no one had mobile phones back then!)

Since leaving Maynooth I have worked in IT. My first IT employer was actually NUI Maynooth as I worked for the Computer Department for a while. It was interesting seeing the University from the angle of staff member after being a student there.

Since then I have worked solely in IT mainly for telecoms companies both in Ireland and in the UK designing, developing and supporting billing and document creation systems.

This year, some ex-classmates and I decided to return to Maynooth and attend the 2011 Alumni Ball. It was great to meet up with everyone again and swap stories and memories on what was a very enjoyable evening. I wholeheartedly recommend the night to all Alums.

After leaving Maynooth, I went down the path of teaching receiving my first job in St. Dominic’s, Cabra where I still teach today. The intervening years have been interesting to say the least. I stood for the local elections in 2009 in the Cabra/Glasnevin constituency narrowly missing out on a seat by just 7 votes.

However 11th October 2010 proved to be a defining day in my life. A normal Monday night playing 5-a side with the lads or so I thought. 20 minutes into the game my heart stopped. Only for a friend of mine, Terry O’Brien and a donated defibrillator, I would have become another unfortunate victim to SADS. I now spend my time promoting the importance of defibrillators and their accessibility through the ACT Campaign with the Mater Foundation.

(Seaghan has an awareness video on YouTube)

This led me on to become a QC Microbiologist in Pfizer’s new start-up Biotechnology facility in Shanbally, Co. Cork in 2008. Here, I spent 3 years in the most challenging, yet rewarding job of my career so far. I played a key role in a small, but dynamic Pharmaceutical environment, working to build a fully-functioning Microbiology lab from scratch, in what would become the fastest pharmaceutical start-up completion ever.

Unfortunately, the legacy of Shanbally came to an end this year and I have been one of the many people in this country to face redundancy, but I have been fortunate enough to continue my career, now as a Quality Specialist in Cork’s booming Pharmaceutical industry.

These trying, but wonderful life experiences could not have happened if it weren’t for the education and training given to me in NUI Maynooth. I will forever look upon those brief four years as valuable career preparation, which hopefully will continue for years to come.

WWW.ALUMNI.NUIM.IE

23 The Bridge

22 The Bridge

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1. Inaugural Graduating Class of NUI Maynooth Law with Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton and Law Faculty 2. MA Military History and Strategic Studies graduates Tom Kenny, Brid Kenny and Liam Kenny 3. Dr Miriam Ryan, Office Vice President for Research, who was conferred with a BCL (Law and Arts) in September with her husband, Dr Kevin Mc Donnell and daughters Hazel and Genevieve Mc Donnell

4. Willie and Paddy Mullins 5. Vinnie Muldoon, Danielle McVeigh, Professor Philip Nolan, President, NUI Maynooth, and Paddy Mullins 6. Noel Nynes and Professor Philip Nolan

Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board (MAAB)

GRADUATIONS 2011

The objectives that the Board, which aims to meet three to four times a year, has set itself, are: To act as advisory group to the Alumni Office To act as Ambassadors for NUI Maynooth To help enlarge the alumni base To increase the number of and numbers attending alumni events

This year’s graduation ceremonies at NUI Maynooth in early September and at the end of October saw over 2,000 undergraduate and postgraduate conferrals.

Almost 1,900 students, a record high for the University, graduated during three days of ceremonies on campus during September.

18 courses, including the Bachelor of Civil Law and the Bachelor of Business Law Degree awarded graduates for the first time. Officiating at his inaugural conferring ceremonies, Professor Philip Nolan, President, NUI Maynooth encouraged graduates to take some time from their celebrations and reflect on the family, friends, lecturers and classmates who had made this day possible.

Maynooth Alumni Association Stay Connected, Keep Connected

The Maynooth Alumni Advisory Board (MAAB), which held it’s inaugural meeting on February 3rd this year, has been established with three specific aims – to help set the strategic direction of the Alumni Office, to identify ways in which Alumni can benefit other alumni and to explore how Alumni can help the University.

o help identify and prioritise key activities T to be built into the alumni annual plan The President of NUI Maynooth, Professor Philip Nolan, attended Board’s October meeting, at which he expressed his delight that the Board was in existence and was actively engaged in the development of the University. Professor Nolan updated the Board on his vision for NUI Maynooth and indicated that he would like to present his draft strategic plan for the University at the next Board meeting which is scheduled for 19th January and would welcome the Board’s feedback on same.

Among the Business Management graduates who were conferred were two sports scholars: Danielle McVeigh, NUI Maynooth golf scholar and Vinnie Muldoon, NUI Maynooth snooker scholar. Graduating with a degree in Equine Business, Paddy Mullins was accompanied by his father, Champion National Hunt trainer, Willie Mullins.

l-r: Frank Fitzmaurice, Bernadette Coyne, Áengus O'Maoláin, Karen Kelly, Professor Vincent Comerford, Hayley McCann and Flor Madden.

The Alumni Office would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board members for their time and commitment to the Maynooth Alumni Association and looks forward to working with the Board in delivering successful initiatives for Maynooth Alumni during 2012.

MAAB Board members include: Bernadette Coyne, Managing Director, Amárach Consulting, (BA 1987) Peter Finnegan, Director, Dublin City Council, (BA 1976) Frank Fitzmaurice, Director Corporate Services, NUI Maynooth Mark Greville, Director, Bank of America, (BA 1996) Karen Kelly, NUI Maynooth Alumni Officer, (BA 2009) Flor Madden, Executive Chairman, Weddings at Home, (BA 1988) Eugene Magee, Company Director, (BA 1964) Hayley McCann, Secondary Teacher, Geography and Religion, (BA 2007) Gareth McLaughlin, Ebay Executive, (BA 2006) Rob Munelly, Maynooth Student Union President Aengus O’Maoláin, Education Officer, USI (BMus 2009) John Weafer, Social Researcher, Weafer Research Associates, (BA 1979)

WWW.ALUMNI.NUIM.IE

25 The Bridge

24 The Bridge

The Morpeth Roll: A Personal and National Heirloom

A unique project is underway on campus – the Morpeth Roll, effectively a pre-famine census recently discovered at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, is being transcribed and digitised by the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at NUI Maynooth.

In September 1841, George Howard, or Lord Morpeth as he was known, and then Chief Secretary of Ireland was presented with a unique gift on the occasion of his return to England. His supporters in Ireland gathered a testimonial of ‘outpourings of affection and support’ comprising a farewell address signed by approximately 275,000 people on 652 individual sheets of paper. These sheets were subsequently joined together to create a continuous length of paper, approximately 412 metres in length which was then rolled onto a mahogany spool. Effectively a pre-famine census of peers, merchants, professionals, clergymen and landed gentry, the Roll lay undiscovered until 2006. The Roll is currently on loan to NUI Maynooth where it is being researched and conserved.

Lord Morpeth was a Whig politician at the time when the Whigs were supporters of Catholic Emancipation, the abolition of slavery and the extension of the right to vote. In 1835 he was appointed Chief Secretary of Ireland where, after long battles, he eventually carried through reforming legislation on Irish tithes, poor-law and municipal government. His defeat in the 1841 general election led to his departure as Chief Secretary of Ireland and a campaign led by the Duke of Leinster gathered 275,000 signatures of support from across the country. These were collected in less than a month, an amazing achievement given the available modes of transport and communication at the time.

Maynooth Alumni Association Stay Connected, Keep Connected

The testimonial roll was presented to Lord Morpeth at the Royal Exchange, Dublin, in September 1841.

On receipt, he acknowledged that it was the ‘richest heir-loom I could bequeath to the name I bear.’ The roll is unique both in terms of Irish testimonials, and as a farewell gift to a departing official. It has huge research potential, whether looked at as a pre-Famine census substitute, a family heirloom, a genealogy resource or a politically motivated document in its own right. As a pre-Famine census substitute it is unparalleled and its importance is multiplied by the scarcity of census material from this period. Moreover, it has the potential to provide a unique insight into Irish life, society and politics in pre-Famine Ireland as well as providing empirical evidence of mass political involvement.

Some of the most interesting signatures found on the roll to date include historical figures such as Daniel O’Connell, Thomas Davis and Charles Bianconi.

For many years the testimonial roll remained hidden away in a basement at Castle Howard, Yorkshire, but it is now on loan at NUI Maynooth thanks to the generosity of Simon Howard, owner of Castle Howard and the efforts of Prof. Christopher Ridgway, curator and Dr Terence Dooley, Director of the CSHIHE. It is now the focus of an important scholarly investigation with research led

by Dr Patrick Cosgrove, post doctoral research fellow at the Department of History. The staff of the Russell Library have carried out emergency conservation work and Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online resource for family history documents, has begun the process of transcribing and digitising the document to make it available on-line to the general public.

WWW.ALUMNI.NUIM.IE

NUI Maynooth Affinity Credit Card

YOU GE T.

You get a unique credit card and we give a little back to the Maynooth Alumni Fund every time you spend on your Maynooth Affinity Credit Card Apply online at www.bankofireland.com or talk to us in our branch BOI Maynooth (076) 6230776 Bank of Ireland is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Lending criteria, Terms and conditions apply to all credit card applications.

Applicants must be 18 years of age or over to apply. Credit cards are liable to Government Stamp Duty annually, currently €30, per account.