1994

Helen Callaghan (BA Joint Honours, Italian and German, 1994)

'After completing my BA, I obtained a Diploma in Business Studies from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business. Between November 1995 and May 1997, I worked as a supervisor with American Airlines in their European Reservations Center in Dublin, managing a group of twenty bilingual reservations agents and dealing with customer problems and grievances from the German and Swiss (German and Italian-speaking) markets.

'In June 1997 I moved to London and I am at present working for Morgan Stanley and Co. International in their Equity Trade Support Division. I am responsible for the account management of their clients based in Germany. I am also involved periodically in this role for the firm's Italian-based clients and I hope to do more in this area in the future'. (November 1997)

Karen Mulcahy (BA Single Honours-Major Italian/Minor Psychology, 1994)

'After completing my BA in 1994 I obtained a Diploma in Bilingual Business Studies (French) from Skerry's Business College, Cork. I then moved to Italy (Bologna and later, Sardinia) for a year where I worked in a bar/restaurant and occasionally taught English. Having had to return to Cork, I took up the position as Customer Service/Complaints Supervisor with Western Union Money Transfer (Ireland) where I had plenty of opportunity to speak Italian and French. In April 1999 I returned to UCC, this time as an employee, and I have recently joined the Department of Italian as Senior Executive Assistant. It is great being back in the department, the next best thing to being in Italy!' (October 2000)

Síofra Pierse (BA Joint Honours, Italian and French, 1994)

'Immediately after graduating from UCC, I took up a place at Trinity College Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. In my first year there I completed a Master of Studies in Research Methods in Modern Languages and then began work on my D.Phil. on Voltaire under G.J. Mallinson at Oxford. I enjoyed every second of my time at Trinity College and certainly appreciated the super libraries, the great dinners and the amazing international company. After another two years of D.Phil. research and tutoring in 18th century French literature, I headed to France. From 1997-9, I was based in Paris at the École normale supérieure as Lectrice d'anglais and then as Maître de langue in the Department of Modern Languages. Both positions involved the teaching of both English language and Anglo-Irish literature to French degree students and agrégatifs. It also allowed me to use various Parisian libraries in a bid to finish the final leg of research for my D.Phil. On Bastille Day 1999, I successfully defended my thesis, 'Voltaire and Clio: from History to Story', at Oxford - although I'm not sure what Voltaire would have made of that particularly symbolic date. I then moved to Dublin where I now have a most enjoyable post as (18th century!) College Lecturer in the French Department, UCD.

'My Italian has come in extremely useful on numerous occasions over the years, primarily at a conversation level, although I also have to read the odd article in Italian for my research. I must admit that I make greatest use of Italian when on holidays in Italy and luckily those occasions seem to be increasingly frequent!' (September 2000)

Stephanie Lequin, née Boland (BA Joint Honours, Italian and French, 1994)

'I have been working here for over 4 years as a recruitment consultant with Oxford International, Penrose Quay, Cork, specialising in the recruitment of IT contract consultants for the UK and Europe (it's an American based company). I don't use my Italian here, I must confess, but do use French quite a bit. I was team leader here until recently but chose to reduce to a four-day week and drop my team leadership responsibilities after the birth of my son Luc, so my title is now Recruitment Consultant again'. (April 2003)

Beverley Mathews (BA Joint Honours - European Studies, Major Italian/Minor French, 1994)

'Despite studying both Italian and French in my European Studies degree, I have only put my Italian to real use. After graduating in 1994 I left for Italy - initially only for a year, but I ended up staying for much longer (five years in total). I spent the first two and a half years in Pisa teaching English in companies, interpreting and translating. In 1997 I moved to Parma where I started working for myself, principally as a technical translator. I moved back to Cork in October 1999 and immediately started working with Siemens as a customer service representative, dealing exclusively with the Italian market. My work includes providing after sales service to mobile phone users, primarily of a technical nature. I like the job as it enables me to keep up my language skills, but I hope to have closer contact with Italy in the future, and may even consider a permanent move there'. (March 2000)

Julie O'Brien (BA Joint Honours, Italian and French, 1994)

'Following my degree in Italian, I went on to do a Masters on eigtheenth-century Italian literature. I tutored in my first year of the MA at UCC and completed my second year in Florence. I really enjoyed the subject matter of my thesis and loved living abroad. Ironically, it was while doing the MA, I decided I did not want to remain in academia. I returned home from Italy (very reluctantly) and attended the Michael Smurfit School of Business in Dublin. I went straight into tourism after this one-year course. I am presently working as Director of Sales & Marketing for a Destination Management Company called WCT International, based in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. The work is very varied and involves the organisation and management of corporate incentive, meeting and conference groups from abroad into Ireland. I use both Italian and French a lot in my present work'. (June 2001)

Rachel Manley (BA Joint Honours - European Studies, Major Italian/Minor French, 1994; MPhil - European Studies, 1996)

'I began working for ITT Sheraton Reservations in August 1997 as an Italian and French Reservations/Sales Associate. In 1998 I became a Team Leader and later that year a Supervisor. Responsibilities included liaising with the Hotels in Starwood Hotels' Luxury Collection. A high concentration of the Luxury Collection hotels in Europe are in Italy. In 2002 I became a Six Sigma Black Belt, focusing on process improvement and project management. Since January 2003 I am a Sales and Account Manager for an internal programme.' (July 2003)

Lucy Ryan (BA Joint Honours, Italian and French, 1994)

'In the autumn after graduation I went to UCD Business School , where I did a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Business Studies. In September 1995 I was taken on by Guinness as part of the European Orientation Programme. I worked for Guinness Italia in Milan, in Finance and Administration. I finished the Graduate Programme in September 1996, but stayed in Guinness' Milan office for another year.

'I am now about to start a job with United Distillers in the Sales/Marketing area of Duty Free in London.

'In the last two years I have worked almost exclusively in Italian. I hope to continue using it in the future, although I will be speaking Italian much less frequently now that I am working in London'. (October 1997)

Department of Italian Iodáilis