A Shainsailéir,agus a mhuintir na hOllscoile

Is mor an onóir domsa a bheith ós bhur gcomhair inniu chun an tOllamh Howard Gardner a chur in aithne díbh agus chun bronnadh na céime onórach seo a cheiliúradh.

It is a great honour and privilege for me today to introduce Professor Howard Gardner on this the occasion of the conferring on him of the Degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa.

Howard Gardner is Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has spent almost all of his academic life in Harvard, having started his career there as a student in 1961.He went on to complete a PhD and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.At one stage a serious pianist, Gardner has had a long involvement in the arts. His interest in psychology and the arts, led him to do postdoctoral work in neurology, studying how artists and musicians are affected after a stroke.

Gardner is author of at least twenty books and several hundred articles.His books include The Arts and Human Development (1973); Frames of Mind (1983); the Unschooled Mind (1991); Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership (1996); The Disciplined Mind (1999) and Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21^st Century (1999).

A developmental psychologist, Gardner became co-director in the mid-1970s of Project Zero at the Graduate School of Education - an umbrella project set up by Nelson Goodman in the 1960s, that has encompassed some two dozen different studies relating to cognition and creativity and at any one time can involve up to 80 researchers. These studies have covered various aspects of teaching, learning and assessment and have focused in particular on the Arts in education.

Gardner is probably best known for his exposition of the theory of Multiple Intelligences, which he first proposed twenty years ago in his book Frames of Mind. This theory challenges the traditional theory of intelligence as a fixed, unitary and measurable capacity and proposed that all human beings have a multiplicity of intelligences. The theory initially rocked the world of psychology and sparked considerable debate and controversy. It has however, increasingly found favour, especially in the world of education and has been hailed as perhaps the most profound insight into education since the work of John Dewey, Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner.

Here in Ireland and especially in Cork, educationalists have taken a serious interest in Gardner's work during the past five years or so, and in a remarkably short time (by the standards of educational change) his theory of Multiple Intelligences has influenced national curriculum documents and curriculum policy on this island, both north and south. This theory posits that we all have a multiplicity of intelligences - which we use at different times in various combinations to identify and solve problems and to create products and solutions that are of value in our cultures. The theory recognises and respects individual difference and celebrates the potential contribution that people of different intelligences have to make to society.

Teachers here in Cork, working with the Education Department of UCC, have found that the implementation of this theory and of an appropriate curriculum which takes account of the theory, has enabled them to achieve higher levels of motivation, more engagement and better results with pupils in their classroom, especially those who were previously underachieving and alienated. This is particularly important in Ireland where more than 20% of our young people still leave school without taking the Leaving Certificate. We know that negative experiences of learning which often results from a failure to recognise the multiple ways in which people learn, will inevitably militate against a culture of lifelong learning which will be essential if Ireland is to remain an economically viable and successful country. We cannot afford to overlook the potential any of our young people, either for moral, social or economic reasons.

The models of learning developed by Howard Gardner and his team can also lead to a deeper and more thorough understanding by all students across a range of disciplines at all levels of the education system. These models have helped to drive the revision of national curricula at both primary and second-level in this country and I look forward to the day in not too distant future when this will be reflected in our national examinations. I also look forward to continuing the work my colleagues and I are involved in here in UCC in assisting teachers both inside and outside the university to build on Gardner's work to improve their own teaching and their students' learning.

Ironically, some myths and misconceptions surrounding Multiple Intelligences theory have inspired Gardner to undertake a deeper study of the ethical implications of his research and its dissemination. He has stated: "….when you develop ideas, you have to have a certain senses of responsibility for how they are used" and this is something that we in UCC have taken on board.

Howard Gardner has also contributed to the body of knowledge in other areas of scholarship, including the area of leadership. His writings on leadership have widened traditional views and concepts in this area. Leadership tends to conjure up conceptions of power, of physical bearing, oratory skills and of an innate ability to take necessary strategic decisions. He would argue that this envisioning ignores a crucial concept of leadership - the mind of the leader and the minds of his or her followers. In his research, Gardner has linked the study of creativity and that of leadership and has demonstrated the strong ties between the traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in the realm of business, politics and the military.

It is with great pleasure then that I present Professor Howard Gardner to the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland for the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa.

Praehonorabilis Cancellarie, Totaque Universitas, Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus, quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoratus in Litteris, idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.