News
Retirement of Professor Patrick O'Donovan
Professor Patrick O’Donovan retired as Chair of French on January 31 2024 and has taken on his new role as Professor Emeritus.
His contribution to the Department, School and College has been considerable. In each case he left a legacy in terms of new structures and a culture of civility and collegiality. For us, within French, it is a significant moment, the end of an era in many respects and so we marked the event with a reception, a vin d’honneur, to acknowledge Paddy's contribution and wish him the very best.
Professor O'Donovan was appointed to the Professorship of French in UCC in 1994. He served on several occasions as Head of the Department of French during which time he entirely restructured the French undergraduate programme of study as well as the organization of the Department, in addition to driving the Department’s expansion. He also served as Head of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and Vice-Head for Research in the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences. From 2015 to 2017, He was Head of the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences.
He has made a significant contribution to the field of French Studies as a former editor of the journal French Studies and a former President of the Association d'Études Françaises et Francophones d'Irlande. He was founding Chairperson of the Irish Humanities Alliance in 2013–14, and was convener of the group that produced By Imagination We Live: A Strategy for the Humanities, 2020–2030.
It’s been an impressive career, marked by scholarship, service, teaching and leadership.