Outstanding achievers in the fields of business, international
diplomacy, oral health and public service are to be honoured by UCC at
the 2006 Alumni Achievement Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Henry Ford
& Son, Limited, which takes place this evening (Friday, 1 December
2006) at UCC.
The four UCC graduates who are being honoured are:-
DAN MULHALL – Director General of EU Division at the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Former Ambassador to Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and
Vietnam during the 2004 Tsunami disaster.
MICHAEL CAWLEY - Deputy Chief Executive of Ryanair.
DR PETER COONEY - Chief Dental Officer of Canada and leading international expert in oral health.
CLLR DEIRDRE CLUNE - Former Lord Mayor of Cork during Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture.
The annual UCC Alumni Achievement Awards Programme honours graduates
who have obtained extraordinary distinction and success in their chosen
fields. The Awards aim to foster a spirit of loyalty, involvement and
commitment to UCC amongst alumni. Professor Gerard Wrixon,
President, UCC said “It gives me great pleasure to present an Alumnus
Achievement Award to these graduates whose outstanding accomplishments
have brought great honour to their alma mater.”
UCC is a vibrant, dynamic university, internationally recognised for
its teaching programme and the quality of the student experience and
consistently the premier research university in Ireland. UCC has almost
16,000 students (2,000 from 75 countries) and over 3,000 members of
staff. UCC brings a global dimension to Cork and plays a driving role
in the cultural, economic and social developments not only in the South
West region but across Ireland. UCC was selected as Irish
University of the Year twice in recent years.
______________________
DISTINGUISHED INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT TO BE HONOURED WITH UCC ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
International diplomat, Dan Mulhall is to be honoured with a UCC
Alumnus Achievement Award. The 2006 Awards Ceremony takes place
this evening (Friday, 1 December 2006) at UCC.
Mr Mulhall is being honoured by the College of Arts, Celtic Studies
& Social Sciences for his distinguished career as an international
diplomat.
Dan Mulhall graduated with an honours BA degree in 1975, a Higher
Diploma in Education in 1978 and an MA in Modern History in 1979.
Dan has pursued his career as a member of the Department of Foreign
Affairs since 1978 and has served in various postings in New Delhi,
Vienna and Brussels. He served as Press Officer for four years to
Ireland’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels. Dan was
appointed as the first Irish Consul General to Edinburgh, Scotland in
1998 and in 2001 he was posted to Kuala Lumpur where he served as
Ambassador to Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
It was in the last term of this posting to South-East Asia that Dan
faced his greatest challenge when on the 26 December 2004 the Tsunami
disaster struck in the Indian Ocean resulting in almost 300,000 deaths
and displacing over two million people in the surrounding region.
Dan acquitted himself outstandingly in the immediate aftermath of the
Tsunami, leading the Irish Government’s emergency response efforts on
the ground. Dan established an Irish desk in Phuket’s City Hall
where he was joined by volunteers to help trace Irish citizens living
and holidaying in the area and bravely confronted the daunting task of
identifying the dead. At this crucial time, Dan was the key
spokesperson to the Irish media, providing up-to-date news and
information, as the tragedy unfolded, to the Irish public back home.
Dan is currently Director General of the European Union Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
A keen historian and writer, Dan is the author of A New Day Dawning: a
portrait of Ireland in 1900 (Cork 1999) and has published many articles
on history, literature and other subjects in Ireland, Australia,
Scotland and Malaysia.
Dan has truly been an outstanding ambassador for his alma mater over
the years. A key part of Dan’s ambassadorial role, in Malaysia in
particular, was to promote the excellence of third-level education in
Ireland to students who may be thinking of studying abroad. He
was involved in the arrangements for the visit to Ireland of the King
of Malaysia in 2003 when the King was conferred with an honorary degree
at UCC. There are now some 1,200 Malaysian students studying in Ireland
today. Dan has also been tremendously supportive of the UCC
Graduates’ Association and has actively supported UCC’s worldwide
alumni network in Scotland, south-east-Asia and, more recently, in
Dublin.
On learning of his Award, Dan said “I have very fond memories of
student life in Cork and have always held UCC in the highest
regard. I am, therefore, delighted to have been selected for this
prestigious award. I sincerely thank UCC for this recognition of
my work in the Department of Foreign Affairs, where I have had the
privilege of serving Ireland on a number of overseas assignments with
great colleagues, many of whom are fellow UCC graduates.”
_______________________
RYANAIR EXECUTIVE TO BE HONOURED WITH UCC ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Michael Cawley, Deputy Chief Executive of Ryanair is to be honoured
with a UCC Alumnus Achievement Award. The 2006 Awards Ceremony
takes place this evening (Friday, 1 December 2006) at UCC.
Michael Cawley is being honoured by the College of Business and Law in
recognition of his outstanding business acumen. Michael graduated
from UCC in 1975 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He qualified
as a Chartered Accountant having worked with Coopers and Lybrand for
three years. He returned to his alma mater as a Lecturer in
Accounting and Auditing in the Faculty of Commerce and later worked
with Frank Boland Group as a Financial Accountant.
Michael has worked in a number of different industries including
distribution and manufacturing. In 1981, Michael was appointed
Finance and Distribution Manager with Kodak Ireland and subsequently
became Marketing Manager. He joined Athlone Extrusions as
Managing Director in 1986 where he led the largest management buy-out
at the time in Ireland. In 1993, Michael was appointed
Finance Director of Gowan Group, one of Ireland’s largest private
businesses and the main distributor for Peugeot and Citroen cars in
Ireland.
Michael was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Commercial Director
of Ryanair in 1997. He was centrally involved in the flotation of
the company on the Dublin and Nasdaq Stock Exchanges later that year
and on the London Stock Exchange in June 1998.
Michael was promoted to Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating
Officer in January 2004. Together with Chief Executive, Michael O’Leary
he embraced the challenge of transforming Ryanair from a small low cost
carrier, carrying three million passengers on nine aircraft in 1997,
into Europe’s largest low cost airline out-competing its rivals and
carrying 42.5 million passengers on 103 aircraft in 2006.
Michael is responsible for all commercial activities of the airline
including new route negotiation and selection, ancillary revenue,
setting of fares, advertising, Ryanair.com and sales and
marketing.
Michael credits much of his success in business to the broad education
and training he received at UCC. “I’m particularly pleased to be
honoured by UCC, as I regard my time there as one of the most formative
of my business career. The Commerce Faculty, in particular the
Accounting and Economics Departments, provided us with material to
address all of the big questions in life and in business and I still
draw on my education and experience there in many aspects of my
work.”
____________
INTERNATIONAL EXPERT IN ORAL HEALTH TO BE HONOURED WITH UCC ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dr Peter Cooney, Chief Dental Officer of Canada is to be honoured with
a UCC Alumnus Achievement Award. The 2006 Awards Ceremony takes
place this evening (Friday, 1 December 2006) at UCC.
Dr Cooney is being honoured by the College of Medicine & Health as an international leader in oral health.
After graduating from UCC in 1977 with an honours degree in dentistry,
Peter headed for London where he worked in a busy general dental
practice before emigrating to Canada in 1979.
He established his own private dental practice in Newfoundland and
completed a Dental Diploma in Public Health in 1983, coming first in
his class. He moved into public health dentistry with the
Government of Manitoba and was subsequently appointed Executive
Director of Manitoba Dental Health in 1985.
Peter joined Health Canada in 1991 as Regional Dental Officer
with the aboriginal First Nations people and Inuit Communities in
Manitoba Region and worked to improve the oral and dental health of
these ethnic groups. Canada has one of the most advanced
healthcare systems in the world and Health Canada strives to provide
the best healthcare to the Canadian population.
In 1997 Peter moved with his wife and three children to Ottawa,
Canada’s capital city, and from 1999 to 2003 he was Director General of
the Non-Insured Health Benefits Division of the First Nations and Inuit
Health Branch with responsibility for managing $800m worth of health
services.
Peter currently leads the Office of the Chief Dental Officer
(OCDO) whose function is to improve the oral health status of Canada’s
32 million plus citizens. Research has shown that poor oral health may
contribute to other health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes,
respiratory diseases as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes. Under
Peter’s direction, the Office aims to increase the awareness among
Canadians of the importance of maintaining good oral health.
Peter is also responsible for identifying research priorities including
a national oral needs assessment to assist in formulating public
policies using an evidence based, epidemiological approach. He is
also responsible for developing an integrated collaborative approach
with key stakeholders to preventing and controlling oral and associated
diseases.
Peter is cross-appointed Assistant Professor in the Faculty of
Dentistry at the University of Toronto. He is currently the Chief
Examiner for the specialty of Dental Public Health with the Royal
College of Dentists of Canada. He sits on numerous committees and
boards. In 2006, Peter was appointed Chair of the International
Chief Dental Officers Public Health Section of the FDI – World Dental
Federation. He is a former President of the Canadian Association
of Public Health Dentistry. Peter holds a Specialty, Masters and
Fellowship in Community Dentistry.
Peter has published extensively and has edited and co-edited numerous articles for national and international dental journals.
He has received many honours and accolades for his work including the
Pierre Fouchard Academy Fellowship in 1999 and the Gold Medal Award
from the Professional Institute of Public Service of Canada in 1998 for
the improvement and enhancement of public well-being.
On learning of his Award, Peter said “I very much appreciate being
selected as the recipient of the 2006 UCC Alumnus Achievement Award
from the College of Medicine and Health. As I am the first dental
graduate to receive this award, it must also be shared by all in the
dental college as my dental education in Cork gave me the strong
educational base I needed to address the many issues I encounter as
Chief Dental Officer of Canada.”
___________________
FORMER LORD MAYOR OF CORK TO BE HONOURED WITH UCC ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Cllr Deirdre Clune, former Lord Mayor of Cork is to be honoured with a
UCC Alumnus Achievement Award. The 2006 Awards Ceremony takes
place this evening (Friday, 1 December 2006) at UCC.
Cllr Clune is being honoured by the College of Science, Engineering
& Food Science for her excellent public service. Deirdre
graduated from UCC in 1980 with an honours degree in civil
engineering. After graduation, Deirdre worked on civil and
structural engineering projects in Dublin and London before returning
to Cork to work with Ove Arup and Partners. She completed a
Higher Diploma in Environmental Engineering in UCC in 1995.
Deirdre comes from a Cork family with a long tradition of public
service and inevitably developed an interest in politics from an early
age. She was prompted to enter the political arena following the
retirement of her father, Peter Barry, from national politics in the
mid 1990’s. Deirdre was duly elected to the Dáil in 1997 as a
Fine Gael TD and became spokesperson for the party on Art and Heritage
and was a member of the Oireachtas Committee for Health and
Children.
Deirdre has been a member of Cork City Council since 1999 and has
played an active role in local government, culminating in her election
as Lord Mayor of Cork in 2005 when the city was European Capital of
Culture. She served as First Citizen of Cork with tremendous
style, enthusiasm and energy, hosting civic receptions for visiting
Ambassadors, national and international dignitaries, and attended a
hectic schedule of events, street celebrations, awards ceremonies,
school visits and company openings. She helped make Cork 2005 one
of the most important achievements in recent times. Deirdre is a
member of the Docklands Development Committee, the Roads and
Transportation Committee and the Planning Committee of Cork City
Council. Through her work as a councillor she has been involved
in drafting a joint waste management strategy with Cork City Council,
and has contributed to the development of the Cork Area Strategic Plan.
Deirdre has been very supportive of UCC, particularly during her term
as Lord Mayor where she served on UCC’s Governing Body and attended
many university events.
Deirdre was made an honorary fellow by the Institute of Engineers of
Ireland in 2002 in recognition of her contribution to the national
agenda as the only engineer in the Dail from 1997-2002.
On learning of her Award from UCC, Deirdre said “It is a great honour
to have been nominated for this award by my alma mater. I am very proud
of the fact that I was selected from amongst the many engineering
graduates and very much appreciate the recognition of someone who has
brought an Engineering qualification into another sphere.”
338MMcS