2009 Press Releases
HONORARY CONFERRINGS 2009 – University College Cork
13.05.2009
Six leading figures in the world of education, sport, politics, health and human rights, will be honoured by the National University of Ireland during a ceremony to confer honorary doctorates at University College Cork on Friday, June 5th next.
13.05.2009
Six leading figures in the world of education, sport, politics, health and human rights, will be honoured by the National University of Ireland during a ceremony to confer honorary doctorates at University College Cork on Friday, June 5th next.
The traditional ceremony honours individuals who have distinguished themselves nationally or internationally, through their scholarship, creativity, public service or contribution to social, cultural, sporting or economic life.
Ms SONIA O’SULLIVAN:
Cobh’s most famous daughter, and a “national treasure” by acclamation, Sonia O’Sullivan is one of only a handful of individuals to achieve iconic status in their own land and in their own lifetime. Her track exploits in stadia around the world, made her one of the most instantly recognisable faces in the Irish sporting pantheon, and she has been a true inspiration to the succeeding generation of younger athletes.
Some of Sonia’s greatest achievements include: gold medal winner in the 5000m at the 1995 World Athletics Championships, silver medallist in the 5000m at the 2000 Olympic Games and in the 1500m at the 1993 World championships, winner of three European Championship gold medals and two World Cross-Country Championship gold medals.
Born in Cobh, County Cork, Sonia became one of the greatest ever exponents of the 5,000 metre race. In addition to her wins at this distance, she established several records during an illustrious career, running the 2,000 meter in 5:25:63 (world record), the 3,000 meter in 8:21:64 (European record), and setting the record in the two-mile event. She gained instant celebrity status at home after her participation in the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992, and went on to become one of the world’s pre-eminent female athletes.
Sonia O’Sullivan is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Arts
His Excellency, MR RICHARD J. EGAN:
Former American Ambassador to Ireland, and founder, Chairman Emeritus and former Chief Executive Officer of EMC Corporation, Richard J. Egan served as the US Ambassador to Ireland from 2001-2003, during the George W. Bush Administration. He was regarded widely as a great friend to Ireland and a diplomat of the highest stature who helped foster closer ties between the two nations, both cultural and economic.
The former Ambassador was raised in the Dorchester section of America’s most Irish city, Boston. Having graduated from Boston Technical High School, he joined the US Marine Corps and upon completion of his tour, earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. He then began graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Subsequently, he joined MIT’s Draper Laboratory as part of the team that developed the Apollo Guidance Computer.
In 1979, Ambassador Egan co-founded EMC, starting with six employees. Today, the company employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and has manufacturing and design centers in Belgium; California; India; Ireland; Israel; Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Ambassador Egan is a dynamic leader in the sphere of education, business and leading-edge technology, and has held many prestigious portfolios, including: Director of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Business Roundtable, Director of the New York Stock Exchange Advisory Board and founder of Hopkinton Technology for Education Foundation.
He has received honorary degrees from Northeastern University, New England Institute of Technology and the University of Ulster. In 1994, Inc. Magazine named him “Master Entrepreneur of the Year.” He is also the recipient of the Medal of Honor Society’s Patriot Award, the Jewish National Fund’s Tree of Life Award, and one of Irish America Magazine’s “Top 100”.
His Excellency, Richard M. Egan is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
Fr JACK FINUCANE:
In Ireland’s proud history of Third World aid, one of the names that shines like a beacon is that of Fr Jack Finucane, Co-Founder of Concern, the relief agency that has pioneered the alleviation of suffering and deprivation in the far-flung corners of the globe.
From the suffering endured by countless civilians during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) to perennial flooding in Bangladesh, the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s, and the horror of genocide in Rwanda and Darfur, Concern has always been at hand to tell the world of unspeakable atrocities and bring help to stricken peoples.
A native of Limerick, Fr. Jack is one of the very few individuals in the world who has borne witness to almost all the main humanitarian disasters from the late 1960s until the first decade of the 21st century.
He commenced his mission as a Holy Ghost priest in the Umuahia diocese in Nigeria in 1964.
Two years later, the Nigerian civil war commenced, leading to a devastating famine. Jack was appointed Relief Co-ordinator for Caritas, the agency of the Catholic Church. Africa Concern was established in 1968 and when the Biafran conflict ended in early 1970, the organisation turned its attention to Calcutta and subsequently to the newly created State of Bangladesh.
On completion of studying for an MA in California, Fr Jack joined the relief effort in Bangladesh as Programme Co-ordinator. This was to set the pattern for the rest of his career until his retirement in 2002.
He served as Country Director for Concern in Ethiopia and Kenya during the 1970s and later became Country Director in Bangladesh, succeeding his brother Fr Aengus, and remaining there until 1984. He became Country Director in Ethiopia in 1984 and played a key role in managing the massive Concern response to a famine of biblical proportions. In 1990, he returned to Dublin as Regional Director of Concern and managed the agency’s response to all the main humanitarian tragedies of the world between then and 2002. Even then he was not finished responding to the call to become Country Director as Concern mounted its response to the Darfur crisis in 2004 and later to the response to the Asian tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2005.
Fr Jack Finucane is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
DR MICHAEL BOLAND, MICGP FRCGP:
Dr Michael Boland, health campaigner and innovator, is a former Director of the Postgraduate Resource Centre of the Irish College of General Practitioners. He is also a former President of the World Organisation of Family Doctors and Chairman of the Board of the Office of Tobacco Control which played a strategic role in Ireland becoming the first country in the world to ban smoking in all public buildings.
Having qualified in medicine at University College, Dublin, in 1972, Dr Boland completed general practice training at Cork in 1975 and worked for the next 22 years as a GP in Skibbereen, Co Cork. The practice of four doctors served a semi-rural community of some 8,500 people.
From 2001-2004, Dr Boland was President of the World Organisation of Family Doctors - the umbrella body for more than 100 colleges and academies of general practice and family medicine - representing more than 150,000 doctors throughout the world.
He retired as Director of the Postgraduate Resource Centre of the Irish College of General Practitioners in December 2008. He was the founding Irish member of the European Academy of Teachers in General Practice and a council member for 20 years. He was a core group member of 'EQuiP' - the European Working Party on Quality Assurance - and a founding executive member of the European Society of General Practice - WONCA Region Europe.
Dr Michael Boland is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Medicine
PROFESSOR ZHOU ZHE-WEI:
Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei is Executive Vice-President of Shanghai University, Vice Director of Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics & Mechanics and Vice Chairman of Shanghai Association of Higher Education.
Born in Hubei Province, China, in 1950 Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei received the degree of Doctor of Engineering (PhD) from the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University of Technology, in 1987. He is now Professor of Fluid Mechanics of Shanghai University and has been Executive Vice President of the university since 2005.
In the past ten years Professor Zhou has devoted himself to higher education reformation and innovation in China. He has actively promoted internationlization at Shanghai University and supported collaboration, in general, between Shanghai University and foreign universities. Shanghai University now has become an important centre for foreign academic and student exchange in China. In the past two years, in particular, Professor Zhou has energetically endorsed the collaboration between Shanghai University and UCC. The UCC Confucius Institute was established in November 2007 in partnership with Shanghai University. Shanghai University has played an important part in establishing the Confucius Institute as a centre of excellence for the study of Chinese language and culture in Ireland. It has also provided scholarships and assistance to UCC students to study there for a period of six months to one year. A broad range of staff and student exchange programmes between UCC and Shanghai University have enriched the experience of internationalisation in both universities. Shanghai University has become one of UCC’s important strategic partners in China. The close relationship between the two universities has also strengthened the civic twinning between Cork and Shanghai.
Professor Zhou is Chief Editor of “Applied Mathematics and Mechanics”; Director of the Working Committee of Shanghai Center for Nonlinear Sciences; a standing member of the Chinese Association of Industrial and Applied Mathematics; member of the Chinese Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Vice-Chairman of the University Administration Committee, Chinese Association of Higher Education; Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Association on Nonlinear Sciences; a Member of the Chinese Education Association of International Exchange and Vice Chairman of Shanghai Association of Higher Education. He is also the recipient of the Excellent Young Instructors’ prize from China’s Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation.
Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Science
CLLR MAIRÍN QUILL:
Cllr. Máirín Quill has given a lifetime of public service to her native city as well as to her country and played a prominent role in fostering a “new politics” in Ireland during the 1980s. As Councillor for North East Ward, Cork City Council, Alderman of Cork Corporation, TD for Cork North Central, and a teacher who always maintained close links with her profession, Mairín is one of the stalwarts of Irish politics and a household name.
A native of Kerry, all of Mairín Quill’s adult life has been spent in education or public office. Since 1979, she has been a local councillor for the North East Ward in Cork City Council and is currently an Alderman of Cork Corporation. In particular, she has made an outstanding contribution to the North side of Cork city both as a teacher and as a politician.
She is held in the highest esteem, not only for her public work but also for her tremendous personal generosity to people in difficulty.
Mairín retires from public life in June 2009.
Cllr Mairín Quill is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
1088MMcS
Ms SONIA O’SULLIVAN:
Cobh’s most famous daughter, and a “national treasure” by acclamation, Sonia O’Sullivan is one of only a handful of individuals to achieve iconic status in their own land and in their own lifetime. Her track exploits in stadia around the world, made her one of the most instantly recognisable faces in the Irish sporting pantheon, and she has been a true inspiration to the succeeding generation of younger athletes.
Some of Sonia’s greatest achievements include: gold medal winner in the 5000m at the 1995 World Athletics Championships, silver medallist in the 5000m at the 2000 Olympic Games and in the 1500m at the 1993 World championships, winner of three European Championship gold medals and two World Cross-Country Championship gold medals.
Born in Cobh, County Cork, Sonia became one of the greatest ever exponents of the 5,000 metre race. In addition to her wins at this distance, she established several records during an illustrious career, running the 2,000 meter in 5:25:63 (world record), the 3,000 meter in 8:21:64 (European record), and setting the record in the two-mile event. She gained instant celebrity status at home after her participation in the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992, and went on to become one of the world’s pre-eminent female athletes.
Sonia O’Sullivan is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Arts
His Excellency, MR RICHARD J. EGAN:
Former American Ambassador to Ireland, and founder, Chairman Emeritus and former Chief Executive Officer of EMC Corporation, Richard J. Egan served as the US Ambassador to Ireland from 2001-2003, during the George W. Bush Administration. He was regarded widely as a great friend to Ireland and a diplomat of the highest stature who helped foster closer ties between the two nations, both cultural and economic.
The former Ambassador was raised in the Dorchester section of America’s most Irish city, Boston. Having graduated from Boston Technical High School, he joined the US Marine Corps and upon completion of his tour, earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. He then began graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Subsequently, he joined MIT’s Draper Laboratory as part of the team that developed the Apollo Guidance Computer.
In 1979, Ambassador Egan co-founded EMC, starting with six employees. Today, the company employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and has manufacturing and design centers in Belgium; California; India; Ireland; Israel; Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Ambassador Egan is a dynamic leader in the sphere of education, business and leading-edge technology, and has held many prestigious portfolios, including: Director of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and Business Roundtable, Director of the New York Stock Exchange Advisory Board and founder of Hopkinton Technology for Education Foundation.
He has received honorary degrees from Northeastern University, New England Institute of Technology and the University of Ulster. In 1994, Inc. Magazine named him “Master Entrepreneur of the Year.” He is also the recipient of the Medal of Honor Society’s Patriot Award, the Jewish National Fund’s Tree of Life Award, and one of Irish America Magazine’s “Top 100”.
His Excellency, Richard M. Egan is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
Fr JACK FINUCANE:
In Ireland’s proud history of Third World aid, one of the names that shines like a beacon is that of Fr Jack Finucane, Co-Founder of Concern, the relief agency that has pioneered the alleviation of suffering and deprivation in the far-flung corners of the globe.
From the suffering endured by countless civilians during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) to perennial flooding in Bangladesh, the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s, and the horror of genocide in Rwanda and Darfur, Concern has always been at hand to tell the world of unspeakable atrocities and bring help to stricken peoples.
A native of Limerick, Fr. Jack is one of the very few individuals in the world who has borne witness to almost all the main humanitarian disasters from the late 1960s until the first decade of the 21st century.
He commenced his mission as a Holy Ghost priest in the Umuahia diocese in Nigeria in 1964.
Two years later, the Nigerian civil war commenced, leading to a devastating famine. Jack was appointed Relief Co-ordinator for Caritas, the agency of the Catholic Church. Africa Concern was established in 1968 and when the Biafran conflict ended in early 1970, the organisation turned its attention to Calcutta and subsequently to the newly created State of Bangladesh.
On completion of studying for an MA in California, Fr Jack joined the relief effort in Bangladesh as Programme Co-ordinator. This was to set the pattern for the rest of his career until his retirement in 2002.
He served as Country Director for Concern in Ethiopia and Kenya during the 1970s and later became Country Director in Bangladesh, succeeding his brother Fr Aengus, and remaining there until 1984. He became Country Director in Ethiopia in 1984 and played a key role in managing the massive Concern response to a famine of biblical proportions. In 1990, he returned to Dublin as Regional Director of Concern and managed the agency’s response to all the main humanitarian tragedies of the world between then and 2002. Even then he was not finished responding to the call to become Country Director as Concern mounted its response to the Darfur crisis in 2004 and later to the response to the Asian tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2005.
Fr Jack Finucane is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
DR MICHAEL BOLAND, MICGP FRCGP:
Dr Michael Boland, health campaigner and innovator, is a former Director of the Postgraduate Resource Centre of the Irish College of General Practitioners. He is also a former President of the World Organisation of Family Doctors and Chairman of the Board of the Office of Tobacco Control which played a strategic role in Ireland becoming the first country in the world to ban smoking in all public buildings.
Having qualified in medicine at University College, Dublin, in 1972, Dr Boland completed general practice training at Cork in 1975 and worked for the next 22 years as a GP in Skibbereen, Co Cork. The practice of four doctors served a semi-rural community of some 8,500 people.
From 2001-2004, Dr Boland was President of the World Organisation of Family Doctors - the umbrella body for more than 100 colleges and academies of general practice and family medicine - representing more than 150,000 doctors throughout the world.
He retired as Director of the Postgraduate Resource Centre of the Irish College of General Practitioners in December 2008. He was the founding Irish member of the European Academy of Teachers in General Practice and a council member for 20 years. He was a core group member of 'EQuiP' - the European Working Party on Quality Assurance - and a founding executive member of the European Society of General Practice - WONCA Region Europe.
Dr Michael Boland is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Medicine
PROFESSOR ZHOU ZHE-WEI:
Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei is Executive Vice-President of Shanghai University, Vice Director of Shanghai Institute of Applied Mathematics & Mechanics and Vice Chairman of Shanghai Association of Higher Education.
Born in Hubei Province, China, in 1950 Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei received the degree of Doctor of Engineering (PhD) from the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, Shanghai University of Technology, in 1987. He is now Professor of Fluid Mechanics of Shanghai University and has been Executive Vice President of the university since 2005.
In the past ten years Professor Zhou has devoted himself to higher education reformation and innovation in China. He has actively promoted internationlization at Shanghai University and supported collaboration, in general, between Shanghai University and foreign universities. Shanghai University now has become an important centre for foreign academic and student exchange in China. In the past two years, in particular, Professor Zhou has energetically endorsed the collaboration between Shanghai University and UCC. The UCC Confucius Institute was established in November 2007 in partnership with Shanghai University. Shanghai University has played an important part in establishing the Confucius Institute as a centre of excellence for the study of Chinese language and culture in Ireland. It has also provided scholarships and assistance to UCC students to study there for a period of six months to one year. A broad range of staff and student exchange programmes between UCC and Shanghai University have enriched the experience of internationalisation in both universities. Shanghai University has become one of UCC’s important strategic partners in China. The close relationship between the two universities has also strengthened the civic twinning between Cork and Shanghai.
Professor Zhou is Chief Editor of “Applied Mathematics and Mechanics”; Director of the Working Committee of Shanghai Center for Nonlinear Sciences; a standing member of the Chinese Association of Industrial and Applied Mathematics; member of the Chinese Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Vice-Chairman of the University Administration Committee, Chinese Association of Higher Education; Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Association on Nonlinear Sciences; a Member of the Chinese Education Association of International Exchange and Vice Chairman of Shanghai Association of Higher Education. He is also the recipient of the Excellent Young Instructors’ prize from China’s Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation.
Professor Zhou Zhe-Wei is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Science
CLLR MAIRÍN QUILL:
Cllr. Máirín Quill has given a lifetime of public service to her native city as well as to her country and played a prominent role in fostering a “new politics” in Ireland during the 1980s. As Councillor for North East Ward, Cork City Council, Alderman of Cork Corporation, TD for Cork North Central, and a teacher who always maintained close links with her profession, Mairín is one of the stalwarts of Irish politics and a household name.
A native of Kerry, all of Mairín Quill’s adult life has been spent in education or public office. Since 1979, she has been a local councillor for the North East Ward in Cork City Council and is currently an Alderman of Cork Corporation. In particular, she has made an outstanding contribution to the North side of Cork city both as a teacher and as a politician.
She is held in the highest esteem, not only for her public work but also for her tremendous personal generosity to people in difficulty.
Mairín retires from public life in June 2009.
Cllr Mairín Quill is to be bestowed with a Degree of Doctor of Laws
1088MMcS