Postgraduate degrees conferred included MA - Composition, French, Group Facilitation, Hispanic Studies, Integrative Psychotherapy, Sociology of Dev & Globalisation; MPhil; DSocSc; PhD.

The Conferring Addresses were delivered by Ms Colette Kelleher, Chief Executive, COPE Foundation (attached); Mr Simon Thompson, Principal, Midleton College, Co. Cork and Ms Katie Verling, founder & former Director, Glór Music Centre, Ennis, Co. Clare (attached).

Pictured at UCC Conferrings today (September 6th 2011) were: Catherine Neill, Anne McElligott and Danielle Enright.

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Conferring Address by Ms Colette Kelleher, Chief Executive, COPE Foundation, 10am, 6th September 2011

Change the World?
Congratulations to you all. Today is a great day in your lives, in the lives of you who are graduating to-day and a great day for your parents and families too. Your parents are delighted with you. But even in their delight today, don’t be surprised if they some shed tears of joy and pride and nostalgia, remembering all your milestones and all the other ‘big days’ in your lives – your first day in the world, your first words, your first steps, learning to read, learning to cycle, learning to swim, watching you make friends, trips to the hospital, your first days at school and college, your first romance and drink (they probably weren’t there!), Leaving Cert and College results; and now, seeing you here in your gowns, celebrating your success and achievements. Your parents may shed some tears of loneliness too, on seeing you, their lovely son or daughter, all grown up and graduated, about to take further steps in your journey to independence.
Many of you will leave home or have left home already. And, in spite of arguments and debates about tidy rooms, smelly towels on the bathroom floor, late nights, early mornings, not coming home at all, studying (too much or too little), and of course the inevitable discussions about money - you may be amazed to learn that your parents will miss you, an awful, awful lot when you do whatever you do next. Believe me, for parents, the empty nest is not all that its cracked up to be. So today, pass the tissues kindly to your parents and the extended family, acknowledge all that they have given you, and be proud that you have made them proud.
Today is a gratifying day too for your lecturers and professors. Believe it or not, what you have studied will stand to you. The frameworks of learning; the skills to critically assess information presented in the media, from politicians, researchers and others; the ability to scrutinise statistics, to question ‘received wisdom and doctrines’; the capacity to understand and empathise with others, and care for them - all derived from the discipline of social science - will help guide you through the complexities of life and the world you live in, like no other discipline could.
It’s a great day and it’s a scary day too. You, like me [who graduated from UCC with a Social Science Degree way back in the 1980’s, though not with your impressive honours] graduate at a time of great economic and social uncertainty. You are probably tired of hearing that. Only two or three of the B. Social Science class of ‘82, my class, got proper jobs, directly from College. These went to the ones who got good results. I was not one of them! The rest of us muddled along, doing the present day equivalent of internships, and very glad to get them. We eventually got a start, with most of us fetching up in London, at last stepping onto the first rung of the career ladder.
Back in the ‘80s the expectations, or at least mine, were low. I am not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. It was good in the sense that I had no sense of entitlement and was grateful for every help and opportunity that came my way. It was bad because many of us underachieved and only came to any sense of the contribution we might make quite late on.
You, this generation, have high expectations and rightly so. You can and will go on to ‘walk tall’ and ‘make your mark in the world’. Just be prepared to explore ‘less travelled pathways’ to your destinations, and you will get there, travelling to interesting places and meeting interesting people along the way. The class of ‘82 all got sorted in the end, and achieved the holy grail of employment!
And the class of ‘82’s jobs list is interesting and diverse. A Head of Libraries and Culture in LB of Croydon, a TV Psychotherapist, a Radio Documentary Maker, a Horticulturalist, Farmer and Guidance Counsellor, an activist with the Traveller Community, two of us Chief Executives of NGOs, a Child Protection case conference Chair, a Guardian ad Litem and a Senior Social Worker in Housing. And these are just my friends.
And before I return to the question of employment, a word about friends and friendships made at University. This is something that rarely appears in the University prospectus. And it is probably one of the most significant things that happens us while we are at University. At University we grow up (a bit) and we make friends for life. Sometimes we even marry them! The friendships made and maintained afterwards become a mainstay of our lives. I guess that there is a ‘warts and all’ honesty about the people we know from this time – and a certain equality that endures irrespective of where people end up in the future. I am in touch with at least one of my UCC friends most weeks. These friendships sustain us in times of trouble, keep us grounded whenever we might be tempted to get carried away with ourselves, and these friends are there to share in our good times too. So wherever you go, keep up with those you shared so much with in your University years. I managed to keep up contact via ‘dark ages’ communication tools like letters, operator assisted telephones and call boxes! With mobiles and Facebook, from which I am banned by my lovely children, it’s so easy to keep in touch. For your own sake, keep up with the friends you made here in UCC. These friends for life that you made at University will mean more to you than you can ever imagine.
Returning now to matters of work, and especially at a time of unemployment, a job can seem to be the ‘be all’ and ‘end all’ of everything. And whilst fulfilment and success in the workplace is very important, it really isn’t everything. We have only to think about our recent high fliers who traded integrity for “success”, status and material gain. This has not served us well as a country. It certainly has let your generation down. Quoting Oscar Wilde “the true perfection of man (and woman) lies not in what man (and woman) has, but what man (and woman) is”.
We must be honest, respectful and decent in all our interactions with people, including in the workplace. This is especially so for those of us in the ‘caring’ professions. We have a duty to understand and recognise the ‘politics of caring’ and the power differences between the ‘cared for’ and the ‘carers’. We have a duty to make sure that the shameful humiliation, exploitation and abuse of vulnerable people does not happen under our watch. In our imaginations we must link the private, personal problems of people in need with their public, political and structural causes. We must act in solidarity with those we serve and care for; and question and challenge the tolerance of such vast inequalities in wealth, life chances and opportunities, which deny people the basics of life, and renders so many people in our society damaged and in difficulty.
Your generation can hold out for a better world, not just for yourselves but for others too. You can use your ‘lived’ experience of the limitations of the ‘greed is good’ culture which prevailed for so long, and create a new era where equality and altruism are central. It is proven that we all do better in a more equal society. I was reading in The Observer recently about neuroscientists who have shown that by co-operating, by being caring and kind, giving of ourselves, that we release Oxytocin, a naturally induced brain chemical which, according to the Centre of Neuroeoconomics at Claremont Graduate University, California is the “social glue” that binds families, communities and societies, and fosters trust between strangers. Oxytocin enables us to co-operate and also makes us feel good!
All this may seem Utopian. I tend to agree with Oscar Wilde (again) who said that “a map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing”. Idealistic, utopian maybe but where would we be without the idealists? Where would we be without our great radical thinkers like Marx, Beveridge, and Keynes, who not only thought outside the box, they blew the box apart! Where would we be without the activists - the suffragettes, Rosa Parkes, Ruth First, Harvey Milk, the Dunnes Workers who refused to handle South African goods and highlighted the injustices of apartheid. These people challenged the status quo, often at personal cost and for some, even with their lives.
Where would be without idealists like Robert Owen who shaped our understanding of children’s early learning and so much more; without Octavia Hill, champion of social housing and one of the first social workers; the Dagenham Sewing Machinists who fought for the “unthinkable” notion of equal pay for men and women,? Where would we be without Anton Wallich Clifford, founder of the Simon Community, whose inspiration meant that there were enough beds in Cork City in this coldest of cold Winter, so no one had to sleep rough. Where would we be without Nora Herlihy, a Cork Woman who founded the Credit Union movement so that people on low income did not need to be the prey loan sharks or indeed John Bermingham who founded COPE Foundation, where I work today? His idealism and drive has literally added years to the lives of people with intellectual disability, who once would have died young, and who now live well and happily into old age. The dreams of these idealists make a practical and positive difference in the lives of thousands vulnerable of people today. Each of you will know idealists, humanitarians, unsung heroes, decent people, in every family, in every community and in every workplace. You will know them….your challenge is to be like them….its not easy. Don’t be daunted. Remember the words of Samuel Beckett for encouragement “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”
Coming back to today, it really, really is a special day. I was asked by UCC to congratulate you. I congratulate you. I was asked by UCC to inspire you and encourage you. You will have to make up your own mind as to whether I succeeded in doing that. Enjoy the rest of your day, the photos, the meal out, all the good wishes and goodwill coming your way. Soak it all up. Once the formalities of this ceremony and the meals are over, many of you will be getting together with friends, celebrating in a different way! After a nice meal you will leave your parents, oozing with pride, with more good memories of your conferring day. Memories from today will join memories of other fond days, which you have given to your parents and families.
And yes, you have so much more to give…of yourself, to your families and friends, in the workplace, to the vulnerable and marginalised, to people in trouble, who will turn to you and rely on you in the course of your working lives. You have so much more to give to your community, to your country and to the world.
We need you to be kind, generous, decent and idealistic. We need you to be all that you can be, to change the world ….so no pressure there. You have all that you need inside you and around you. I know that even in these uncertain times, and now with your degrees and masters, and with your family and friends cheering you on, that you will succeed and make the world a better place, in what ever place you find yourselves. The best is yet to come.
ENDS

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Conferring Address by Ms Katie Verling, founder & former Director, Glór Music Centre, Ennis, Co. Clare, 3.30pm, 6th September 2011

How I got work, created jobs and why I’m now starting all over again President, Academic Council, professors, and graduates, I am deeply honoured to be invited to speak to you today. In truth I am more than a little intimidated by the wealth of knowledge, stamina and endurance in this hall. Study, research, exams and thesis writing are torture – I know. How proud you should be, and how relieved to have surmounted the high jumps you set yourselves in this esteemed university. Believe me, your families and friends are also relieved that you’ve completed the near Sisyphean task of reaching graduation. They are also deeply proud; in fact, if you look closely you will notice that their chests are that bit more prominent today, swollen with pride! Congratulations.
Now, I know that you’re all dying to get out of this hall to take photographs, celebrate and be merry. I promise this won’t be another lecture!
In these straitened economic times, we hear much about entrepreneurship, business creativity and the need for more maths, technology and science graduates. As an arts graduate I can’t help but feel a little God–forsaken; this talk tends to put us in the halfpenny place, graduates in other faculties getting all the kudos.
And to add to the self-esteem challenges for arts graduates, those who go abroad to gain experience, those who are said to be ‘our brightest and best’, are berated for abandoning the country in its hour of need; whereas those who stay, feel by implication less brainy than the emigrants, and as arts and humanities graduates, a strain on government resources!
I exaggerate of course, but this is almost exactly the same set of circumstances that existed in 1989 when I graduated from UCC.
My story begins long before my graduation and I hope you’ll come to realise that even the graduate who feels most unemployable can create a fulfilling career. In brief my story is ‘How I got work, created jobs and why I’m now starting all over again’.
My fate to work in culture was sealed forever when I was born to an artist father and musician mother! And worse they were both taught – so a life-long engagement with learning was guaranteed.
Following the usual school exams – taken more in a spirit of curiosity than ambition, at the age of nineteen - having read Simone de Beauvoir’s memoirs - I decided that I wanted to be an Existentialist.   (I fancied myself in black polo necks, smoking Gauloises and hanging out in Parisian cafes). Unsurprisingly, I chose to study French and Philosophy in UCG (now NUIG). Nothing would do me then but to spend time in France, and through college contacts I landed a ‘cushy number’ for a year as a tutor in English at the University of Provence in Aix-en- Provence, where I smoked Gauloises in atmospheric cafés, thought mighty thoughts, and wore a lot of black.
I would at this stage like to emphasis to you that my background had not in any way prepared me for the practical skills of looking for work, or even imagining the type of work I could do. I had high blown notions of myself as someone who could contribute to senior management or government in matters of policy. But I had no idea how I could achieve this lofty ambition – as I had neither management nor administration skills - nor knew anything about government or management. I could speak Irish, French and Italian fluently and could make great vinaigrette and risotto, but what could I do to earn a crust and achieve my goal of imparting wisdom to senior decision makers?
So, with strategic and visionary brilliance I decided to enrol in UCC and undertake a Masters in Philosophy in order to help me achieve these goals! I admit I took the scenic root to the Masters, taking a leisurely three years to complete it. During this period I worked as a cook, cleaner, lecturer in evening classes and tutor in the philosophy department.
By the time I had my bloody thesis written in 1989, I was sick and tired of college and wanted to get into the Real World and do things rather than Thinking Thoughts. But I was totally unprepared for the challenge of severe unemployment nationally and college debts. So I took the first job I could get, part-time in a vegetable shop, selling, and handing out recipes – seeing myself as a Maura Laverty character (the great short story and cookery book writer). Then, I worked as an editor on ‘training for trainers’ books for FAS trainers. Next I got a temporary job as a chef in a friend’s hotel in North Donegal.
This was the lowest point in my fledgling career. Here I was stuck in a shabby run-down hotel in a tiny north Donegal village, with an MA in philosophy, fluent Connemara Gaeilge, French and Italian, no culinary training and suspicious colleagues, no driving licence, no phone, no buses, no escape, and a 3 month postal strike to boot!
Finally in 1991, I got my first real tax paying job as manager of the Riverrun Gallery and Cafe in Limerick and later at the Grainstore in Galway. (I was employed in the mistaken belief that because I could cook, I knew how to run cafés, and because my father was an artist, I knew about galleries). Amongst the exhibitions I organised at the time were those by Louis le Brocquy, Brian and his brother Fergus Bourke, Walter Verling, Sarah Walker and Cormac Boydell.
At this time I was tireless, and grabbed every opportunity that came my way. In 1991 – 92, I assisted on the development of Design Yard, the craft and design building in Temple Bar in Dublin.
Another opportunity came in 1993 when I was invited to project manage the first Invited EVA+, the annual Limerick Exhibition of Visual Art. It was curated that year by Jan van Hoot, the internationally renowned curator and included work and new installations from 12 internationally acclaimed contemporary artists.
Now, I was beginning to build up skills, contacts and real experience. In 1994 I got a job with Telegael, the television facilities company based in Spiddal, Co. Galway first as facilities manager, then as a producer. This was a most exciting time in television and film; TG4 was being established, and RTE had begun to open their doors to independent producers. During this period I worked with many interesting producers and was involved in documentary series with Ocean films, Crossing the Line films and with RTE and TG4.
In 1998, Telegael won the contract to develop the concept for Ennis Town Council’s proposed new 8 million Euro Glór Irish Music Centre. In 2000, I was appointed as Director of the Centre undertaking the challenging task of nurturing the project from conception to completion which included fundraising, overseeing the design, construction and fit out of the building, establishing management and administrative structures, as well as devising artistic policy and programming.
Professionally and personally, it has been an amazingly rewarding position - often fraught with great challenges and difficulties. The Centre has had to achieve local, national and international recognition in the county where traditional music (and hurling) are the lifeblood of the people.  Now, eleven years later, the venue is widely recognised as one of the best venues in Ireland, cherished by musicians, bands, theatre companies, artists, dancers and the public. It is recognised as Ireland’s de facto traditional arts centre. Amongst those who perform in Glór are Christy Moore, Planxty, The Frames, John Prine, Imelda May, Kilfenora Ceili Band, Colin Dunne, Martin Hayes, Peadar Ó Riada and hundreds of others as well as theatre companies Druid, The Gate and the Abbey. To have achieved my objectives in establishing Glór as a centre of international excellence in performances of traditional music, theatre and dance outside our capital has been thrilling.
In the early years in Glór, when we were striving to get Arts Council support for our artistic and traditional programming, I became involved in the development of what became the Arts Act (2003) - the Act which established the legislative framework for arts policy in Ireland. Since then I lobbied to have traditional arts included within the remit of the Act (and consequently the Arts Council); a situation which hitherto had not been the case. Subsequently, I was invited by the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism to take part in the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts. The 5 person committee, chaired by the late Jerome Hynes, was tasked with developing recommendations on a strategy for the traditional arts within the administrative structure of the Arts Council. This led to the establishment of DEIS, the Arts Council’s traditional arts supports and funding structures.
I am privileged to have been involved in creating a permanent legacy to support the traditional arts in Ireland both through the Arts Act and the Arts Council’s Deis and Glór.
What I would like to point out to you is that I have managed to create opportunities, and to take advantage of opportunities, thanks to my education, my friends and professional contacts - despite the forecast of economic doom and the spectre of long term unemployment.   I have been personally fulfilled and well-paid. I have helped to create work opportunities and income for others.   Throughout my career in arts administration, I have contributed to creating social and cultural capital. All from a start as an Existentialist!
So, take note of the people sitting around you here today, they may well be instrumental in you finding work, hearing about work, and advising and supporting you in your work. Do not underestimate what you already have:.

You have a valuable degree from a highly regarded university,
You have a valuable set of contacts (and I’m not even referring to just your Facebook or Linked friends) and most importantly
Realise that you’ve proved that you’ve got the stamina to succeed in college and that you will be able to succeed at work too.

In 2007, I was diagnosed with acute leukaemia - a cancer of the blood. I had ample time to reflect on my life and objectives over the following 18 months of treatment. My friends and colleagues in the arts were extraordinarily supportive and kept me entertained with news and gossip from that world. Thankfully, I made a full recovery and returned to Glór in 2009 where I took up once again the position of Director. In the last two years in Glór I have changed and have found a new passion which will drive me forward into the next decade. I have now left Glór and plan to return to University to undertake a doctorate in cultural policy. I can’t wait!
So, in conclusion I will quote the words of Theo Dorgan who spoke at this graduation ceremony last year, “May your hearts continue strong, may your lives be long and fruitful, may your generous and courageous visions come to pass.”

ENDS

So, in conclusion I will quote the words of Theo Dorgan who spoke at this graduation ceremony last year, “May your hearts continue strong, may your lives be long and fruitful, may your generous and courageous visions come to pass.”

ENDS

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