| Top 100 Education  Thomas
Begley
In a turn of events that says much about the changing relationship between
Ireland and America, an Irish-American has been appointed to a top position
at an Irish business school.
On January 30, 2005, Thomas M. Begley was named Dean of University College
Dublin (UCD) Business Schools, with responsibility for 3,000 students
and over 100 faculty members at the postgraduate UCD Smurfit School and
the high-tech undergraduate UCD Quinn School.
Begley was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts in a neighborhood called
“Hungry Hill – Home of the Irish.” Springfield is known
for its West Kerry immigrants, such as his parents who knew each other
in Ireland but married in the U.S. Some of Begley’s friends growing
up were the children of his parents’ friends when they were growing
up in Ireland.
Begley holds a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University and
master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell. His primary teaching, publishing
and consulting interests are in the areas of organizational change, cross-cultural
management and global issues in human resource management, and his consulting
clients have included Fortune 500 companies, governments and non-profit
organizations around the world.
As a faculty member in the College of Business Administration at Northeastern
University, Begley spent stints as chair of the Human Resources Management
Department, and director of the Bachelor of Science in International Business
program.
Commenting on the appointment, UCD President Dr. Hugh Brady said: “UCD
is very pleased to have appointed someone as experienced and highly regarded
internationally as Tom Begley. The new Dean will play an important role
with the other Deans and Principals in the strategic development of the
university, as it continues its drive forward as a leading international
research-driven institution.”
Professor Begley noted: “It is an honor to lead the best business
school in Ireland and one that is so highly regarded internationally.
I welcome the opportunity to direct the school in achieving its global
ambitions.”
Begley and his wife, Adrienne, have a daughter, Caitlin, 15, and a son,
Conor, 12.
Loretta Brennan Glucksman
Over 700 students take courses at Glucksman Ireland House, which has
become the center of Irish culture, arts and learning in New York since
its founding in 1993. It is an extraordinary success story that has inspired
the community.
The architect of it all is Loretta Brennan Glucksman, wife of Lewis Glucksman,
a former Wall Street “master of the universe” who always loved
the spirit and soul of Ireland. Together they have carved their own Irish
vision in Manhattan.
The Glucksmans established Ireland House at New York University with a
$3 million gift, and Loretta plays an active role in the center. She is
also chairman of The American Ireland Fund, which encourages peace and
reconciliation in Ireland through culture and the arts, education and
community development.
Loretta, whose diverse career has included teaching, radio, and running
her own public relations firm, grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania in a
totally Irish community. Her maternal grandparents, McHugh and Murray,
immigrated to America from Leitrim in famine times. Her grandparents Brennan
lived next door, and “since my dad was one of 18 children, we had
a very busy household,” she said in a recent interview with Irish
America, recalling that she was extremely close to her grandfather Brennan.
“He taught me a lot of poems and prayers in Irish.”
The Glucksmans have also supported many educational projects in Ireland.
The University of Limerick and University College Cork have particularly
benefited from their generosity.
Loretta and Lew have been married for 20 years. It was a second marriage
for both. Lew has two grown daughters and Loretta has two sons and a daughter
and several grandchildren. - PH
Brother Brian Carty
In 1965 Brother Brian Carty, fresh out of Catholic University, received
his first assignment from the De La Salle Christian Brothers: he was to
teach science at Msgr. William Kelly, a private school dedicated to teaching
gifted young men in New York City regardless of their financial background.
Three years later, he became principal. When the school closed in 1972,
Carty, along with a group of alumni, vowed to open a similar school in
New York to continue the mission of giving opportunity to the city’s
underprivileged children. By 1984 he had scraped together enough resources
and support to open the doors of the De La Salle Academy.
In the years since, De La Salle has become an academic powerhouse, taking
in gifted students from unlikely backgrounds, and sending them to top
public and private high schools, colleges, and universities. Brother Carty
credits the school’s success to his approach of creating a safe,
supportive learning environment and teaching the whole child “head
and heart.” He says that De La Salle illustrates to the children
“another way to live, to behave, to dream. It opens doors to opportunity
in kids’ minds and hearts.”
In his experience at De La Salle, Brother Carty began to notice the unique
pressures faced by young men in the education system. While their female
counterparts thrived, Carty noticed that many times the boys were “trying
to be dumb,” and just “muddled through,” afraid of appearing
too interested or feminine. In an effort to rescue boys during their middle
years, when most seem to lose interest in education, Carty started the
all-boys George Jackson Academy.
Like De La Salle, George Jackson focuses on preparing gifted youngsters
from underprivileged backgrounds for entrance into the upper levels of
society. But George Jackson goes further, by creating an environment where,
according to the school’s website, “issues of the spirit are
respected equally with those of the intellect.”
It hasn’t been easy (Carty has to raise 85 percent of his operating
budget from outside sources each year), but Carty has managed to follow
his dream and make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. “To
me there’s no such thing as no,” he says. “Don’t
be afraid. We took a great risk trusting the hard work, and mission, and
people. So many people helped us out. That’s the magic.” –
CM
 Grace
Corrigan
January 28, 2006 marked the twentieth anniversary of the Challenger space
mission that ended in disaster. Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe was among
the seven astronauts killed in the tragedy.
A high school social studies teacher in Concord, New Hamphire, McAuliffe
was chosen from 11,000 applicants to be the first civilian in space. She
regarded her mission on the Challenger as the “ultimate field trip,”
and was to have taught two lessons from aboard the space shuttle.
McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan, was among those gathered on
the cold morning of January 28, 1986 to witness the historic launch. She
watched in horror as the mission ended, just 73 seconds after it began,
in an explosion that killed all aboard.
Since her daughter’s death, Corrigan has worked hard to continue
the work Christa loved. She helped establish The McAuliffe Center at Farmington
State College, Christa’s alma mater. The center provides cutting-edge
science and math classes, and awards scholarships. One of the most unique
features of the center is the full-size replica of Houston’s Mission
Control where children can solve problems presented in simulated space
flight. Corrigan also established the Christa McAuliffe Fellows, which
provides grants to hundreds of classroom teachers.
Meanwhile, the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium is New Hampshire’s
official memorial to McAuliffe. Since its completion in June of 1990,
the planetarium has become an international showcase attracting more than
110,000 visitors annually from every state in the union and more than
25 foreign countries.
Grace Corrigan is very involved in both the McAuliffe Center and the planetarium.
She visits countless schools annually, encouraging children to not be
afraid to take risks in life if they believe they are doing something
important. In addition, Corrigan has published a book, A Journal for Christa,
documenting her daughter’s involvement with the space mission.
McAuliffe, whose motto in life was “I touch, I teach,” may
never have gotten to teach her lessons from space, but her mother has
made sure that her passion continues to touch the lives of countless children
and adults. - BE
Mary C. Daly
St. John’s University School of Law is highly regarded as an outstanding
law school by lawyers and scholars across the country. Under Mary C. Daly,
the first woman to serve as dean of the School of Law (appointed August
2004), its reputation can only improve. “We are very excited to
have found such a capable person to take the reins from Judge Bellacosa,”
said Rev. Donald J. Harrington, C.M., president of St. John’s University.
“Professor Daly has proven herself to be a bright, articulate and
compassionate person, as well as a brilliant scholar. We welcome her and
look forward to her leadership.”
“I am thrilled to have this opportunity and challenge,”
said Daly, who before assuming the deanship and the John V. Brennan Chair
of Law and Ethics at St. John’s, was the James H. Quinn Professor
of Legal Ethics at Fordham University School of Law. Dean Daly, whose
grandparents were from Cork and Kerry, grew up in the Bronx. Although
her parents never had the opportunity for a college education, “…there
was never a question or doubt in their mind that their three daughters
would get an education,” Dean Daly recalled in a conversation with
Irish America.
“They were convinced of the value of education, and while many
Irish parents believed in education for boys, it was somewhat unusual
to push it for girls back then.” The dean’s early interest
in law was fostered by her father who worked for the A&P, a chain
of supermarkets. “My father had a day off during the week. As a
very young girl I would come home from school to eat my lunch, and I was
struck by how he would watch the McClellan Hearings – the congressional
hearings on labor matters – on television. And I formed the impression
that the Congressmen were all lawyers and that they were very powerful.”
Dean Daly graduated from Thomas More College and Fordham University School
of Law.
As a law student, she served as an editor of the Fordham Law Review and
graduated cum laude. After receiving her J.D. from Fordham, Daly studied
at the University of Paris Law School as a Zichkla Fellow, and later completed
her LL.M. at New York University Law School. An expert in legal ethics
(she has published numerous articles on the subject), Dean Daly’s
primary interest is in globalization and the ethics of corporate and cross-border
practice. On that score she says, “The Law School is starting a
summer abroad study program in Rome, where St. John’s has a campus.
But we would love to have one in Ireland. We are also thinking about programs
to bring more foreign lawyers to St. John’s.”
Dean Daly has visited Ireland several times, and is planning another trip
soon to visit her daughter, Mary Margaret Rose, 20, a student at Colby
University, Maine, who is currently spending her spring semester at University
College Cork. (There are Mary Margarets on both sides of the family going
back several generations, and both Mary and her husband’s mother
were named Rose, “so she couldn’t escape it.”) Dean
Daly is married to Anthony Distinti, whom she met as an undergraduate
at Fordham. In addition to their daughter, the couple has two boys Anthony,
26, and Stephen, 22. -PH
 John
Hennessy
Any mention of Stanford University immediately brings to mind its dominance
in the world of technology. Located as it is in the heart of California’s
Silicon Valley, Stanford alumni have founded some of the most successful
Internet businesses around (Yahoo! and Excite, to name two), as well as
more-established high technology companies (including Hewlett-Packard).
And leading this world famous institution, renowned for its law school
and school of medicine, as well as its top-rated School of Engineering,
is Irish-American John L. Hennessy, who joined Stanford’s faculty
in 1977 and was named president in 2000.
Dr. Hennessy’s influence in the technology revolution is unparalleled.
A pioneer in computer architecture, in 1981 he drew together researchers
to focus on a computer architecture known as RISC (Reduced Instruction
Set Computer), a technology that has revolutionized the computer industry
by increasing performance while reducing costs.
In addition to his role in basic research, Dr. Hennessy helped transfer
this technology to industry. In 1984, he co-founded MIPS Computer Systems,
now MIPS Technologies, which designs microprocessors. In recent years,
Dr. Hennessy, who serves on the board of Google, has focused his research
on the architecture of high-performance computers.
In a long career at Stanford, Dr. Hennessy had profound influence on
thousands of students. From 1983 to 1993, he was director of Stanford’s
Computer System Laboratory, a research and teaching center operated by
the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science that fosters
research in computer systems design. He served as chair of computer science
from 1994 to 1996 and, in 1996, was named dean of the School of Engineering.
As dean, he launched a five-year plan that laid the groundwork for new
activities in bioengineering and biomedical engineering. In 1999, he was
named provost, the university’s chief academic and financial officer.
As provost, he continued his efforts to foster interdisciplinary activities
in the biosciences and bioengineering and oversaw improvements in faculty
and staff compensation. He became president of Stanford University in
September 2000.
Dr. Hennessy earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
from Villanova University and his master’s and doctoral degrees
in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
President Hennessy’s family is from County Mayo. For the most part,
they immigrated before 1850, leaving famine stricken Ireland behind to
fight in the Revolutionary War in America. - PH
Donald Keough
Donald Keough is known for his many vital contributions to the Irish-
American community, but chief among them is his contribution to education.
The immediate past chairman of Notre Dame University Board of Trustees
and a trustee of several other educational institutions, Keough established,
in 1993, the Keough Institute of Irish Studies at Notre Dame, and The
Keough Notre Dame Centre in Dublin, Ireland.
Under Professor Seamus Deane, the Keough Institute provides students with
a unique opportunity to explore Ireland’s extraordinary tradition
in literature (in both the English and Irish languages) and distinctive
historical development, including its influence on the United States.
The core of the program is a Minor in Irish Studies which helps students
develop their understanding of Irish society, culture and politics through
both course work and first-hand experience of Ireland.
The Keough Institute’s Dublin Program, based at O’Connell
House, a late eighteenth century building on Merrion Square, enables Irish
Studies Minors and interested undergraduates to continue their studies
in Ireland. Students take classes with Notre Dame faculty in the Centre
and also enroll in courses in Arts and Letters, Commerce, Science and
Engineering at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and the
National College of Art and Design.
The Keough Institute also offers Irish Internships, which place Notre
Dame students in positions in Dublin relating to Irish politics, commerce,
culture and society; the internships last for a period of seven weeks
each summer.
Graduate students attached to the Keough Institute generally complete
Ph.D.s in History, English or Literature. Notre Dame’s Hesburgh
Library can sustain advanced research in all areas of Irish society and
culture. Its holdings include outstanding Berkeley, Swift, Goldsmith and
Burke Collections, the Loeber Collection of Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Century Irish Fiction, the Captain Francis O’Neill Irish Music Collection
and an extensive range of primary and secondary material relating to the
1798 Rising, the Great Famine, 1845-52 and Irish-America.
Each summer, the Keough Institute hosts The IRISH Seminar, in which graduate
students from Notre Dame and other universities engage with key figures
in Irish cultural, intellectual and political debates; the directors of
The IRISH Seminar are Seamus Deane, Luke Gibbons, and Kevin Whelan.
Donald Keough was born in Dubuque, Iowa, to a farmer and cattleman, and
started at the bottom rung at The Coca-Cola Company before working his
way up to president and CEO. The current Chairman of the Board of Allen
& Company, Keough is the recipient of numerous honorariums, including
the Horatio Alger Award, the highest award given to American Catholics
and the Notre Dame Laetare Medal. Keough also played a part in furthering
the peace process, and led several delegations of American business people
on trips to Ireland and Northern Ireland. -PH
 William
Leahy
Boston College is ranked among the nation’s top schools, quite
an accomplishment for what was once a small, Jesuit institution. As the
college’s twenty-fifth president, William Leahy S.J. can take some
of the credit for its success. Since Leahy became president in 1996, Boston
College’s endowment has more than doubled and the campus has expanded
by almost 150 acres.
One of Leahy’s most significant decisions was made in 2002 when
he initiated a “Church in the 21st Century” program to examine
issues facing the Roman Catholic Church. In 2004, Leahy continued this
pursuit when he announced plans to merge with the Weston Jesuit School
of Theology in order to advance Boston College as the foremost center
for Catholic intellectual thought. But Leahy’s accomplishments don’t
end there.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska on July 16, 1948, Leahy spent his childhood
on his family’s farm near Imogene, Iowa, before being lured away
from farm life by intellectual pursuits. His studies took him to St. Louis
University where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in
1972 and an M.A in U.S. history in 1975. With two degrees under his belt,
Leahy was still unsatisfied.
Between 1975 and 1979 he studied theology at the Jesuit School of Theology
in Berkeley, California where he earned two master’s degrees, one
in divinity, the other in sacred theology. After being ordained as a priest
in 1978, Leahy went on to complete his Ph.D. in U.S history at Stanford
University in 1985.
William Leahy’s many degrees were only the beginning of his varied
career in teaching and administration. Prior to becoming president of
Boston College he was executive vice president at Marquette University.
He has written various articles on religious and educational history in
the U.S. and a book entitled Adapting to America: Catholics, Jesuits and
Higher Education in the Twentieth Century.
Leahy traces his Irish roots to County Kerry. As a descendant of famine
survivors, he has helped to found the Committee for the Boston Irish Famine
Memorial, Inc. The group opened a park in 1998 to commemorate the 150th
anniversary of the famine.
Leahy’s interest in history and his devotion to the Catholic faith
come together in his role as president of Boston College. According to
Leahy, “The history of Boston College is a narrative of response
to society’s call. In 1863, that call came from an immigrant community
that knew the day’s hard wage but not the future’s promise.
Boston College offered that promise.” And thanks to Leahy, the college
continues to offer that promise. -BE
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