Danny O'Hare

Daniel O'Hare, often Danny O'Hare,[1] (1942-), is an Irish academic and former university leader, best known as the first president of Dublin City University, one of two new universities established in Ireland in September 1989.[2] He has also held a wide range of public governance positions, and is an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy in the Science division.[3] Coming from Dundalk,[1] he is a chemist, specialized in advanced spectroscopy.

Life

Early life

O'Hare was born in County Louth, growing up in Dundalk, where he attended the local Christian Brothers School[4] until 1960.[5]

Academic career

O'Hare graduated from University College Galway (UCG),[1] now NUI Galway, where he qualified with a BSc in Chemistry, and then an MSc in Organic Chemistry.[1] He took a post as an assistant at UCG from 1964 to 1965.[1] He later studied for a Ph.D. at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, working with gas-phase ultraviolet spectroscopy, and qualifying in 1968.[1][5]

O'Hare took up an assistant professorship at Michigan State University, before moving to the University of Southampton as a research fellow for a year.[5]

RTC Letterkenny, RTC Waterford

O'Hare was appointed in 1971 as the first principal of Regional Technical College, Letterkenny, now Letterkenny Institute of Technology, serving until 1974, before becoming the second head of Regional Technical College, Waterford, now Waterford Institute of Technology.[5]

NIHE Dublin and DCU President

O'Hare took up a role as the director of the to-be National Institute of Higher Education Dublin in 1977, working from a city centre office,[2] while plans, and a campus, for the new institution were worked on. He oversaw the NIHE until 1989, when he led its conversion to university status, on the same day as the University of Limerick. He and his team secured funding from both international and national sources, including philanthropists such as Chuck Feeney. The NIHE and DCU focused on blending the needs of academia and industry,[6] including a cooperative education system, INTRA.

O'Hare announced in November 1998 that he would step down in September 1999.[7]

Consultant roles

O'Hare has been a consultant to the World Bank and the OECD.[4]

Other roles

O'Hare has chaired the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities,[7] the Food Safety Authority of Ireland,[7] Dublin City Council's Ballymun Regeneration Ltd.,[7] the Board of Beaumont Hospital, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, the Irish government's Task Force on the Physical Sciences, and the Information Society Commission. After his time at DCU, he also chaired the governing body of the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy[4] and the Dublin Airport Stakeholders Forum.[4]

He has been a member of the Medical Council of Ireland, where he chaired the Fitness to Practice Committee and was a member of several other committees.[4] He also sat on the boards of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, the Daughters of Charity, Digitary, Music Generation, Media Lab Europe, and Calor Gas.[4]

Exploration Station

O'Hare promoted, and is chair of the board of, the interactive National Children's Science Centre project, also known as Exploration Station,[8][4] which plans to open its new educational facility in 2020.[8]

Memberships and recognition

O'Hare is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, elected in the Science division in 1999.

He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Dublin (1992), University of Ulster (1994), Queen's University, Belfast (1995), the National University of Ireland (1999),[1] and DCU (2008).[3]

Personal life

O'Hare is married to Sheelagh (née Kenny) from Galway, and they have four children, Michael, Nicholas, Domhnall and Fiona.[5]

gollark: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-safety-by-revealing-my-real-name-so-i-am-deleting-the-blog/
gollark: Well, it's actually particularly relevant for me today, since a blog I follow, SlateStarCodex, is (temporarily? I hope) shut down because a news reporter is apparently planning to release the author's real-world name in an article about it, i.e. very literal doxxing, despite said blog author saying that they did not want this.
gollark: Eh. I think it's better than the alternative.
gollark: When people decide to violate that by identifying you in the real world, that is problematic.
gollark: One of the good things about the internet is the ability to have pseudonyms and not be connected to your real-world identity, which allows (some amount of) safety and helps allow freedom of thought.

See also
  • Ed Walsh, founding president of the other NIHE, which also became a university in September 1989

References
  1. "Past Presidents of DCU". Dublin City University. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  2. Byrne (compiler), Anne (15 January 2002). "Factfile: Dublin City University". The Irish Times Trust. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  3. "RIA - Members - Daniel O'Hare". The Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  4. "Medical Council (of Ireland) - Members - Daniel O'Hare". The Medical Council (of Ireland). Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  5. "Mercator" (7 April 1986). "People in business - NIHE conscious of the need to fit into the community". The Irish Times. The Irish Times Trust. p. 14.
  6. O'Hare, Daniel (Danny) (4 March 1994). "Universities promise innovation to industry". The Irish Times. The Irish Times Trust. p. 14.
  7. Pollak, Andy (20 November 1998). "O'Hare to leave DCU in 1999". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  8. Reville, William (30 November 2017). "Dedicated Followers of Fission (National Children's Science Centre)". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
Academic offices
Preceded by
New office		 President of Dublin City University (including NIHE Dublin)
1977–1999		 Succeeded by
Ferdinand von Prondzynski
after A Pratt (acting)
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