2011 January-February E-zine

What's New?	Events	News	Branch Updates	Alumni Interview	Notices	Obituaries

What's New?

Message from the Provost         
"To all the alumni of Trinity College Dublin far and near I would like to wish you a happy New Year. As I enter my last six months as Provost, Christmas was a time of reflection for me, both of the last ten years and of what comes next. Part of the joy of my time as Provost has been meeting our alumni and being continually uplifted by you and your journeys in life and I would like to thank you for those experiences." John Hegarty

Shape up your Career in 2011
The Trinity Alumni Career Network is pleased to announce details of a new five week lecture series in January/February 2011 aimed at helping alumni manage their careers. Whether you are looking for a job, thinking of making a change or just want to brush up on your job-seeking skills, this is for you. More…

Latest from our Photo Gallery
Unfortunately our Christmas Homecoming was cancelled because of the bad weather but the Christmas Commons went ahead before the snow came down. View photos from Commons and other recent events in our Photo Gallery.

Get connected with Front Gate Online
Have you joined the growing TCD community of over 3,000 alumni on Front Gate Online? Register today to connect with other alumni and support current students.

Events

TBA Dinner in Camera with Shane O’Neill B.A. (1983)
Shane O’Neill, Chief Strategy Officer with Liberty Global and Trinity graduate will speak at the next Trinity Business Alumni Dinner in Camera on Wednesday, 26 January following the AGM on the same day. More…

Trinity ‘Mini tri’ in aid of Trinity Takes to the Streets
The Trinity Triathlon Club annual mini Triathlon takes place on Saturday, 22 January. This introductory race for new enthusiasts aims to raise funds for Trinity Takes to the Streets (TTTTS) supporting students in need. More…

Foresight Business Breakfast with Jim Barry  
Jim Barry, Chief Executive of NTR plc will be the keynote speaker at the Foresight Business Breakfast taking place on 9 February 2011. More… 

Squash Club 75th Anniversary & Hall of Fame Awards
Join players and supporters, past and present to celebrate 75 years of squash in Trinity where Jonah Barrington and Trinity’s All-Ireland Club Championship-winning teams of 1992 will be honoured in the Trinity Sports Hall of Fame on 10 March 2011. More…

Guinness Choir & the Dublin University Choral Society perform Verdi’s Requiem
To mark 300 years of Trinity Medicine, Chemistry and Botany there will be a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Grand Canal Theatre on Saturday, 2 April 2011. Tickets are priced at €25, €30 and €35.  The programme includes Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin and Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi. Find out more or purchase your ticket online.

Planning a Class Reunion?
Why not make 2011 the year when you reconnect with your classmates? We can help you make contact with old friends and organise class reunions here on campus. The elegant 1592 Restaurant, adjacent to the Dining Hall is available to book for reunions. This flexible venue can seat 20-50 guests for a formal dinner or 40-80 guests for an informal buffet/fork supper. There are a variety of menus to choose from with a range of prices to suit all budgets. Contact the Alumni Office for further information. We’re also planning the annual Graduate Weekend scheduled for August 2011 and will have the details confirmed soon!

For a full schedule of events in TCD please see www.tcd.ie/alumni/events   

News

Campus News

Sports News

Campus News

Dispelling Myths about Young Dads

Former Alumni Officer amongst Honorary Degree Awardees

CRANN to Carry Out Cancer Research in Zero Gravity Conditions

BAFTA Success for TCD PhD Student

Trinity Librarian honoured by the French Government

Institute of Neuroscience Celebrates 10 Years of Leading Brain Research in Ireland

Sports News

Sports Scholarships
The TCD Sport Scholarships were awarded on Tuesday, 7 December 2010 to 28 Trinity students from 13 different sports. More…

Newsletters and Round Ups
Many of the sports clubs have recently completed their first newsletter of the year, find an update of interest to you on the DUCAC website.

Calendar of Events
See what’s coming up in the Trinity sporting calendar in 2011. More…

 

Branch Updates

Boston – Pan Alumni Event – 15 January 2011
The revival of the TCD alumni network in Boston got off to a great start with a successful pre-Christmas event in the Langham Hotel. The branch is currently in the process of setting up a new committee and planning a number of events for 2011. To get register your interest/find out more please contact Tomas Ryan.

TCD alumni are welcome to join fellow graduates at The Ancient Universities Alumni Burns Nicht on Saturday, 15 January 2011 in Cambridge Boat Club. Find out more…

London - Pan Alumni New Year’s Party – 20 January 2011
Join graduates of universities across Ireland at the Porterhouse, Covent Garden, London, 6.30pm on Thursday, 20 January 2011, to celebrate the New Year. Enjoy complimentary wine & finger food at this event sponsored by the Alumni Office. Don't miss the business card draw for your chance to win a great prize on the night. Find out more…

Bilbao, Madrid & Barcelona - Pan Alumni Events – 20 January 2011
Three Pan Alumni events will take place in Spain – in Bilbao, Madrid and Barcelona – on Thursday 20 January 2011. The social/networking gatherings are open to all with no charge. The Bilbao event will take place in the Dubliners Irish Pub at Plaza Moyua (Metro Moyua) contact Rocco Caira for more details. In Madrid alumni will meet in James Joyce Irish Pub, Alcalá 59. Metro: Retiro or Banco from 8pm for more information contact Emma Naismith. In Barcelona alumni will meet in Michael Collins Pub, Plaça de la sagrada familia, Barcelona also from 8pm for more information contact Patrick Bohan.

Chinese Alumni – 1st Anniversary Celebration – 21 January 2011
The first TCD Chinese Alumni event of 2011 will take place on Friday, 21 January in the School of Pharmacy Atrium. Find out more…

London – Business Breakfast – 15 February & 15 March 2011
A group of alumni in London plan to meet for their next regular Business Breakfast Tuesday, 15 February from 7:30am in Mercers Restaurant (usual venue). The March meeting will also take place on Tuesday, 15 March. To book for these events please make contact with Paul Comyn via the TCD Alumni & Friends group on Linkedin.

London Dining Club – Hilary Term Dinner – 17 February 2011
The London TCD Dining Club will host a dinner in The Savile Club with guest speaker Hamish McRae, Associate Editor and principal economic commentator of The Independent on 17 February 2011. Find out more…

Malaysia/Singapore – Alumni Events – March 2011
Professor Dermot Kelleher, Head of Trinity College’s School of Medicine and Vice-Provost for Medical Affairs will be visiting Singapore and Malaysia next March. To coincide with this visit, the Alumni Office would like to organise some events for TCD alumni in both countries. For further information please email Jennifer Taaffe.

Devon and Cornwall Planning for 2011
The Devon and Cornwall branch is currently planning their event programme for 2011. New members are always welcome so if there is anyone in the area who would like to get involved and be added to the mailing list, they should contact Michael Clapham.

Netherlands and Italy - Calling all Alumni
We have identified some alumni who are keen to organise activities and events in both Italy and the Netherlands over the coming year. To express your interest and find out more contact the volunteer in your area. Italy: Deirdre Beecher. The Netherlands: Therese Burke.

Swiss Alumni Association Update

On 12 December we were delighted to welcome Shane Ross to an informal dinner with the Swiss TCD Alumni Association in Geneva. 20 members braved the freezing conditions to come and enjoy a fondue in the oldest restaurant in Geneva.

 

New York Alumni Association Update
In October, in the first of a new Spotlight Series of visiting speakers, New York TCD alumni were treated to a survey of Ireland’s economic conditions by Brian Lucey, Associate Professor of the School of Business. In December, Chief Executive of Culture Ireland, Eugene Downes, spoke to Trinity alumni at the Cosmopolitan Club in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Downes, a Trinity alumnus, has worked in RTE and in the Irish Foreign Service in Russia as a cultural attaché. Culture Ireland was founded in 2005 to promote Irish arts worldwide.

The next speaker to visit New York was Trinity physics professor and poet, Iggy McGovern, who read a selection of his poems at New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House at 6.30pm on Monday, 10 January 2011. Professor McGovern has won the Hennessy Literary Award for Poetry and the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary.

The New York Trinity College alumni welcomed new members to its committee this year. The current committee members are Aoife Butler M.A. (1998) - Secretary, Aileen Denne-Bolton B.A. (1982) - Membership, Frieda Klotz B.A (2000) - Communications, Tony Murphy B.A. (1981) - Chair and Shane Naughton M.Sc., M.A. (1994) - Treasurer.

Alumni can contact the committee at tcdalumninyc@gmail.com. The committee would like to thank outgoing chair Naomi McMahon for her sterling work supporting and bringing together alumni from Trinity in New York in recent years.

Sydney Alumni Update Happy New Year to all our members and friends, since our last correspondence we held an alumni Christmas gathering in PJ O'Briens Irish Bar in Sydney where alumni from all the decades enjoyed a lovely evening.	Vancouver Alumni Update The Vancouver Alumni enjoyed a lunch on 30 October 2010 in Cordova Bay, Victoria with almost 20 alumni in attendance.

For a full schedule of TCD events visit www.tcd.ie/alumni/events   

 

Alumni Interview

Sinead English B.A. (1989)

Course Name: Economics & Social Studies
Year of Graduation: 1989

What are you doing with yourself these days?
For the last five years I have been running a career management and consultancy firm – Sinead English & Associates – Career Consultants.  I work with clients to help them through all aspects of the career management process. Sometimes that can mean helping someone to decide what career is right for them and other times it involves advising on CVs, Interview Skills or how to use networking to get a job. I do quite a lot of work with third level institutions and also with companies who are providing outplacement services to their employees.

Why did you choose your current career?
When I graduated from Trinity I went to London to work for Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan) as an investment banker. I spent 13 years there and loved the buzz of living in London and working in such a dynamic and challenging industry. A large percentage of my class – BESS – went to London to work after graduation and it was a great place to be. After our second child was born my husband John and I decided, like so many of my TCD classmates, to move back to Ireland. I resigned from JPM and we moved to Adare, Co Limerick. 

I had always had a huge interest in the gradate-recruitment process at JPM and was heavily involved in it each year. Upon my return to Ireland it seemed like a natural progression for me to work with third level institutions to prepare their students for the milk round process. The business started there and has grown from that into a career consultancy for clients across a number of sectors, not just education.  

How do you like to spend your free time?
One of the main reasons we moved back to Ireland was a to get a better balance of family vs work time – being an investment banker isn’t exactly the most family friendly career in the world! Any free time is spent with my family (we now have 3 children) and friends.

What are your strongest memories of Trinity?
Coffee and chocolate biscuit cake on the chocolate boxes in the Arts block, congratulating myself for managing to make it in time for 10am lectures...when I had to commute from ....Front Square, my inspirational Economics lecturers who gave me such a genuine interest in the subject, sitting in kitchens in Trinity Hall until the small hours chatting to my fellow Trinity Hall residents, the Pav on a Friday night...I could go on and on...

Are you still in touch with other alumni?
Absolutely! My Trinity Hall room-mate and fellow BESS student was my bridesmaid and is Godmother to one of our children. I made friends for life at TCD. We had our 20 year ESS reunion last year and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces. Many of us stay in touch on LinkedIn but there is nothing like meeting up with one for a chat to get all the latest news on the class of 1989. One of the great things about living in Trinity Hall for the first two years was the amount of friends I made from other faculties. 

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
That’s usually a question I prepare my interview coaching clients for!  Personally - continuing to enjoy living in Adare with my family - the oldest will be getting ready for University at that point! Professionally - continue to grow the business and help clients to find careers they enjoy.

Sinead will be taking part in the Trinity Alumni Career Network, she is the speaker for the session on
8 February, titled ‘Uncovering the hidden job market’.

Notices

Samuel Beckett Summer School  School of Medicine Bulletin and Tercentenary Plans George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye   History & Humanities Extramural Courses Boyle Medal Call for Nominations Thanks to the Trinity Business Alumni

Class Notes James ‘Turtle’ Bunbury B.A. (1996) Sean Traynor B.A., Ph.D., (1971) David Taplin M.A. (j.o.), F.T.C.D. (1983) Paddy Moloney MUS.D. (H.C.) (1988)

Samuel Beckett Summer School   
The School of Drama, Film and Music has launched the new Samuel Beckett Summer School in 2011 in association with the School of English which will celebrate and explore the works of one of Trinity’s most famous graduates in July 2011. More…

School of Medicine Bulletin and Tercentenary Plans
The School of Medicine is celebrating 300 years this year and to celebrate there is an exciting programme of events to mark the occasion. Find out more in the School of Medicines latest eBulletin.

George Dawson: An Unbiased Eye
This beautifully illustrated commemorative publication recounts and contextualises Trinity College’s significant contribution to the development of modern and contemporary visual arts practice in Ireland. For more information and to purchase the book visit Associated Editions.

History & Humanities Extramural Courses
The School of Histories and Humanities is offering a wide range of extramural courses in History, History of Art and Classics in Spring 2011. These non-degree courses provide for a general audience and do not have any course work or examination commitments. These courses are informative, entertaining and contribute to everyone’s life-long learning and education. More...
           
Boyle Medal Call for Nominations
The Irish Times and RDS are looking for nominations for the coveted Boyle Medal which recognises scientific research in Ireland. TCD graduates have been historically well-represented within the list of Boyle Medal Laureates such as Luke O’Neill in 2009. More…

Thanks to the Trinity Business Alumni
We’d like to thank the Trinity Business Alumni who donated the proceeds from their Christmas Drinks Reception to the Trinity Access Programmes (TAP). 

Class Notes

James ‘Turtle’ Bunbury B.A. (1996)
Turtle’s book ‘Vanishing Ireland – Further Chronicles of a Disappearing World’ was recently shortlisted for the Bord Gais Book of the Year Award. His next book will be published by Hachette in the autumn of 2011 and will chronicle the life stories of men and women across Ireland who were involved with a trade or way of life that is fading from our modern world. If you have any suggestions please contact Turtle via his website.

Sean Traynor B.A., Ph.D., (1971)
Sean is a graduate of Natural Sciences from the Class of 1971 based in the United States and would like to hear from any ’71 science grads interested in joining the 40th dinner and reunion in 2011? Email Sean for more details.

David Taplin M.A. (j.o.), F.T.C.D. (1983)

David was recently awarded the prestigious title of “President Emeritus" of "ICF: The World Academy of Structural Integrity" in Sendai, Japan. (Pictured here on the right). David will also be attending the 13th International Conference on Fracture in 2013.

 

Paddy Moloney MUS.D. (H.C.) (1988)
Paddy, an honorary degree holder and member of The Chieftans, will receive a Medal of Honour for Lifetime Achievement in Music from the Fallen Angel Theatre Club and National Arts Club on 27 January 2011 in New York. Tickets for the event can be purchased from the Fallen Angel Theatre. 

Have you any news that you would like to share?
Reach out to old classmates by submitting your news to Class Notes or read about fellow alumni on Front Gate Online.

Obituaries

Prof Veronica Rodrigues B.A. (1976)

John D. Kelly B.A. (1976)
John died suddenly in August 2010 aged just 57 in Weybridge, Surrey. He graduated from Trinity in Economics and qualified as an FCMA with Unilever a few years later. After a few moves within Unilever he transferred to the professional world joining Coopers and Lybrand in London. The whole family then moved to Malaysia where he helped set up their management consultancy business.  He returned to England after 2 years eventually joining Ernst and Young and in 1997 he became the managing partner of Ernst and Young Consulting UK.  He transferred to Chicago and was involved with the Global Innovation and New Services Development Group when Ernst and Young Consulting merged with Cap Gemini.  In 2003 he co-founded Bridge Consulting International LLP to focus on the strategic issues facing senior leaders in business and on executive education. He built a fine reputation as a board level advisor and won the respect and friendship of many in the legal sector, business, public sector and universities. John worked throughout Europe, in America, Asia and was comfortable in all the various environments. Colleagues and clients alike have paid tribute to John’s leadership skills, insight, integrity and his sense of compassion. 

His most recent appointment, which sadly he only held for three months before he died, was as a non-Executive Director of the Ashford and St. Peter’s National Health Service Trust.  He gave much time to helping others and was involved with several local charities including the Weybridge Justice and Peace Group, the Sam Beare Hospice and the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group.

Above all John was a devoted family man, married to Gillian (nee Jones) B.S.S. (1976) for 33 years having met in Trinity. They had three daughters, Sinead, Yvonne and Fiona and one grandchild.  He was passionate about travel and sport especially rugby and was a active supporter of London Irish. Family and friends recall John’s great sense of humour and fun, his optimistic outlook and his infectious smile! He will be greatly missed.

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Find out more about the International Cancer Conference “State of the Art of Cancer Care” taking place in September 2011.