IN THIS ISSUE
GOING GLOBAL
The Foreign Exchange
Cracking the Code
The Cure
Class of 1994
DNA OF UCD
Big Ideas Hatched on Campus
Great Minds
Campus Crushes
Between the Covers
Phone a Friend
Colour on Campus
COLLEGE PEOPLE
2009: A Year in the Spotlight
Go Ahead and Argue
Campaign Trail
The Front Bench Club
Education Revolution
Finder and Keeper
UCD EVENTS
Business Alumni Dinner
Bloomsday Medal Ceremony
An Historic Hockey Match
A Great Year For Rowing
The Newman Fellows' Dinner
Joseph O'Connor Reading
The Ruby Jubilee
UCD Rugby Dinner
New Professors Of Law
Graduate Societies
RE-CONNECTIONS
Find Your Classmates
2009: A Year in the Spotlight
Who made their mark on the last 12 months? Who were the alumni achievers in sport and politics, film and theatre, science and literature? We present the UCD graduates who performed summa cum laude in 2009.
Sheila Pratschke
Director of the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris (BA 1966)
As director of the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, Arts graduate Pratschke is responsible for publicising Irish culture in France. In June she organised the successful ‘A Feast of Friel’, a festival celebrating the playwright Brian Friel, who came to Paris for the opening. She was presented with the Ordre National du Merite in May for her long-standing promotion of Irish culture in France.
Jim Sheridan
Film writer, producer and director (BA 1972)
A multiple Oscar-nominated Arts graduate, Sheridan hosted the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland Industry awards in July, along with fellow UCD alumnus, Neil Jordan. Sheridan has just finished the remake of the 2004 Danish film, Brothers, featuring Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhall.
Denis O’Brien
Entrepreneur (BA 1980)
A History and Politics graduate, O’Brien was conferred with an honorary doctorate in 2006. As Independent News and Media’s second-largest shareholder, this year O’Brien secured three out of ten seats on its board upon then chief executive Tony O’Reilly’s retirement. He chaired the Newstalk Student Enterprise Competition in January and, in March, launched the Carlow Young Artists Choir. O’Brien will chair the judging panel for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Awards, the winner of which will be announced in October.
Derval O’Rourke
Sprint hurdler (BA 2003; HDipBS 2005)
O’Rourke attended UCD on a sports scholarship, and holds both primary and Masters degrees from the University. She represented Ireland in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won bronze at the 2009 Turin Indoor Championships, her first big title since 2006. She has started studying once more, this time for an MSc in the sociology of sports and exercise, and has also started coaching children. “I love getting back to the basics of hurdles.” At time of going to press, O’Rourke was preparing for the World Outdoor championships in Berlin