January 28, 2007
Chestnut Hill, MA - The Boston College Center for Irish Programs is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Niamh Lynch as director of its Irish Institute. The Irish Institute designs and implements political, educational, and corporate exchange programs for leaders from Ireland and Northern Ireland. Supported by funding from the U.S. Congress through the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and cultural Affairs, these programs promote peace and reconciliation on the island, while contributing to cross-border cooperation and stronger links with the United States. Lynch, a scholar of Irish history and politics, views the current period as “an exciting and challenging time – politically, economically, and culturally – for Ireland and for Northern Ireland.” In Northern Ireland, the impending return of devolved government will mark an important new chapter in the province’s history. Ireland, too, is in transition as it continues to adjust to the dramatic socio-economic changes of recent years. It is critical, according to Lynch, “that Boston College sustains its high profile as in international university as it continues to contribute to educational, corporate, and political life, both north and south of the border.”
A native of County Cavan, Ireland, Lynch immigrated to the United States as a teenager. She has had a long association with Boston College, having earned both her BA and her PhD in history at the University. She has lectured on Irish history and politics at Regis College and the University of Massachusetts, and has presented her work at conferences in both Ireland and the United States. In 2004 she served as interim managing director of BC-Ireland in Dublin. That experience, she says, was “exceptionally valuable” as it “underscored the integrated nature of the Center for Irish Programs.” “BC’s mission in Ireland is a broad one wherein both traditional and non-traditional educational initiatives have a place,” says Lynch, adding, “What makes the Center for Irish Programs unique is that it has provided a framework within which these two approaches can work together.” Equally at home in Ireland and the United States, Lynch is well positioned to navigate the terrain between both cultures. She believes too that her academic background will underscore and strengthen the educational mission of the Institute. “In its ten years of programming, the Irish Institute has established itself as a crucial partner in the peace process while also expanding Boston College’s educational reach far beyond Chestnut Hill. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue this extremely important work.”
Thomas E. Hachey, University Professor of History and Executive Director of the Center for Irish Programs, describes Dr. Lynch as an academic who possesses the administrative and entrepreneurial skills which the position of Institute Director decidedly requires. Apart from maintaining a close working relationship with each of the other units within the Center, the Director of the Irish Institute must interact with Congressional funders, State Department monitors, and our U.S. Embassy and Consular General partners in Dublin and Belfast. The assignment also entails designing programs which will comport with Ireland’s special needs while also being sufficiently feasible for designated program leaders on this side of the Atlantic.
Professor Hachey attributes the high quality found among the half dozen finalists in this recent search to the enviable reputation which the Irish Institute enjoys both here and abroad. And he is quick to give out-going Director Mary O’Herlihy much of the credit for the Institute’s favored standing. While there have been four directors over the space of a decade, Mary’s nearly four year tenure was by far the longest. She also expanded upon the number of funded programs conducted by the Institute that are additional to those supported by the federal grant, an initiative Hachey is confident Lynch will continue to build upon.