Gerry McKenna

Last updated

Professor Gerry McKenna MRIA.jpg

Patrick Gerald McKenna, DL, FIBMS, FRSB, MRIA (born 10 December 1953), known informally and widely as Gerry McKenna, is a Chartered Biologist (CBiol, 1982) and Chartered Scientist (CSci, 2006) from Northern Ireland.

Contents

Professor McKenna, grew up in the townland of Lisbanlemneigh situated between Benburb and The Moy, County Tyrone and attended St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, the New University of Ulster and the Queen's University Belfast. He is most well known for his long affiliation with the University of Ulster in Coleraine, where he was honoured with the Freedom of the Borough of Coleraine [1] [2] and as Coleraine Business Person of the Year, as well as being appointed Deputy Lieutenant and later Vice Lord Lieutenant for County Londonderry. [3]

University of Ulster leadership

During McKenna's successive tenures as founding Director of the Biomedical Sciences Research Centre, Head of Biological & Biomedical Sciences, Dean of Science, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research), and finally Vice Chancellor/President of the University of Ulster, the university became the foremost provider of healthcare programs (both undergraduate and postgraduate), and was top-ranked for research (5*) in Biomedical Sciences and Celtic Studies in the UK, one of only 20 universities to have two 5* ratings. [4] It also became the largest university on the island of Ireland. [5] The university rose to 27th in Quality Research Funding (research power) in the UK and was shortlisted for Sunday Times University of the Year. [6]

McKenna has strongly promoted social inclusion, [7] most notably via the acclaimed 'Step Up' program for school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. He also established a range of e-learning programs via Campus One. [8] [9] [10]

Benburb Priory

McKenna has led a substantial restructuring of the governance and management of Benburb Servite Priory including the establishment of its Library and Museum, and the development of the Priory as a major spiritual, cultural and community centre. [11]

Royal Irish Academy

McKenna has played a leading role, as Vice President and later Senior Vice President, in the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s leading academic body. He was elected to the Council of the Academy, in 2017, also becoming an Academy Vice President. He chaired the Academy’s North-South Committee and was a co-founder and co-chair of the Celtic Academies Alliance involving the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Learned Society of Wales. He chaired a major all-island review during 2019-2021 on Higher Education Futures resulting in reports on higher education values, the future landscape of HE, equality diversity and inclusion in HE, the role of HE in regions and place, and re-imagining the future of research across the island of Ireland. [12] McKenna was also principal author in 2024 of a major RIA report 'Finding Common Ground: Building Community' focussed on the North-West of the island of Ireland. The report recommended inter alia independent oversight of higher education in Northern Ireland and outlined the potential for a North-West cross border university. [13]

Founder or co-founder

Affiliations and honours

Website: Professor P. G. (Gerry) McKenna - Home

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Londonderry</span> County in Northern Ireland

County Londonderry, also known as County Derry, is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. Before the partition of Ireland, it was one of the counties of the Kingdom of Ireland from 1613 onward and then of the United Kingdom after the Acts of Union 1800. Adjoining the north-west shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,118 km2 (818 sq mi) and today has a population of about 252,231.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Tyrone</span> County in Northern Ireland

County Tyrone is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleraine</span> Town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Coleraine is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is 55 miles (89 km) north-west of Belfast and 30 miles (48 km) east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections. It is part of Causeway Coast and Glens district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster University</span> Multi-campus university in Northern Ireland

Ulster University, legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It is the largest university in Northern Ireland and the second-largest university on the island of Ireland, after the federal National University of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Buckingham</span> Private university in Buckinghamshire, UK

The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university in Buckingham, England and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (UCB) in 1973, admitting its first students in 1976. It was granted university status by royal charter in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magee College</span> Campus of Ulster University in Derry, Northern Ireland

The Ulster University Derry~Londonderry campus, better known as Magee College, is one of the four campuses of Ulster University. It is located in Derry, Northern Ireland, and was opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and theological college. Since 1953, it has had no religious affiliation and provides a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate academic degree programmes in disciplines ranging from business, law, social work, creative arts & technologies, cinematic arts, design, computer science and computer games to psychology and nursing.

Benburb ) is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies 7.5 miles from Armagh and 8 miles from Dungannon. The River Blackwater runs alongside the village as does the Ulster Canal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moy, County Tyrone</span> Village and area in Northern Ireland

Moy is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland about 5 miles southeast of Dungannon and beside the smaller village of Charlemont. Charlemont is on the east bank of the River Blackwater and Moy on the west; the two are joined by Charlemont Bridge. The river is also the boundary between County Tyrone and County Armagh. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 1,598.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Seawright</span> British artist (born 1965)

Paul Seawright is a Northern Irish artist. He is the professor of photography and the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Ulster University in Belfast/Derry/Coleraine. Seawright lives in his birthplace of Belfast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica McWilliams</span> British politician and academic (born 1954)

Monica Mary McWilliams is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician.

Universities Ireland is an organisation that promotes collaboration and co-operation between universities in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was launched in July 2003 by the nine university presidents on the island of Ireland, with Professor Gerry McKenna, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Ulster, as founding chair. It is funded by the member universities themselves; the Department of Education in the Republic of Ireland; the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland; and InterTradeIreland, an all-island body under the North/South Ministerial Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan</span> Public figure in Northern Ireland, Police Ombudsman and parliamentarian

Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan,, is a public figure in Northern Ireland. From 1999 to 2007, she was the first Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords and she was so appointed in September 2009. In December 2010, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, appointed her as the chairman of its governing authority. She is a columnist with The Irish Catholic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon</span> School in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

Saint Patrick's Academy is a voluntary grammar school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It formed on 1 September 2003 when the two single-sex Saint Patrick's Academies, which coexisted on the same site as two distinct and separate institutions, were merged as one. In January 2013 the Education Minister John O'Dowd announced the school was one of 22 schools to get a new build project.

David Andrew Phoenix is an English biochemist and Chief Executive of London South Bank University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causeway Coast and Glens</span> Local government district in Northern Ireland

Causeway Coast and Glens is a local government district covering most of the northern part of Northern Ireland. It was created on 1 April 2015 by merging the Borough of Ballymoney, the Borough of Coleraine, the Borough of Limavady and the District of Moyle. The local authority is Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerry McCormac</span> Scottish physicist and university administrator

Sir Francis Gerard McCormac, FRSE, FSA, FRSA, FHEA is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Stirling. He is a physicist whose specialist fields are space physics and carbon dating. He is a member of the advisory board of the International College for Liberal Arts at Yamanashi Gakuin University in Japan. Previous roles include Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University Belfast and Vice-Chairman of Invest Northern Ireland. He chaired a review of teacher employment for the Scottish Government in 2011.

Eileen M. A. Harkin-Jones is the Bombardier Aerospace-Royal Academy of Engineering professor of composites engineering at the Ulster University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Patrick McKenna</span> Irish academic (born 1954)

Hugh Patrick McKenna CBE FRCN is a British academic. He is Dean of Medical School Development at Ulster University.

References

  1. "Meeting of Coleraine Borough Council Agenda" (PDF). Wsuk4.prossl.com. 27 June 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  2. "Sheepish traditions". Times Higher Education (THE). 9 February 2001.
  3. "Lord Lieutenant of Londonderry – Lord Lieutenant of Londonderry".
  4. "Research Assessment Exercise 2001". 30 August 2013.
  5. "Professor P. G. (Gerry) McKenna". gerrymckenna.co.uk.
  6. 1 2 "Professor P. G. (Gerry) McKenna". Gerrymckenna.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  7. "CAIN: Issues: Politics: Speech by Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, on 'Partnership as the only way forward', 19 February 2004". cain.ulster.ac.uk.
  8. "University scheme 'total success'". 20 August 2002 via news.bbc.co.uk.
  9. "University of Ulster - Outreach programme hailed". 28 August 2008.
  10. University, Ulster (28 April 2017). "eLearning at Ulster University".
  11. https://benburbpriory.com/ [ bare URL ]
  12. "Higher Education Futures | Royal Irish Academy". 14 July 2021.
  13. https://www.ria.ie/assets/uploads/2024/05/policy-report-fnding-common-ground.pdf
  14. "Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Sciences". Hucbms.org. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  15. "IUNA". IUNA. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  16. "Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance". Ghdx.healthdata.org. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  17. 1 2 "Servite Priory Library Project". Servite Priory Library Project. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  18. "Launch of the Celtic Academies Alliance". Royal Irish Academy. 25 March 2021.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Professor P.G. (Gerry) McKenna". Gerrymckenna.co.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  20. (QAA), The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. "The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)". www.qaa.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  21. "Professor P G (Gerry) McKenna - University of Kufa". Uokufa.edu.iq. 23 June 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
  22. "A new year, a new ambassador, a Cruachan eye, an Ulster hero, and more" (PDF). Fhcs.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  23. "Flax Trust – Honourees". Flaxtrust.com. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  24. "Professor P. G. (Gerry) McKenna". Gerrymckenna.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  25. "Celebrating Our Successes – Western Trust Recognition Awards Event | Western Health & Social Care Trust".
  26. "DTA Applied Biosciences for Health - UA Doctoral Training Alliance". unialliance.ac.uk.
  27. "RIA Brexit Taskforce". Ria.ie. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  28. "Higher Education Futures Group Established by the Royal Irish Academy". Royal Irish Academy. 13 August 2020.
  29. "Higher Education Futures". Royal Irish Academy. 24 August 2020.
  30. "Professor P. G. (Gerry) McKenna". Gerrymckenna.co.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  31. "Royal Irish Academy". Ria.ie. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  32. "About HUCBMS - Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Sciences". Hucbms.org. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  33. "Lord Lieutenants | the Gazette".
Academic offices
Preceded by Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster
1999–2006
Succeeded by