John Kelly (engineer)

Last updated

John J. Kelly is a senior Irish academic. A professor of chemical engineering, he was for a period dean of the Faculty of Engineering at University College Dublin (UCD, where he was also registrar / deputy president). He was executive director of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, chairman of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation, and president of Independent College Dublin, and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Friends of Bethlehem University in Ireland. [1]

Contents

Early life

John Kelly was born in Newry, Northern Ireland, 11 May 1935, the fourth of seven children of Rita Curran and John Vincent Kelly. He attended two local schools and St. Patrick's College in Armagh. He then attended a boarding school Castleknock College, on the outskirts of Dublin, from 1947 to 1953, where he became Head Prefect and captained a rugby team. [1]

Kelly pursued a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at University College Dublin (UCD). After graduating in 1957, [1] he worked in industry, as a process engineer and later manager, in Ireland and the UK, from 1957 to 1963. [1] Kelly was captain of the University College Dublin and the Irish Universities swimming teams in 1956 /57 and played rugby in Munster with Highfield in the 1960s.

University career

Kelly returned to UCD as a lecturer, and obtained his PhD in 1968. [1] He was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Maryland from 1969 to 1970. He was promoted to senior lecturer at UCD in 1976, holding that post until 1985, and during this period was elected three times as dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, starting in 1979. [1] He was visiting professor at the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1982.

In 1986, he commenced office as Registrar of UCD, and when his term of office ended, he was appointed Professor of Chemical Engineering.

He became a member of the Governing Bodies of UCD and Dublin City University in 1982, [1] remaining on the former until 1998 and the latter until 1987. He was elected by the Governing Body of UCD to the Senate of the National University of Ireland, [1] of which UCD is a constituent university, in late 1982, and was co-opted to two further terms (from 1987 and 1992), and elected to another five-year term by the NUI's Convocation in 1997. He was also the founder, and a director, of the UCD industrial development facility, UIC, now Nova UCD.

Kelly was a founder of UCD's Engineering Graduates Association. [1] He was made an Honorary Life Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland in 1990, and a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering in 2000. Leaving the regular staff of UCD, he has been emeritus professor since 2000.

Kelly was awarded the Doctorate of Humanities, Honoris Causa, by the University of Bethlehem in Palestine in 2012. [1]

In 2018 Kelly was presented with the ESB Outstanding Contribution to Engineering Award at the 2017 Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards. [2]

Publications

Kelly has co-authored or authored more than a hundred technical and professional articles or book chapters, and two books.

He has also written letters and leader and education comment articles in the Irish Times, [3] notably on the battle between Newman's "community of scholars" concept and vocationalism, academic pay, European student exchange and in latter times, on Palestine and Bethlehem University.

He has also been editor or joint editor of multiple journals.

Other roles

Kelly led a European Community delegation to the Faculty of Engineering & Technology (FET) in the University of Jordan from 1981 to 1986, and chaired the team which assisted in the establishment of the HIAST, the Higher Institute of Advanced Science & Technology in Damascus, Syria in 1987. [1] He sat on Ireland's National Board of Science and Technology from 1982 to 1986. He was the founding chairman of the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability, AHEAD, the Irish national organisation for students with disabilities.

He has worked with many organisations including: the Universities of the Capital Cities of Europe, the European University Industry Forum, the Committee of Rectors of Europe, the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, and Directorate-General XXII for Education of the European Union. He was a member of the IEP, the Institutional Evaluational Panel of the European University Association, from 1994 to 2006, and a member of the International Advisory Board to the Hungarian Accreditation Committee from 1998 to 2004.

Kelly was the first executive director of the Ireland Canada University Foundation, [1] the founding president of the Irish Fulbright Alumni Association, chairman of the Irish Aid Advisory Committee to Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs, and the founding executive director of the Ireland-United States Commission for Educational Exchange ("the Irish Fulbright Commission"), one of the 50 or so Fulbright Commissions. [4]

In the late 1990s, he was invited to become a member of the Scholarship Board of the O'Reilly Foundation, a charitable trust established by billionaire media magnate Sir Anthony O'Reilly, and in 2001, he became the second chairman of that body.

He is a director of Feenish Films, and was a member of the board of CHC, the Canadian Helicopter Corporation, and of the board of the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership. He chaired the international group which advised the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador on its structures of higher education in 2006. He also chaired the Dispute Resolution Committee of National University of Ireland, Cork, and until 2012 the council of the Friends of Bethlehem University in Ireland. He has also been president of Independent College, Dublin, [1] and Chairman of Element Fleet Technology Limited, the Irish branch of the Canadian company Element Fleet Management Corporation.

Personal life

Kelly lives in Dublin, and in May 1968 married Nora Doyle; they have four children, three boys and one girl. [1] He captained the Irish Water Skiing Team at the North European Championships in Amsterdam in 1965. In later years, Kelly was captain of the Supervets +70 tennis team at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin.[ citation needed ]

Kelly publicly criticised UCD for a planned failure to attend the canonisation of its founder in late 2019, and the university subsequently reversed its position.

Related Research Articles

James Clement Dooge was an Irish Fine Gael politician, engineer, climatologist, hydrologist and academic who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 1982 to 1987 and Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1973 to 1977. He served as a Senator from 1961 to 1977 and 1981 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castleknock College</span> Private secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland

Castleknock College is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, eight km (5.0 mi) west of Dublin city centre, Ireland.

Brian James Hillery was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and finance executive who served as a Senator from 1977 to 1982, 1983 to 1989 and 1992 to 1997 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1989 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave O'Reilly</span>

David J. O'Reilly, is former chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation.

Barry O'Donnell was an Irish pediatric surgeon who worked at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin in Dublin, who along with Prem Puri pioneered the sub-ureteric Teflon injection (STING) procedure for vesico-ureteric reflux. He was awarded the Urology Medal by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the first pediatric surgeon working outside the US to be so honored.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desmond Fitzgerald (professor)</span> Irish doctor, 5th President of the University of Limerick

Desmond Fitzgerald is an Irish medical doctor and academic leader. On 6 October 2016, Fitzgerald was announced as the President-elect of the University of Limerick. He took up this role in early 2017, becoming the fifth President. He resigned in May 2020 for "personal health concerns" citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to this, Fitzgerald held the positions of Vice President for Health Affairs with University College Dublin and Chief Academic Officer at Ireland East Hospital Group from 2015 to 2016.

Hugh Redmond Brady is an Irish academic, the 17th President of Imperial College London, and a professor of medicine. He was the 13th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol. He is also President Emeritus of University College, Dublin (UCD), having served as UCD's eighth President from 2004 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward M. Walsh</span> Irish academic, founding President of the University of Limerick

Edward M. Walsh, is the founding president of the University of Limerick, one of two new universities established by Ireland in 1989. He headed the institution from its inception as the National Institute for Higher Education Limerick, in 1970, when he was appointed as chairman of the planning board, and director, through its transformation to a university in 1989, when he was appointed president, until his retirement in 1998, when he was awarded the title of "Founding President" for life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William F. Roe</span> Irish electrical engineer

William F. Roe (1904-1982) was an electrical engineer who led the rural electrification scheme in Ireland.

Eddie O'Connor was an Irish businessman who was co-founder and chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power, a renewable energy group.

Lochlann Quinn is an Irish businessman and philanthropist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Jennings (Internet pioneer)</span>

Dennis M. Jennings is an Irish physicist, academic, Internet pioneer, and venture capitalist. In 1985–1986 he was responsible for three critical decisions that shaped the subsequent development of NSFNET, the network that became the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Da-Wen Sun</span>

Sun Dawen, known as Da-Wen Sun, is a Chinese-born professor who studies food engineering at University College Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College Dublin</span> Public research university in Ireland

University College Dublin is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest university, and amongst the most prestigious universities in Europe. Five Nobel Laureates are among UCD's alumni and current and former staff. Additionally, four Taoisigh and three Irish Presidents have graduated from UCD, along with one President of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley McNamara</span> Irish architect

Shelley McNamara is an Irish architect and academic. She attended University College Dublin and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Architecture. She founded Grafton Architects with Yvonne Farrell in 1978. Grafton rose to prominence in the early 2010s, specialising in stark, weighty but spacious buildings for higher education. McNamara has taught architecture at University College Dublin since 1976 and at several other universities.

Anne Butler CEng. FIEI served as president for Engineers Ireland in 2005. She was only the second woman to hold this position. Butler was a founding director of the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland.

Orla Feely is an Irish academic and professor of electronic engineering. She is currently President of University College Dublin (UCD), having previously served as Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact. She is also the first Irish woman elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Conrad Burke is an Irish physicist and entrepreneur.

Sheila Willis is an Irish forensic scientist and was director general of Forensic Science Ireland from 2002 to 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Prof. John Kelly, class '53, Hon. Doctorate from Bethlehem University". Knock Union. Castleknock Past Pupils Union. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2020. recipient of a Honorary Doctorate from Bethlehem University ... copy of the citation and acceptance speeches
  2. "Prof John Kelly awarded ESB Outstanding Contribution to Engineering award at the 2017 Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards". Alumni News (UCD). 30 January 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2020. UCD Alumni, In Alumni New
  3. Dublin, Ireland: The Irish Times: Thursday 16 April 2009, Tuesday 28 December 1999, Tuesday 17 April 2001, Wednesday 18 April 2001, Thursday 19 April 2001, Tuesday 2 September 2003, Thursday 2 October 2003, Wednesday 22 October 2003, Friday 1 October 2004, Tuesday 28 June 2005, Saturday 24 June 2006, Friday 19 January 2007
  4. The Irish Times, 7 November 1997, retrieved from ireland.com April 2008