Representing Sport: Forms and Issues An international conference hosted by the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, and the Department of French, NUI Galway is to bring together leading academics, and practitioners, concerned with the representation of sport through history and in contemporary life on 23 and 24 May, 2008. Dr Seán Crosson, The Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway, says "From the fine arts, through print and audio-visual culture, sport has been an enduring subject of representation. This has increasingly become the case with the development of the contemporary global media industry where representations of sport, from soccer to boxing and athletics, constitute some of the most popular subjects. It is one of the aims of this event to bridge the familiar divide between "high" and "popular" cultural spheres and thus to allow the spreading of knowledge in a broader community than would generally be the case for academic conferences." As well as considering the representation of sport in Ireland, the conference will also focus on its representation in the British Empire and Commonwealth, France, the UK and across Europe. A distinctive highlight of the event will be the screenings of two documentaries: Red Mist - Roy Keane and the Football Civil War(2007) directed by Eamonn Little, as part of a panel discussing 'Representing Sport & Controversy' which will include the director as well as award-winning Irish Times sports writer, Keith Duggan; and Pat Comer's A Year 'til Sunday (1998), which will be introduced by the director, to mark the tenth anniversary of the production of this award-winning and seminal documentary on Gaelic football. Among the distinguished contributors to the conference will be Professor Mike Cronin (Academic Director of the Centre for Irish Programmes at Boston College in Dublin and author of Sport and Nationalism in Ireland: Gaelic Games, Soccer and Irish Identity since 1884 (1999)); Professor Alan Bairner (Loughborough University and editor of Sport and the Irish. Histories, Identities, Issues (2001)); Professor Richard Holt (International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University, and author of Sport and the British: a modern history (1989)) and Dr. Paul Dietschy (Université de Franche-Comté, and co-author of Sport, culture et société en France du XIXe siècle à nos jours (2006)). Also contributing to the conference will be Professor David Scott, of Trinity College, Dublin, who has published extensively in the field of French textual and visual studies. A middleweight amateur boxer, Professor Scott is also the author of The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing (University of Nebraska Press, 2008). The conference is supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS), NUI Galway's Millennium Fund and the Department of French, NUI Galway. For a full programme or to register to attend the conference, please go to the Huston School of Film & Digital Media website at http://www.filmschool.ie/events or contact Seán Crosson at sean.crosson@nuigalway.ie ENDS

The 35th Annual Conference of the Sociological Association of Ireland convenes from 9-11 May at NUI Galway. Over three days, delegates will hear a wide range of presentations on topics as diverse as tourism in divided cities, the inequities of the Irish taxation system, the environment, religious practice, masculinity, new immigrant communities, food and food cultures. On the opening evening of the conference, Galway-based actor and writer Jeananne Crowley, will launch the latest volume in the Irish Sociological Chronicles series, Belongings: shaping identity in modern Ireland, edited by Mary P. Corcoran and Perry Share, and published by the Institute of Public Administration. Among the topics covered in this volume are the Michael Neary case, the 1916 commemorations, the Miss China Ireland pageant, Munster Mania, the rise of the Jumbo Breakfast Roll and the Irish Ferries dispute. On Saturday, 10 May veteran politician and sociologist Michael D. Higgins will be honoured with honorary life membership of the association. More than 70 papers and posters will be presented over the three-day event. Some of the papers to be presented are highlighted below. For a full listing of the conference programme please refer to www.sociology.ie. For further information please contact Mary P. Corcoran at 087-664-8751 or Aifric O'Grada. -ends-

An Information Evening detailing over 40 Adult and Continuing Education courses available from NUI Galway takes place at Áras na Mac Léinn, on Thursday, 15 May from 6.30-8.30pm. Those thinking of broadening their horizons through part-time study can visit information stands throughout the evening to find out about courses from English Literature to Rural Development. Part-time programmes can be studied at foundation level through to Masters, which can be either classroom-based or through distance learning. One of the newer courses to be unveiled at the information evening is the part-time Bachelor of Arts programme which has been designed to include an interesting mix of specialist subjects including English, History, French and Information Technology. The programme is available over four years on a part-time basis with classes offered in the evenings. Students are awarded a Diploma in Arts after two years and a full Bachelor of Arts on completion of the full four-year cycle. Other new courses this year include a BA in Social Care, which builds on the existing Diploma in Social Care. Supporting Irish business, the University is also offering new postgraduate courses in Innovation Management and Technology Commercialisation. A part-time Diploma in Management, which can be pursued to Bachelor of Commerce level, and is offered via distance learning to accommodate busy professionals and those living outside of Galway. Nuala McGuinn, of NUI Galway's Adult and Continuing Education Office, comments "Getting motivated for any new challenge always requires effort, but when that challenge can potentially change your life, it's worth going the extra mile. At our open evening, course tutors and students will be on hand to offer expert advice on the programmes available and the benefits of acquiring new skills and qualification". For those not necessarily interested in pursuing a course to degree level, there is an impressive range of courses available at foundation and certificate level at NUI Galway. These include areas in health care such as Social Gerontology (the study of ageing); Community Development; Psychology of Counselling; and Employee Assistance and Social Support. The University also offers traditional subjects such as French, German, Italian, English, History, Gaeilge, Women s Studies and Irish Music Studies. NUI Galway's Diploma in Gemmology, which is run in conjunction with the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at NUI Galway, is a popular choice among jewellers, craftspeople and those with an interest in precious stones. For further details on the Information Evening or to obtain a copy of the new prospectus from the Adult and Continuing Education Programme, contact 091-492062 or visit www.nuigalway.ie/adulteducation. -ends-

A new initiative by NUI Galway to provide greater access to continuing education for nurses and midwives has been welcomed by HSE West and the Nursing Midwifery Planning and Development Unit (NMPDU). Postgraduate Diploma courses will be offered to nurses and midwives, for the first time in Ireland, through a combination of online and classroom-based teaching. The University's aim is to accommodate the hectic schedules and work demands of nurses and midwives by allowing them to complete course modules at their individual pace. The Postgraduate Diplomas offered by the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway through 'blended learning' include Accident and Emergency, Intensive Care, Oncology, Palliative Care and Orthopaedics. Nora Irwin Area Director NMPDU, HSE West praised the new approach to teaching saying, "This new initiative really supports and facilitates nurses/midwives to access continuing education during this period where release and replacement of staff is difficult." Blended learning refers to a learning experience that combines classroom and online forms of learning (mixing traditional and distance learning). Nurses and midwives will have online access to course details and content at all times and participate through lectures and tutorials, discussion board, online collaboration, e-mail and telephone. According to Mary Francis O'Reilly Director of the National Midwifery Planning and Development Unit, "This is a new departure within the field of nursing and we are delighted that the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway is leading the way nationally with this initiative. Nurses and midwives are very busy practitioners and it can be difficult for managers to release staff to attend courses, therefore the introduction of 'blended learning' means that students will now be able to log onto the internet and undertake some modules from the comfort of their own homes. Students will also be able to take stand alone modules and accumulate credits over time". For further details of course available through blended learning contact Dr. Philip Larkin School of Nursing and Midwifery, NUI Galway on 091 492013 or visit the University's Postgraduate Admissions Office website www.go4th.ie -ends-

Honorary Doctorates conferred on Fionnula Flanagan, Justice Richard Goldstone, Professor Deirdre McCloskey, Eugene Murtagh, Donagh O'Donoghue, Micheál Ó hUiginn and Governor Martin O'Malley Seven outstanding individuals from the worlds of business, public service, education, justice, and the arts were conferred with honorary degrees from National University of Ireland, Galway today, Friday 27 June, 2008. Commenting, Dr. James Browne, President of NUI Galway, said, "I take pride, on behalf of the NUI Galway community, in welcoming these seven individuals to the ranks of our alumni. In becoming honorary graduates they join a global network of over 60,000 alumni. By awarding these truly outstanding people with the highest honour that the University can bestow, we pay tribute to their great achievements in such widely diverse fields." Degree of Doctor of Arts: Ms Fionnula Flanagan is an Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Irish actress. She trained in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and has appeared in numerous films including, The Others with Nicole Kidman, Transamerica and Waking Ned Devine, as well as television series and stage productions. She also recently guest starred in the episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" of Lost. She came to prominence in Ireland in 1965 as a result of her role as Máire in the Teilifís Éireann production of the Irish Language play, An Triail. Ms Flanagan established herself as one of the foremost interpreters of James Joyce in the 1967 film version of Ulysses. Degree of Doctor of Laws: Justice Richard Goldstone served as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; as the Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; and as Chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has taught at New York University, Harvard, and Fordham Law Schools. He is presently a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center. In 2006 Goldstone taught at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway. Degree of Doctor of Economic Science: Professor Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English and Communication at the University of Illinois, Chicago, is a leading economist, rhetorician, scholar and public intellectual. McCloskey has written 14 books one of the latest being The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce which is the first of a projected five-volume magnum opus. Before The Bourgeois Virtues her best known books were The Rhetoric of Economics (1985) and Crossing: A Memoir, published in 1999, which was a New York Times Notable Book. Degree of Doctor of Laws: Mr Eugene Murtagh is the founder and Chairman of Kingspan Group Plc. Since starting in the 1960s as a small family business Kingspan has grown to become one of Ireland s most successful companies. With a turnover in excess of €1.8 billion, the Group has 43 manufacturing plants in 28 countries around the world, employing over 6,500 people. Murtagh was appointed in 2000 by the Irish and British governments as a director of the International Fund for Ireland, which has invested €849 million in projects across the island of Ireland. Degree of Doctor of Laws: Mr Donagh O'Donoghue is a prominent member of the Galway business community and a member of NUI Galway Governing Authority. O'Donoghue succeeded his father as Group Managing Director of Thomas McDonagh & Sons Ltd. in 1975 and grew the company significantly over a twenty-five year period. His catalogue of directorships includes Bord na Móna, Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and Galway Airport. He has also served as board member of IBEC, Galway Chamber of Commerce and Druid Theatre Company. Degree of Doctor of Laws: Mícheál Ó hUiginn, Uas. is a member of NUI Galway s Governing Authority and director of Ó hUiginn Teoranta, Galway. He has served successive terms on Galway City Council from 1964 until his retirement in 2004. During these forty years of service to the city of Galway, Mícheál Ó hUiginn has been Mayor of Galway for three terms and has made significant contributions to all aspects of civic life and local government, particularly in the area of education. Degree of Doctor of Laws: Governor Martin O'Malley is the 61st Governor of Maryland. An American Democratic politician he previously served as Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. During his two terms as Mayor, Baltimore became a national model for improvement in public safety, government efficiency, education and economic development. As Governor he is now applying his experience to the State of Maryland and has been described by The Washington Post as a "governor unafraid of government". In 2005 Business Week listed O'Malley as one of "Five Fresh Faces" to lead the Democratic Party. ENDS