Archive

The Retired Staff Association website went online on 4 March 2015. This page contains items from the RSA 'News & Events' page, from 2014 to 2015.

RSA Lunch 2015

The Retired Staff Association had their annual luncheon on 20 January 2015 in the Ardilaun Hotel, Taylor’s Hill, Galway. It had a very good attendance which included the President Dr Jim Browne, retired staff, partners and friends. An excellent lunch was provided by the hotel and an enjoyable time was had by all. The President gave an informative speech which highlighted topics such as the University’s ranking among the top 250 universities in the world; the hosting by the University of CÚRAM, the Centre for Research in Medical Devices, the recipient of substantial funding of the order of €155 million through Science Foundation Ireland’s Research Centres Programme; and the €400 million Capital Development Programme which includes the award-winning Engineering Building, the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Building, the Biosciences Research Building and the commencement of the Human Biology Building.

Visit to the Chester Beatty Library, 23 October 2014

NUI Maynooth and Castletown House, 10 September 2015

At the invitation of the NUI Maynooth Retired Staff Association, 35 members of our Association visited NUIM on Thursday 10 September 2015. It was a splendid day, with perfect weather and a perfect welcome from our friends in Maynooth. For details and photos, please see 'Archive'.

After tea and scones in the new Library, hosted by the NUIM RSA, we were given a tour of the campus. It was Graduation Day and very lively. Our tour guide, Andrew, provided detailed backround information on everything we saw, which included the famous yew tree associated with Silken Thomas, Stoyte House, the magnificent Puginesque chapel, reputedly the largest stalled chapel in Europe, and the Museum. At lunch, in the Phoenix restaurant, which was attended by many members of the NUIM Association, we had a chance to get to know each other and also to have a brief business meeting.

We were very honoured that so many of the NUIM RSA came to meet us. Our warmest thanks for making the occasion so enjoyable and profitable are due to: Kathleen Bennett, Teresa Bennett, Lilly Fahy, Maura Haughney, Mary Keane (Events Secretary), Mary Kerins, Peggy McCarthy, Doreen McClelland, Tom Maher (Minutes Secretary), Rose Malone, Vincent Murphy, Marie-Thérèse Power (Vice Chairperson), Bríd Shiel (Treasurer) and Mary Weld (Chairperson). Special thanks to Mary Weld for issuing the invitation and organizing the visit.

After lunch we continued on to Castletown House for a private tour.

Visits to NUIG Campus in 2014 and early 2015

Following the regular Agallamh na Seanórach gatherings (normally the 2^nd Tuesday of each month, September-June), visits are sometimes arranged to different venues in the University. In 2014-2016 these have included:

2015

- the Ryan Institute, NUI Galway's hub for Environmental, Marine and Energy research.
The Agallamh na Seanórach meeting on October 13^th 2015, took place in the Martin Ryan Building Boardroom. Colin Brown gave an informative overview of Ryan Institute activities centred on 4 thematic areas of Climate Change; Environment & Health; Energy; Marine & Coastal Processes. In addition, a special mention should be given to postgraduates Kelly Fitzhenry, Colin Banyon, Sinéad Crawford and Jack O’Carroll for their very interesting and informed brief presentations on their particular research activities within the Ryan Institute. A highly positive feedback was received from the attendees at the Agallamh na Seanórach gathering.

- the award-winning new Engineering Building on the North Campus.

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The March 2015 meeting of Agallamh na Seanórach was hosted in Seminar Room 2052 of the new Engineering Building. Siobhán Ní Chéidigh, receptionist for the Building, had kindly placed posters in strategic locations in order to guide retired staff to the meeting place. Professor Emeritus Con Cunnane gave an informative slide presentation of the historical development of the Building. NUI Galway's Engineering Building, designed by Taylor Architects/RMJM, was voted Ireland’s favourite new building in 2012: it was the Public Choice in the RIAI Irish Architecture Awards. The building has been designed to be a teaching tool in itself, with exposed construction techniques and an array of ecological building methods.
Aodh Dalton, Chief Technical Officer, showed the retired staff group around selected parts of the building – because of time constraints it was not possible to see all of it. Some highlights included tall and large Workshop facilities containing computerised lathes and drilling machines. Impressive facilities for testing strength of materials and for cutting heavy materials were shown. The tour included a visit to a tidal basin laboratory for studying water flow in the presence of obstacles. The tour also included visits to biomechanics and composite materials workshop areas used for construction of metallic devices for medical applications. The tour ended with a stroll through a large open office area with seat capacity for some 120 postgraduate students.

Our sincere thanks to Siobhán, Con and Aodh for their invaluable help in making the visit to the New Engineering Building a very successful and memorable one.

2014

- the James Mitchell Geology Museum, sited in the south-east corner of the Main Quadrangle – this tour was kindly hosted by Professor Martin Feely and Dr Alessandra Costanzo;

- the Martin Ryan Zoology and Marine Biology Museum, arranged through Anne Cryan;

- the art collections in the Alexander Anderson Boardroom, the President’s rooms and nearby locations – this visit was kindly arranged through the Arts Officer Fionnuala Gallaghe; details of the locations of the University’s collection of over 500 works can be found on the Arts Office website;

- the new Hardiman Research Building, where Niall Sweeney gave us an informative tour of the Library’s archives, now preserved in ideal conditions in the basement of the building.

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