GRADUATINGGRADUATING CLASSCLASS OFOF 20092009 Some of the Electronics Students at Saturdays Conferring ceremony Xusen Sacid with his family after graduating with Honours in Engineering L7 Computing: Philip Roe, Steven McCutcheon and John McCaul Send us your graduation photos including the names of those pictured and course of study and we’ll print them in next weeks issue - [email protected] JohnJohn KeaneKeane RetiresRetires Aidan Heffernan, Mary Heffernan and John Keane John Keane retired on 30 September after 39 years of service in the college. The department were joined by colleagues and friends from all over the college to celebrate John’s contribution at the Fairways on 28 October. Fitting tributes were paid by Seamus Kelly, Bob McKiernan and Denis Cummins. John was generously thanked for his service and innovation. The interests of students and staff were always to the fore front. John thanked Seamus Kelly for organising the event and he thanked those with whom he worked throughout his time. He urged everyone pre- sent to look after the college and students. In the very early days, the development of computing started over in electronics. Both John and Jim Maguire in Electronics were pioneering the PDP8 mentioned here previously. In the Comput- ing area, the trio of John Keane, Ann Commins and Seamus Kelly are remembered as the early teachers. John taught BASIC in the early courses from which computing courses in the College developed. In 1977 the first computing course was started in the college. A one-year cert was run initially but soon it got changed into a two year National Certificate. John also served as Head of Department. Many of John’s past pupils are now on the college staff both in Computing and beyond. John also made a significant contribution in the area of Mathematics and Applied Maths where he helped many students with the latter subject. Bob concluded his few words by recalling that John’s father, also John Keane (Centre back, Waterford and Mount Sion) was one of the Millennium hurling team, he was part of the Waterford historic win in 1948 and he brought the county to the promised land in 1959. Bob also mentioned that John was one of the first fifteen on the college staff. He hoped that he would soon see his beloved Waterford win the hurling final. Next week ‘The Retiring of Marie Magee’ (McCallion) Above: John Keane, Liam Grimes and Jim Maguire with the PDP8 Pictured Right: The Millennium Hurling Team that included John Keane who was an All-Ireland medal winner in 1948. DkIT Welcomes Development Volunteers from Tanzania DkIT had the pleasure of welcoming some very special guests last week when a group of development volunteers from Tanzania visited the college. The group were in Ireland at the invitation of lecturer Bobby McCormack who invited them to take part in some of his classes and meet some Irish students. As well as lecturing in DkIT in Global Development, Bobby is also co- founder and director of local NGO Development Perspectives , which he runs with his partner Margaret Downey from their office in Drogheda. The organisation specialises in development education and this year they took two groups from Ireland to work with their Tanzanian partner, NGO Uvikiuta . The volunteers from both organisations lived and worked together for three weeks in order to learn more about each others cultures and explore development issues such as land privitisation, water shortage, climate change, poverty, conflict and the stigma around HIV Aids. The work camps involved the renovation of a maternity ward in the village of Mwika at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and the building of a school room in the town of Mwanga. Dorothy Tooman For the final few days of the programme the groups stayed with a Maasai tribe in the vast savannah lands north of Arusha, an experience that had a powerful effect on the participants who were welcomed warmly by the Maasai. One of the group that travelled to Ireland this week is a teacher from the tribe and she had the opportunity to visit the Presentation primary school in Drogheda. The culmination of the 2009 Development Perspectives programme and the main reason for the Tanzanian groups visit to Ireland, was an exhibition in the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda last Thursday night. It was attended by DkIT Director Denis Cummins, Head of the School of Humanities Cathal Kearney and Head of Strategy & Organisational Development Ann Cleary . The programme is supported by Trocaire, Irish Aid, Youth Work Ireland and the FAI and they also had representatives in attendance. The exhibition included a key note speech by Dorothy Toomann from Development Education Network - Liberia (DEN-L) , photographs from the overseas phase of the programme, wonderful music and singing from both the Irish and the Tanzanian participants and a quiz hosted by Bobby that served to highlight inequality and the unfair distribution of aid. If you would like to find out more about development perspectives you can visit their website at www.developmentperspectives.ie . Visit of Lesotho Ambassador to DKIT Dundalk Institute of Technology hosted the visit of H.E. Mannete M. Ramaili, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Lesotho on Friday last 23rd October. Dundalk Institute of Technology hosted the visit of H.E. Mannete M. Ramaili, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Lesotho on Friday last 23rd October. During her visit Ambassador Ramaili held discussions with DkIT President, Denis Cummins, senior staff and members of the Centre for Renewable Energy (CREDIT) and the National Centre for Freshwater Studies (NCFS). The Ambassador was briefed on the Irish Aid project ‘Water Is Life: Amazzi Bulamu’ led by DkIT with other Irish Universities and the University of Makefere as partners. It was felt that the learning from this project could also be applied to Lesotho. It was also felt that DkIT’s expertise in Wind Energy could inform policy in Lesotho as the country is mountainous and has great potential to harness wind energy. During her visit Ambassador Ramaili also toured the campus of DkIT. Fr Dermod McCarthy, RTE, Dr Eibhlís Farrell, Head of Music and Creative Media, Ms Adele Commins, Head of Music Programmes, Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, Mr Denis Cummins, President DkIT, Mr Sofian A. Karim, First Secretary Embassy of Malaysia, Dr Gerard Bob McKiernan, Head of School of Informatics, Music and Creative Media pictured with some of the cast members of Ó Riada sa Gaiety. Ó Riada sa Gaiety: 40 Bliain The 40th anniversary of the historic Ó Riada sa Gaiety concert was recently marked by DkIT music students with a tribute performance in the Black Box Theatre. The original concert, which was initiated and championed by Maire Bean Uí Ghogáin and members of Eigse Oirialla on the occasion of the Peadar Ó Doirnín Bicentenary in 1969 was destined to change forever the perception of Irish music across the globe and became the forerunner to the formation of the Chieftans and other great Irish groups. Bean Uí Ghogáin was one of the special guests, along with her son Liam, Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, Mr Sofian A. Karim, First Secretary Embassy of Malaysia and Mrs Arni Abdul Jamal, Antoine Ó Coileáin, Príomhfheidhmeannach, Gael-Linn and An tAthair Dermod Mac Carthaigh, RTE. The delighted audience rose to give the young performers a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the evening. Music Theatre students Dermot ‘Bam’ OConnor and David Lynn starred in the roles of Ó Doirnín and Sean Ó Sé, while Breifne Holohan, a fourth year Composition student played the role of Sean Ó Riada, introducing the new Ceol Oirghíalla harpsichord to the public for the first time. The music of Ceoltoirí Chualann was performed by Ceol Oirghialla Traditional Music Ensemble, directed by Gerry O’Connor(fiddle) and Paul McGettrick (flute). Research student from Newry, Tommy Fegan (uillean pipes) played the role of Paddy Maloney. First year students Sinead O’Malley of Roscommon (flute) and Aine Murphy of Tyrone (feadóg) excelled in their first major performance at DkIT. They were joined by second year fiddle player Deirdre Eakins and Anna Mary Doherty, and Cavan man Kevin O’Donnell on bodhrán. Final year student Trudy Maguire gave an excellent performance on the ‘bosca ceoil’. Deirdre, who showed her talents as a dancer was joined by lightfooted Dublin student Dearbhail Downey. Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, Denis Third Year student Dermot O'Connor as Peadar Ó Doirnín Helen Lyons led a group of harpers from the Ceoil Óirghialla Harp Ensemble, and accompanied several of the singers. The Music Theatre group, including soloists Níamh Kerr, Hannah Casey, Brendan Linnane, John Boylan, Aaron Roche, Fionán Stapleton, Lucia Mangan, Kevin O’Brien, Niall McGuigan, Brendan Staunton and Brendan Cleary were under the direction of Siubhán Ó Dubháin, who expressed her delight at the success of the event. ‘A few months ago Paul McGettrick, Gerry O’Connor and myself were remarking that it was 40 years since Ó Riada sa Gaiety. Fr. Clement Mac Manuis, who had attended the original concert encouraged us to attempt a reconstruction of the event, which originated in Dundalk with Bean Uí Ghogáin all those years ago. It was an honour and a privilege to have her with us on Thursday night.’ Mr Denis Cummins, President DkIT, Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., Aire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, Mr Sofian A. Karim, First Secretary Embassy of Malaysia and Mrs Arni Abdul Jamal Congratulations L7 Construction Graduates! Like Father Like Son! John McCaul with his father Pat after graduating with a Degree in Computing last Saturday.