Daire Keogh


Daire Keogh is an academic historian and third-level educational leader, as of 2020 the president of Dublin City University in Ireland.
Keogh graduated in history, later taking a PhD while working part-time as a school teacher. He was a lecturer at a number of Irish third-level institutions, and then professor at, and later president of, Ireland's main teacher training college, St Patrick's, Drumcondra. His publications as author or editor include more than a dozen books, and a range of papers. After St Patrick's merged fully into DCU he was appointed as the university's deputy president, and after a long search process in 2018 and 2019, he was selected to become the fourth president as of July 14 2020, for a term of 10 years.

Early life and education

Daire Keogh was born to Peter and Cora Keogh of Rathfarnham, and has four brothers and a sister. His father owned and ran Peter's Pub between South William Street and St. Stephen's Green in central Dublin. He attended Loreto Abbey National School, then Synge Street CBS. He studied history, economics and philosophy at University College Dublin, securing a Bachelor of Arts in History. He then studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and while he did not pursue ordination, received a qualification there.

Academic career

On his return to Ireland he started work as a teacher at St Mac Dara's Community College in Templeogue and successfully pursued a PhD in History at Trinity College Dublin. He graduated in 1993, with a thesis entitled The Catholic Church and Radicalism in Ireland in the 1790s. He lectured and performed research at a range of Irish third-level institutions, including UCD, TCD, one or both of the universities in Maynooth, UCG, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra and the Oscail remote education centre hosted by DCU. He also held a post for a time as Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame.
Keogh also took a Masters in Theology at the University of Glasgow.
Keogh lectured in the Department of History within the Faculty of Humanities at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, previously an autonomous institution, but by then a college of DCU. He then held a named chair, as Cregan Professor of Modern Irish History. He has also held the post of Fellow at the University Design Institute at Arizona State University..
He was President of St Patrick's from 2012 to 2016, overseeing a broadening of its curriculum and the construction of a new library building. St Patrick's fully merged into Dublin City University -- forming the base for an Institute of Education, also incorporating other colleges, and a partial base for a Faculty of Humanities -- a process Keogh led for St Patrick's. He was appointed as Deputy President of DCU, and his responsibilities included student non-academic and sporting activities, including welfare and social activities, DCU's alumni and the university's strategic planning process. He also played a key role in the move of the 140,000-volume library of the Jesuit order in Ireland to the DCU library at the All Hallows campus. Keogh was selected for the Staff Leadership Award, presented at the annual dinner of DCU's Leadership Circle of donors, in 2019.

Areas of study

Keogh's research and publications work addresses aspects of Irish history including politics, education, religion and gender. he is also principal investigator on a State-sponsored project to edit and publish the letters of Cardinal Paul Cullen.
Keogh also chairs the editorial committee of DCU's journal of Irish Studies -- covering history, folklore, toponymy and the Irish language -- Studia Hibernica.

Voluntary posts

He has served as vice-president of a national trade union, the Irish Federation of University Teachers, and was nominated by that body as a member of an EU third-level education quality assurance body, the European Quality Assurance Register Committee, and the governing body of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, which oversees the national primary school curriculum in Ireland.
Keogh also chairs the Higher Education and Research Committee of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce, and has written an article in a national newspaper setting out some committee positions and concerns around Brexit.
Keogh has qualified as a Chartered Director at the Institute of Directors. he is, in a private capacity, a member of the governing body of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, which manages more than 90 Catholic schools, and where he served for some time along with DCU's founding president, Danny O'Hare. He has also been a member of the boards of both national schools in Drumcondra and Rathfarnham and the secondary school Clongowes Wood College. He was also a director, from 2013 to 2017, of the think tank, the Centre for Cross-Border Studies.

DCU presidency

Keogh was selected in December 2019, after an 18-month international search process, and appointed by the Governing Authority for a term of ten years.

Publications

Keogh has authored or edited, individually or jointly, at least 16 books on aspects of history, and many papers.
His books include:
Keogh is also active on social media, notably Twitter, where his verified account averages a tweet every 15 hours.

Personal life

In November 2000 Keogh married Katherine Schott at the on-campus basilica of the University of Notre Dame; his wife, a project manager and communications specialist, from Indianapolis, Indiana, had moved to Ireland as associate director of the Dublin branch operation of the University of Notre Dame in 1998. She also worked for the award-winning Childhood Development Initiative in Tallaght, and both the US Embassy and the American Chamber in Ireland. They have four children and live in the Dublin suburb of Rathfarnham, where they support a local musical group and Prof. Keogh has written on aspects of local history.