University College Cork (UCC) yesterday appointed Prof Michael Murphy as its new president, with effect from February 1st next.
The appointment of Prof Murphy (53) was widely expected. A native of Cork and a UCC graduate, he is the head of the college of health and medicine at the university. He will succeed the controversial current president, Prof Gerry Wrixon.
Last night, Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin congratulated Prof Murphy and said she "looks forward to working with him as he takes over the mantle of leadership in UCC at a time of exciting opportunities and challenges for higher education in Ireland".
Prof Murphy - who is married with three children - said he greatly appreciated the trust the governing body had placed in him. He said he aimed to build on UCC's success in recent years and to continue to progress its teaching and research achievements.
The chairman of the governing body, Enda McDonagh, said: "Prof Michael Murphy is an outstanding academic and proven leader who brings ambition, an inclusive vision and management expertise to the key role of university president."
Prof Murphy, a graduate of UCC's medical school, was appointed professor of clinical pharmacology and head of the department of pharmacology and therapeutics at UCC in 1992. He became dean of the faculty of medicine and health in 2000 and head of the college of medicine and health in 2006.
Previously, he held senior positions at the University of Chicago and at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School of London. He has also worked at St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin and St Finbarr's Hospital, Cork.
UCC is regarded within the education sector as one of the State's best-performing universities. In recent years, its ability to attract research funding has outflanked other colleges.
With a student population of almost 16,000, it continues to attract record numbers of school leavers in spite of the fall in the number of Leaving Certificate students.
But despite this strong record, the image of UCC has been dented in recent years by the bitter in-fighting over Prof Wrixon.
The college will hope the appointment of Prof Murphy brings an end to a divisive period.
Prof Murphy was nominated by a 10-member selection team. Chaired by former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald, it also included Prof Pat Fottrell, former president of NUI Galway, and Prof James Drummond Bone, a senior academic from the University of Liverpool.
