Process of choosing new UCC president to begin

THE process to choose a successor to Professor Gerry Wrixon as president of University College Cork (UCC) will begin when the governing body meets today.

Prof Wrixon’s surprise announcement a fortnight ago that he plans to step down next January has prompted wide speculation about his reasons, having secured Government approval to continue until 2009 just a year earlier.

It is expected that a sub-committee of the governing body will be selected today to set out the process. Although nobody has put themselves forward for the job yet, Prof Michael Murphy, who heads the new college of medicine and health, is considered a likely contender.