UL announce appointment of Barry as next president

UNIVERSITY of Limerick has appointed Cork-born Professor Don Barry to be its next president after a meeting of the governing authority last night.

The 49-year-old native of Mallow has been vice-president (academic) and registrar at the university since May 2004 and will begin the job on May 1, replacing Prof Roger Downer who stepped down because of ill health last April.

Prof Barry joined the UL staff as first holder of the chair of statistics a decade ago, moving from a job lecturing in statistics at University College Cork.

He first graduated with a science degree from UCC in the early 1980s, and received a PhD degree in statistics in 1983 from Yale University, where he has since returned for two semesters as visiting professor.

“I am fortunate to lead an institution that has such a fine reputation and I will dedicate the next 10 years of my career to further advancing the university of Limerick with the support of all the governors, faculty, staff, students and external friends of UL,” Prof Barry said last night.

UL underwent enormous changes during Prof Downer’s eight-year term but the job will present plenty challenges for the new president.

The university hopes to be picked to offer a course in medicine in March, will be vying for a significant share of State funding being poured into research and innovation in the next few years and has plans for a €250 million capital expansion.

Prof Barry will take over from vice-president John O’Connor who has been acting president since Prof Downer’s retirement.

He is no stranger to top level research, having published widely in statistics literature and in collaboration with researchers in medicine, biology, social science and other fields.