New President at Mary Immaculate College Announced Today

Mary Immaculate College is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Michael A. Hayes as its new President, to succeed Professor Peadar Cremin, whose term of office ends on August 31, 2011.

Professor Hayes, aged 53, is currently Vice–President and Professor of Catholic Pastoral Studies at St Mary's University College, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, London. A native of Limerick, he has been in the United Kingdom since 1980 and is an internationally renowned academic in the field of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also a qualified Psychotherapist.

The Chair of the Governing Body of Mary Immaculate College, Very Rev. Fr. Tony Mullins stated that, "There was an exceptional field of candidates for this post and we are extremely fortunate and pleased that Professor Hayes has accepted the offer of the position and is looking forward to bringing his experience to bear on the challenges which face Mary Immaculate College in a rapidly changing Ireland.”

The outgoing President of Mary Immaculate College, Professor Peadar Cremin, extended a warm welcome to the announcement of Prof. Hayes's success and expressed his great satisfaction that somebody who has already worked as a Vice-President of a University College in the UK is taking up this very important role at a crucial time for Irish education and he offered his successor any support that he may be able to give him as he settles into his new role.

Professor Hayes said that he was pleased and honoured to take up the position: "I am very honoured to be appointed President of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and for the expression of confidence that the Trustees of the College have placed in me. This is a new and exciting challenge for me. I look forward to working with staff and students in the great educational enterprise that Mary Immaculate College has been since its foundation in 1898, as a community at the service of scholarship