As a DCU graduate, what does the university mean to you?
I think your college years are very formative years – and I feel DCU gave me a great education. It’s always provided skills that were very relevant to the modern workplace. It was a very focused education, and we had great teachers.
It was an exciting time, because the college was a very new place in the eighties. There were only a couple of hundred of us on campus, so it was a real new beginning.
It was in second year that I met my husband, Gerard. We had great craic with our two classes: I was in Accounting and Finance, he was in Electronic Engineering. It was a very happy time, and it’s lovely to still have those friendships.
How did a DCU education contribute to your own career success?
I was fortunate in second year to win a scholarship through college with an accounting firm, Coopers and Lybrand (now PwC). They provided me with summer work experience, a chance to do a postgraduate degree, and then after graduation a full-time job. So that was great start to life and to my career.
“The opportunities that came from my time in college made things so much easier for me, and I was really grateful for that.”
What inspired you to support the DCU Excellence and Opportunity fund?
We wanted to support students who otherwise might not have the opportunity to get a third level education. Gerard and I see education as a positive route out of disadvantage, and one that opens up new worlds and new ways of thinking. I believe this benefits not only the person, but their family and their community. Students can use what they learn in university to benefit others, and that has a domino effect in communities.
What advice would you give to other alumni thinking about giving back to DCU?
I feel very grateful for what we have, and it means a lot to do something, especially in today’s world. A lot of people in local communities or who are coming to Ireland aren’t as fortunate as we are, and we really think that education is such a great benefit to anyone in those circumstances.
“There is a great sense of doing something worthwhile when you get to see the impact of your support on students.”
We were fortunate enough to meet Eve, who is studying Law in DCU, and hear about her ambitions. You see what the opportunity to be in university and make the most of this time means. There’s a real feel-good factor as alumni to be able to support that.
Pictured (L-R): Inís Fitzpatrick, Individual Giving Manager, Gerard O’Keefe, Access student Eve Meehan, Mairead O’Keefe
