Dr Pat Kelleher

A native of Limerick city, Dr Pat Kelleher graduated with a first class honours degree in chemistry from University College Galway in 1961. He subsequently undertook research at Imperial College London and the State University of New York at Buffalo before returning to Ireland to teach a diploma in Chemical Technology at the Crawford Institute in Cork city.

He was appointed head of the Department of Chemistry and Biology at the Crawford Institute in 1973. On its incorporation, in 1976, into the newly established Cork Regional Technical College (CRTC), he became head of the School of Applied Sciences and, later, assistant principal of the college.

He succeeded the late Jim Roche as principal in 1988. Five years later, in 1993, he became director of the CRTC, embarking on a four-year journey that culminated in 1997 with the transition to the Cork Institute of Technology, incorporating the Crawford School of Art and Design and the Cork School of Music.