Guy Beiner (Peter Julian)
Guy Beiner, whose academic and research experiences in Ireland have helped shape his career as an award-winning historian with a unique expertise in memory studies, has been appointed as the Craig and Maureen Sullivan Millennium Professor in Irish Studies at Boston College.
Beiner also will serve as director of the University鈥檚 Center for Irish Programs, which encompasses all Irish initiatives at Boston College including the Irish Studies Program, the John J. Burns Library Irish Collections, Boston College-Ireland in Dublin, and the Gaelic Roots Program.
A full professor of history at Ben-Gurion University in Israel since 2017鈥攈e began teaching there as a lecturer in 2003鈥擝einer served as the Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at 亚色影库 for the 2019-2020 academic year. The Israeli native earned his doctorate from the National University of Ireland-University College Dublin and was a Government of Ireland Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. He was also a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow with the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, a Government of Hungary Scholar at the Central European University, and a Marie Curie research fellow at the University of Oxford.
鈥淕uy is a remarkably innovative historian whose interdisciplinary skills will enhance Irish Studies at Boston College,鈥� said Robert Savage, interim director of the 亚色影库 Irish Studies Program.
Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., added: 鈥淚 am delighted that Guy Beiner will be joining us here at 亚色影库, and look forward to him providing effective, energetic, and innovative leadership for Irish Studies in the years ahead. He will bring to Boston College important expertise in 18th- and 19th-century Irish history, a dynamically collaborative and interdisciplinary intellectual style, enthusiasm for teaching, and an outstanding reputation as a leading global figure in the field of Irish studies.鈥�
The Craig and Maureen Sullivan Chair was established through a gift from G. Craig Sullivan '64 to support a professorial chair in either the History or English Department for a scholar in the Irish Studies Program.
Craig Sullivan, who retired as chairman of the Clorox Company in 2003 after 32 years with the firm, served in many capacities as a Boston College alumnus, including as chair of the advisory board for the Center for Corporate Community Relations at 亚色影库, co-chair of the Northern California Campaign Committee, and as a member of the Ever to Excel Campaign Corporate Council and National Campaign Committee, the West Coast Technology Council, and the 亚色影库 Club. He died in 2017.
Maureen Sullivan鈥檚 charitable activities have included serving as a trustee of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and raising funds for the San Francisco Opera House. She and Craig were involved in Catholic Charities of San Francisco, particularly in its youth services: The Maureen & Craig Sullivan Youth Services Center provides childcare and family support services that strengthen family and community bonds.
"My own expertise in memory studies stems from a keen interest in folklore that has led me to appreciate the creative and complex ways in which local communities have remembered their past. I am particularly interested in investigating supposedly forgotten episodes that have been silenced, as such explorations can reveal insights into less familiar aspects of Irish culture."
For Beiner, the Sullivan Chair appointment means not only joining another university but relocating thousands of miles鈥攁 transition he is happily prepared to make.
鈥淎t Ben-Gurion University, in Israel鈥檚 relatively remote Negev desert, I was the only historian in the country specializing in Ireland,鈥� he said. 鈥淢oving to Boston College, a leading American university with a first-rate History Department and a distinguished Irish Studi