President of Stanford University, John L Hennessy pictured with President of UCD, Hugh Brady at UCD
Stanford University’s 10th President, John L. Hennessey has been awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal in recognition of his outstanding global contribution to academic research, innovation and university education.
Established in 1891, Stanford is one of the world’s leading universities. Its entrepreneurial spirit, the result of its California location and proximity to Silicon Valley has helped spawn more than 3,000 companies in high technology and other fields including: Google, eBay and Cisco Systems.
In October 2006, President John L. Hennessy announced a university-wide programme to seek solutions to the century’s most pressing global challenges, enhance the education of future leaders and strengthen Stanford’s academic excellence. To enable that effort, the university launched ‘The Stanford Challenge’, a five-year, $4.3 billion fundraising campaign.
The UCD Ulysses Medal is the highest honour that University College Dublin can bestow. It was inaugurated in 2005, as part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations, to highlight the ‘creative brilliance’ of UCD alumnus James Joyce. It is awarded to individuals whose work has made an outstanding global contribution.
Previous recipients of the award include: Nobel economist, Professor James J. Heckman; Dr Phillip Sharp, Nobel Laureate; Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum; and Irish poet, Thomas Kinsella.
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