DCU Voices

DCU VOICES 4 When he interviewed for the role of President of DCU, Dáire Keogh was asked what his own learning needs would be if he succeeded in getting the job. It was November 28, 2019, and the former President of St Patrick’s Drumcondra, and Deputy President of DCU since 2016 – when the country’s main teaching college was incorporated into DCU – answered instantly. “Something on crisis management,” replied Keogh, a distinguished historian who is well versed with the principle that the only thing constant in life is change. The Governing Authority of DCU gave him the job. The gods delivered the crisis. Keogh was in the United States in March 2020, completing a course in Crisis Management in Higher Education at Harvard University, when Covid-19 began its deadly march across the globe. The course participants, including Keogh and William Evans, the Boston police chief on duty during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, had spent time poring over numerous case studies, including the Flint Water Crisis. But the course quickly morphed into a real-time exercise in how to confront the first major global pandemic since the Sars, Swine flu and Ebola pandemics of the 2000s, not to mention the HIV crisis, a Out of crisis, new opportunities Within months of the nomination of Dáire Keogh as DCU President Covid 19 struck. He talks to Dearbhail McDonald about his pride in the role DCU played in the national response to the crisis, the pivot to online learning and the changing dynamics of education in the post-pandemic world. pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 32 million people. Rather than being a distraction, Keogh believes the course served to fortify his belief that Covid19, like previous crises that preceded it was and remains an “incredible opportunity” to test the values and mission of DCU, the 2021 Sunday Times University of the Year. DCU’s values, he says, have acted as the compass to navigate the university through the Covid fog. But that’s not to say it has been plain sailing. “There are few things in life that are really unprecedented,” says Keogh, who himself had Covid and knows how challenging a physical and mental health foe it can be. “What sets this apart from other crises, however, is the uncertainty about its end. A hurricane passes through, a twister destroys a town. Yet here we are, 18 months later, and there is still no end in sight. Pandemics don’t do certainty, scenario planning has been difficult throughout, and our best laid plans were constantly thrown up in the air.” Exceptional response It’s not that Keogh has relished the crisis. But he has thrived on the challenges and opportunities it has presented. His love for DCU runs deep and he is adamant that you couldn’t take the job of DCU President unless you believed it was a truly special place. He is fiercely proud of the “exceptional” response of staff and students in the crisis, their care for each-other, and the leadership that DCU displayed in teaching, research, and, of course, the transformation of the Helix as the country’s primary mass vaccination centre. “The Helix is such an emotional space for us, it’s where we celebrate Dearbhail McDonald (MA Journalism, 2002) Author and Broadcaster @Dearbhaildibs Professor Daire Keogh