09.03.2008
Professor John Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and President of NUI, Maynooth conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature (DLitt) on Patrick Commins on 8 March 2008. In his introductory citation, Professor Jim Walsh, Deputy President of NUI, Maynooth and member of the Senate of NUI, said
I am delighted to propose that the degree of Doctor of Literature honoris causa be awarded to Patrick Commins in recognition of his sustained contribution to research on the rural economy and society of Ireland. His outstanding attributes include his vision and ability to think laterally and over the long term, his extraordinary capacity to conceptualise and contextualize, and to keep pushing out the frontiers of research on several fronts.
Throughout his distinguished career he promoted new perspectives on rural Ireland, critically challenged the conventional wisdom and proposed workable alternative strategies for government departments among others. Very importantly, he communicated his research outcomes in language that was always accessible to a diversity of audiences that included local rural development activists, undergraduate and postgraduate students, government department and EU officials, senior politicians, and of course his national and international academic peers.
NUI learned with great sadness of Dr Commins death on 14 March 2008.
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