Cork Institute of Technology honoured three of its most prestigious graduates at the third CIT Alumni Awards Gala Banquet on Friday 10th October 2014. CIT has successful alumni in Ireland and around the world, with one of the honoured graduates travelling from New York to accept her award.

CIT celebrated Dave Murphy, Deirdre O’Connor, and Brendan O’Regan at the banquet and presented each with a traditional Cork Strawberry Dish recognising outstanding achievements in their fields. An Alumni Award is the highest honour that CIT can bestow on a graduate.

Alumni Award Recipients 2014

Dave Murphy graduated in 1985 with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Science in Chemical and Process Engineering. He is CEO of PM Group, one of the most respected engineering design, architecture, project, and construction management firms in the world.

Deirdre O’Connor graduated in 1993 with a Degree in Accounting. She is now the Managing Director at one of the largest global asset management companies. Previously Deirdre was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs.

Brendan O’Regan graduated in 1978 from Instrument Physics in CIT. He is CEO of Zenith Technologies, a leading global technology company in the Life Sciences sector and is involved as a stakeholder, and executive, in a number of allied technology companies.

Previous CIT Alumni Award recipients include Bob Savage, Vice President and Managing Director of EMC, Vivienne Roche, sculptural artist, Gerard O’Mahoney, advisory partner of PWC Group, Dr E Patrick Galvin, former Chairman of Waterford Crystal, Actor Fiona Shaw and Robert Short, former Corporate Vice President Microsoft.

Background to the Awards
The CIT Alumni Awards were inaugurated in 2007 to celebrate the outstanding contribution that alumni of Cork Institute of Technology have made both at home and abroad. The main aim of the CIT Alumni Awards is to celebrate the life-long value of a CIT education and to provide inspiration for others – peers and current students.

Selection Guidelines and General Criteria
An Award will be made to an alumnus who has demonstrated ‘excellence and leadership in their particular area’.
The criteria will be interpreted broadly and the award will not be made solely on the basis of position, job title, exam marks achieved or on the number of nominations received for any individual.  Achievements which are novel, courageous, innovative and bold will also be recognised.

Who are CIT Alumni?
Alumni in accordance with the Institute’s definition include:

• Alumni of the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT)
• Alumni of the Constituent Colleges; the CIT Cork School of Music (CSM), the CIT Crawford College of Art and Design (CCAD)
• Alumni of the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI)
• Alumni of the Cork Regional Technical College*
• Alumni of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute*
• Alumni of the Crawford Municipal School of Art*
• Honorary Fellows of the Institute

* antecedent institutions of CIT