Timothy McMahon, associate professor of history, will be installed as president of the American Conference for Irish Studies at the group’s annual meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 29-April 2.
ACIS is the largest academic organization dedicated to Irish studies in North America.
“Ireland offers a distinctive lens through which we can study many of the challenges facing societies today, including migration, the rise of nationalism, and the intersections of culture and politics,” McMahon said. “As ACIS president for the next two years, I hope to build on the work of my predecessors in connecting our North American scholars with colleagues overseas.”
McMahon, currently the ACIS vice president, is the third Marquette faculty member to serve as president and fourth with Marquette ties. He succeeds Brian Ó Conchubhair, associate professor of Irish language and literature, at the University of Notre Dame.
Lawrence J. McCaffrey, who was on the Marquette faculty in the 1960s but spent most of his career at the Loyola University in Chicago was a founder of the ACIS and president from 1975-78. Thomas Hachey, former professor of history and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, held the position from 1983-85. In addition, Michael Patrick Gillespie, formerly of Marquette’s English Department, was president from 2001-2003.