UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Friday, 4 December 2015 at 11.00 a.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR JOHN COTTER on 4 December 2015, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa on MAUREEN O’HARA.
President, Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Our awardee today is Professor Maureen O’ Hara from Cornell University. I am privileged to say a few words about Maureen. It is a fitting tribute that UCD is awarding Maureen the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa for all that she has done for education, and also for Ireland. Maureen holds joint citizenship of the US and of Ireland and has long been a supporter of us here in UCD and in Ireland in general. She is very generous of her time, wisdom and expertise.
Given that we are today celebrating education I want to begin by giving you an idea of Maureen’s own educational background. She holds a B.S in Economics from the University of Illinois, an M.S. in Economics and a Ph.D. in Finance both from Northwestern University. She also has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Facultés Universitaires Catholiques à Mons (FUCAM) in Belgium and Universität Bern in Switzerland, amongst others.
O Hara is a world famous financial economist. Maureen is the Robert W. Purcell Professor of Finance at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University where she has been since 1979. During her academic career she has held many other visiting positions including Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, London Business School, the University of Cambridge and UCLA.
O’Hara’s work is very practical and she has made major contributions to business. Professor O’Hara is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Investment Technology Group, Inc. a global agency brokerage firm, and she serves on the Board of Directors of NewStar Financial, a commercial finance company, where she is on the audit and governance committees. She was a member of the CFTC-SEC Emerging Regulatory Issues Task Force (better known as the “flash crash” committee), the Global Advisory Board of the Securities Exchange Board of India, and the Advisory Board of the Office of Financial Research at the U.S. Treasury.
Her influence and leadership in the Finance discipline is pioneering. Maureen O Hara is recognized as one of the leaders in the field of market microstructure. This is an area of critical importance for understanding market operations. Microstructure allows us put the magnifying glass on trading. Further she has published widely on a broad range of topics including banking and financial intermediaries, law and finance, and experimental economics.
Microstructure is one of the fields in Finance that has grown significantly in the last couple of decades. Much of this is down to Maureen’s input, her leadership, and in particular her writings in the area. Her book, Market Microstructure Theory, is a key reference for researchers and is extensively used in the class room. She has received many of the most distinguished awards for her writing including the American Finance Association 2000 Smith-Breeden Distinguished Paper Award, and the 2002 Smith-Breeden Distinguished Paper Award. I want to be clear that these are amongst the top writing awards in our profession.
Furthermore, Professor O’Hara has shown amazing leadership to her profession. Maureen has served as President of the American Finance Association, the Western Finance Association, the Financial Management Association, the Society for Financial Studies and the International Atlantic Economic Society. She was formerly the Executive Editor of the Review of Financial Studies. These are amongst the leading associations and journal in Finance.
Although born in America she has always been a long-time friend and supporter of Ireland. Maureen is an Irish citizen. She is a regular visitor. As well as tracing her Irish heritage she has been known to play a few rounds of golf in the West of Ireland.
She has been very supportive of us at UCD. In particular, at the School of Business and at the Banking and Finance Group. Maureen O’ Hara was a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Finance Academy at University College Dublin for many years. More recently she has been a very active member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Financial Mathematics and Computation research cluster. This research cluster is a collaboration between Industry, Dublin City University, NUI Maynooth, and University College Dublin and is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
She is extremely generous of her time, expertise and wisdom. You can ring or email Maureen and you always get a positive, constructive and supportive response. She has a can-do mentality that always ensures that things work out in the right way.
For all that she has given I am honoured to present Maureen O’ Hara for the award of an honorary degree.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hanc meam filiam, quam scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneam esse quae admittatur, honoris causa, ad Gradum Doctoratus in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.