DEVELOPMENT
NORTHERN LIGHT
UCD’s new Vice-President for Development, Aíne Gibbons, tells Grainne
Rothery about planning the campaign for UCD, the goal of which is to create
a unique, 21st-century campus – distinctly Irish but with global impact
VERLOOKING Belfield’s main thoroughfare, position of Vice-President for Development at the university in
O
the windows of Aíne Gibbons’ first-floor 2007, after eight years in a similar role at Queen’s University
Tierney Building office provide her with a Belfast, where she directed the hugely successful £150 million
bird’s eye view of the almost constant throng Retribuamus fundraising campaign.
of the 22,000-strong student body. She sees “UCD has a very distinctive character: it is a venerable
this regular sight as something of a metaphor institution which, while not wearing its history, values its past.
for the very essence of the university. Today UCD defines itself by its modernity and is known as the
“You can sense the energy in every university, which is all to alma mater of the rising generation. Its challenge is to become
do with a mass of people, typically the brightest group of the alma mater of the successful global citizen. We are on the
people, who are focused on their career route and the cusp of an opportunity to shape the future and I think it will
qualifications they will get,” she says. “This is the journey of happen in the next three to five years. It is therefore an
discovery they have embarked upon. It’s very tangible here: immensely exciting time both to be at UCD and to be involved
every hour you can see this great movement of people across in bringing about that change.”
the campus. It’s just constantly in motion.” While Gibbons has a long and highly successful track record
Gibbons also believes that UCD as an institution is on the in fundraising, she started out as an English teacher in a Newry
move. This fact clearly influenced her decision to take up the grammar school in the 1980s. However, recognising that she
PAGE TWENTY UCD CONNECTIONS
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