GMIT appoints Dr Deirdre Garvey Head of GMIT Mayo campus

Monday, February 10, 2014 Press Office
Press Release

GMIT is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Deirdre Garvey as the new Head of the GMIT Mayo campus. Dr Garvey, originally from Ballyhaunis, joined GMIT in 2008 as a Senior Lecturer with responsibility for the Lifelong Learning area. She succeeds Jim Fennell, GMIT Secretary and Financial Controller, who was Head of the campus in an acting capacity following the retirement of Dr Barbara Burns in 2012.

Prior to joining GMIT, Dr Garvey worked as a senior specialist in the area of Strategic Management in the Irish Management Institute (IMI), Dublin, and taught on Executive and MBA programmes in the areas of management, strategic management and international strategies. She has also worked as associate faculty with The Open University, and has lectured with the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT).

Dr Garvey has extensive experience at senior management level with technology companies in an international environment. She joined the IMI from Microsoft EPDC where she managed a worldwide strategic outsourcing group. Before joining Microsoft, she worked with Stream International – a US service provider where she managed the product localisation division. During this time she worked extensively with technology companies in Europe and the US.

Deirdre Garvey was awarded her PhD from the School of Business Studies, Trinity College Dublin. She holds an MBS in International Business from Smurfit Business School, a BA (Hons) in Management from the IMI and a Diploma in Graphic Reproduction Technology from DIT.

Speaking about her appointment as Head of GMIT Mayo, Dr Garvey says: “The Mayo campus celebrates its 20 anniversary this year which is an important milestone in the development of the campus. While we have long-established programmes in Business, Computing, Construction, Heritage, Nursing and Outdoor Education, we have also continued to develop new programmes.”

“More recently, the campus has offered programmes in Applied Social Studies, Digital Media & Society and Sustainable Building Technology.  Part-time programme provision has also been important over the years and we are now offering programmes such as the BA in Human Resource Management and BA in Contemporary Art Practices in various flexible delivery modes to meet the needs of students and employers.”

“Across the campus, we collaborate with many different external organisations and we look forward to continuing to strengthen these linkages in the future.  While it is a time of change in the wider education landscape, the Mayo campus will continue to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the region,” adds Dr Garvey.