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Michael Moriarty receives Chancellor’s medal at 2004 graduation ceremony
2 November 2002
This year's Chancellor's medal was awarded to Michael Moriarty, a graduate of the BA in Accounting and Finance programme at a ceremony held in the Helix. This award is usually made to an individual student who has achieved not just academic excellence, but who has also demonstrated an outstanding commitment and dedication to the non-academic aspects of third-level education. Michael also received an Uaneen Award for his contribution to the university through his extracurricular activities.
CITATION
Michael Moriarty is a very talented, energetic, and personable young man who has attained remarkable success in both his academic and extra-curricular activities during his time in DCU.
From the outset, Michael stood out as a member of his class, by contributing actively to class discussion and interacting easily with both lecturers and fellow students, while at the same time achieving consistently excellent results in assignments and examinations. In his second year, he was awarded a PricewaterhouseCoopers scholarship, which was based on rigorous selection criteria. He maintained his outstanding academic performance throughout his studies, and has graduated today with a first class honours degree in Accounting and Finance.
However, academic excellence is only one of Michael's many achievements in DCU. Throughout his four years here, he embraced all facets of university life and made a significant contribution to both the university and the wider community.
In the debating arena, Michael, and fellow student Ian Kehoe, proved themselves to be DCU's most successful debaters. Having participated in a small number of debates hosted by the DCU Debating Society in his first and second years, Michael's interest in competitive debating flowered in 2002/03. He represented DCU in the intervarsities in UCC, Trinity and the University of Limerick and, with Ian Kehoe, won the Limerick IV. During the following year, he continued to represent DCU in several major debating competitions and following a year-long tournament, he won the Irish Times debating series final with Ian Kehoe. This was the first time in the competition's 44-year history that it was won by DCU.
Michael was also a member of the team which was selected to represent DCU in the 2004 World Debating Championships in Singapore and which finished as one of the top Irish teams in those championships. He also represented Ireland on a three-week debating tour of North America in April 2004 - the highlight of the trip being a debate involving the three best North American debaters at the US National Championships in Los Angeles.
In addition to pursuing his own competitive success, Michael adjudicated on several tournaments for other Irish debating societies and was the senior adjudicator for the DCU Open and a judge in the final of that competition.
Always interested in politics, Michael reactivated the Young Fine Gael Society within his first two weeks of arriving at DCU and has also represented Young Fine Gael at national and international level.
Michael has maintained a consistently high level of involvement in a wide range of activities on the campus. Having been elected Deputy President of the DCU Students' Union for the academic year 2002/03, he served as a member of the Academic Council and other high level university committees where he was highly respected as a committed, mature and positive contributor.
Michael's other activities include membership of a diverse range of committees such as the Societies and Publications Committee, the Board of Irish College Societies and the HUB Management Committee. He served on the Student Finance Committee, and was the Sponsorship Officer of the DCU Drama Society in 2002/03, the year in which the society won the Best Society Award. He has worked on the DCUfm current affairs show, Monitor, and was also an active member of Redbrick and STOCS Societies during his four years at DCU.
In all of these activities, Michael gave freely of his time and talent, and made major contributions. A typical example occurred in 2003, when he took over the management of the DCU Societies Ball and succeeded in turning a loss-making event into a highly profitable venture.
Michael is a truly outstanding student who has achieved academic and extra- curricular success, while simultaneously making a significant contribution to the life of the university and to the wider community. He is an excellent role model for other students and has earned the respect and affection of students and staff alike.