Irish Language Summer Study Awardees 2011

Ms. Mara Bernstein earned a BA in Anthropology and Art History from Kenyon College, Ohio, USA.  She is currently working towards a PhD in Anthropology at Indiana University, USA.  Mara first visited Ireland as an archaeology field school student in 2003 and has been learning Irish since 2008.

Mr. Kevin Clark, a Fair Haven, New Jersey attorney and security consultant, served over thirty-five years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Jersey State Commission of Investigation and Ocean County Prosecutors Office.  A member of Daltaí na Gaeilge at Brookdale Community College, Middletown, NJ, he has attended Irish Summer Colleges with Oideas Gael, NUI Galway and Rath Cairn. He will spend a month studying at Carraroe / NUI Galway this summer.

Dr. William (Liam) Coffey is on staff at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.  Dr. Coffey has studied Irish for five years at the University of St. Thomas in Houston and will spend one week in an Irish language immersion class at Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh (Ballyferriter), Co. Chiarraí.

Mr. Barton Creeth recently graduated from Yale Divinity School with a Master of Arts in Religion degree and will spend seven weeks at Oideas Gael in County Donegal. He plans to pursue a PhD researching Protestant Churches and the Irish language in the near future.

Ms. Kerri Farrell holds an M.A. in Irish and Irish American Studies from New York University and is currently working towards an M.A. in Irish Literature and Culture at Boston College.  She will spend two weeks in Carraroe, Co. Galway in an Irish Intensive course with OE Gaillimh.

Ms. Lynnasha Galbreath is a student of Graphic Design at the University of Kansas. Lynnasha studied Irish for 1 year at Haskell Indian Nations University and will spend 1 week at Carraroe, NUI Galway.

Ms Jacqueline Geleta will be a senior studying at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Ms Geleta has studied Irish for 12 months in Carraroe as well as at the University of Pittsburgh. She will spend four weeks in Carraroe, NUI Galway again this summer.

Ms. Margaret Greaves is a PhD student in the English department at Emory University. She focuses on Irish literature, particularly twentieth-century poetry written in both English and Irish. She will spend four weeks this summer at Oideas Gael in Donegal.

Ms Ciara Grogan is a full-time student entering her final undergraduate year at CUNY Queens College.  She will graduate in spring 2012 with a BA in speech-language pathology.  She has been studying Irish for three semesters and will spend four weeks in Carraroe, NUI Galway.

Maureen Harris is a doctoral student in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut, where she studies Early Modern Irish and English history.  She has studied Irish since 2007 and will spend a week at Oideas Gael, County Donegal.

Sheila Houlihan works in NYC as a Paralegal and  has been studying the Irish language for 3 years.  at Lehman College, Bronx, NY.  She hopes to gain fluency during her summer immersion couse at NUI Galway from July through August.

Ms. Tara Harney-Mahajan is a Ph.D. candidate studying Irish and World Literature at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. Ms. Harney-Mahajan has studied Irish for 2 years at the University of Connecticut and New York University and will spend one week at Oideas Gael, Donegal.

Dr. Brendan Kane is a professor in the history department at the University of Connecticut. He studied Irish at the National University of Ireland, Galway and is interested in bardic poetry. He teaches Irish for reading and conversation at the University of Connecticut.

Mr. Garth Lambson is a graduate student from Idaho State University based in Pocatello, Idaho. Mr. Lambson has studied Irish for a year with Lehman College, City University of New York and will spend four weeks in Carraroe, NUI Galway.

Ms. Edyta Lehmann is a native of Poland. She currently lives in Boston, writing her PhD dissertation at the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University.  She will spend 4 weeks studying Irish at Carraroe, NUI Galway.

Ms. Molly Loesche is currently writing her History Master's thesis, Rural Women and the Irish Ireland Movement, at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. She has been studying Irish for just over one year, and is looking forward to spending four weeks in An Cheathrú Rua furthering her studies.

Mr. Faber McMullen - is a retired lawyer who lives on a cattle ranch in Navsota, Texas.  He has studied Irish for 2 years, both self-study and at the University of St Thomas (Houston, Tx).  He will be spending 3 weeks at Oideas Gael in Donegal.

Mr. Lucas Miller is a faculty member at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, USA.  He has studied Irish for 1 year under the tutelage of an Irish Fulbright Scholar, and will be studing in An Cheathru Rua, NUI Galway for one month this summer.

Mr. Ed Shevlin is a NYC Sanitation Worker who holds an AA in Historical Studies from Empire State College. Mr. Shevlin is pursuing a BA in Irish Studies from the same institution, while taking Gaeilge classes at Lehman College. Ed began his Gaeilge studies at NUI, Galway in the summer of 2009 and will undertake the Intermediate level course this summer.

Mr. Nathan Suhr-Sytsma is a PhD candidate in English at Yale University with a keen interest in Irish poetry. He has been studying the Irish language with Brendan Kane at the University of Connecticut for two years and will be taking summer courses in Irish at Oideas Gael and on Inis Oírr.