Ireland Faculty
Kevin Whelan
Kevin is also a public intellectual who has served as an advisor to the Irish government on historical commemoration and who appears widely in the media.
During his tenure as the face of Notre Dame in Ireland, Kevin has taught over 3,000 Notre Dame undergraduates. From 1999 to 2011, he directed the annual Irish Seminar, the leading seminar in the field of Irish Studies. Kevin, a native of County Wexford, is the father of four children. His hobbies include hurling, book-collecting, poetry, and talking. Kevin Whelan, one of Ireland’s best known and widely published scholars, has been the Smurfit Director of Notre Dame Dublin since its opening in 1998. He received his doctorate from the National University of Ireland in 1981. Kevin has authored or edited over twenty books and more than one hundred articles on Ireland's history, culture, and literature. These include The Tree of Liberty: Radicalism, Catholicism and the Construction of Irish Identity 1760-1830 (1996), Fellowship of Freedom: The United Irishmen and the 1798 Rebellion (1998), and the best selling Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (1997, second edition 2011). In addition, he has lectured in almost twenty countries and at the Sorbonne, Cambridge, Oxford, Torino, Berkeley, Yale, Dartmouth, Louvain, and many other universities.
Lisa M. Caulfield
A first-generation Canadian-born in Toronto, Lisa M. Caulfield moved to Ireland in 2003. She graduated from the University of Toronto after completing an honors B.A. in English and history. She also attended Ryerson University where she completed a business diploma in publishing. Lisa has an M.A. in modern Irish literature from the National University, in Maynooth, County Kildare, and is in the process of completing her Ph.D. at University College Dublin. Her academic interest focuses upon the role of the mythic hero in Irish literature, drama, art, and poetry. Lisa has worked for Notre Dame Global since 2004 and is leading the international efforts situated in the picturesque setting of Kylemore Abbey where a new Notre Dame location was opened in 2016—a centre geared toward continuing the deliverance of high quality, authentic, culturally enriching programs that involve community outreach for students, faculty, and Irish partners.