2013 Ambassador Award   

Christine Kinealy 

The Ambassador Award, which must be approved by the government of Ireland, is given to a person responsible for promoting and fostering relationships between Ireland and the U.S. The award this year will be presented to Christine Kinealy on March 17.

Dr. Christine Kinealy

2013 Ambassador’s Award

The Ambassador’s Award recognizes individuals whose activities have brought the people of the United States and Ireland closer together.  This year the Ambassador’s Award honors Professor Christine Kinealy, a scholar and author whose professional career personifies that bridge-between-people that this prestigious award represents.

Professor Christine Kinealy, is an internationally renowned scholar and highly respected expert on the Great Irish Hunger, a famine that resulted in so many being today’s U.S. citizens. That tragedy brought the ancestors of today’s U.S. citizens to America, to freedom from oppression and to economic opportunity.  Professor Kinealy’s research and writings and her many presentations worldwide, have shone a spotlight on a horrific, tragic episode that uniquely links the people of Ireland with the people of the United States.

Christine Kinealy serves as a Professor of Irish History in the Caspersen Graduate School at Drew University.  During 2013, she is the Visiting Scholar in Residence at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.  After completing her Ph.D. at Trinity College in Ireland, Professor Kinealy worked in educational and research institutes in Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool. Since 2007, she has been based in the United States, being named in 2011 one of the most influential Irish Americans by IRISH AMERICA Magazine.

Dr. Kinealy has published extensively on modern Irish History, with a focus on the tragic period known as “AN GORTA MOR”, the Great Hunger.  In 1997, she was asked to speak on the topic in the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament and to address the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs of the United States Congress. She also addressed India’s House of Commons in New Delhi.  Dr. Kinealy’s forthcoming book, The Kindness of Strangers is concerned with private charity given to Ireland during the Great Hunger.  She has authored 18 books and 29 articles dealing with the Great Irish Hunger in Irish History.

In the United States, she has lectured at Boston College, St. Anselm’s, Stonehill, Notre Dame, Holy Cross, The University of Massachusetts, Quinnipiac University, Seton Hall, Florida Atlantic and City University, New York.  And just this past spring, she was the featured speaker at the formal opening ceremonies of the Museum, AN GORTA MOR in Connecticut.

Christine has two children, Siobhan, born in Dublin, and Ciaran who was born in Belfast.

Her life’s work reflects what the Ambassador’s Award is all about.