Richard Vincent Comerford is a native of Grangemockler, Co. Tipperary. He attended Grangemockler National School (1950-57) and Mount Melleray College, Co. Waterford (1957-62). He was an undergraduate at Maynooth in Arts (1962-1965) and Theology (1965-67).
Degrees
- BA
- NUI (Maynooth), 1965
- MA
- NUI (Maynooth), 1972
- PhD
- Dublin (Trinity College), 1977
Teaching: first and second levels
- 1967-8
- St. John's School, Brussels
- 1968-71
- Ballyhale Vocational School, Co. Kilkenny
Academic positions
Maynooth (National University of Ireland)
- 1977-85
- Junior Lecturer/Lecturer in Modern History
- 1985-89
- Senior Lecturer in Modern History
- 1989-2010
- Professor of Modern History
National Humanities Center, U.S.A.
- 1987-88
- Mellon research fellow
Research supervision and management
- 1979-2010
- Supervisor of approximately seventy successfully completed major research theses (including thirty one PhDs) and a large number of minor theses
- 1984-88
- Participant in European Science Foundation project, 'Governments and non-dominant minorities in Europe, 1850-1940' that produced eight thematic volumes of essays
- 1988-2010
- Director of research programme of Department of History - more than one hundred major theses produced in this period
- 2000-10
- Mentor to eleven postdoctoral fellows (with doctorates from universities in Ireland, Britain, USA, France and Spain) funded by thte Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and to one National University of Ireland Fellow in the Humanities
- 2006-9
- Principal investigator for research project on Associational Culture in Ireland, 1750-1940 funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Administrative positions at Maynooth
- 1988-1989
- Acting head of Department of History
- 1989-2010
- Head of the Department of History
- 1989-1992
- Dean of Arts
- 1991-1997
- Member of College Executive Council
- 1994-1997
- Deputy Master
Other professional service
- 1991 and 1992
- President of the Irish Historical Society
- 1997-2002
- Member of Senate of National University of Ireland
- 1997-2000
- Member of Governing Authority, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
- 2008-2012
- Member of Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
External examining
- 1997-2000
- Modern Irish History: Queen's University, Belfast
- 2004-07
- Irish History and Politics: University of Ulster at Magee
- 1985-2013
- PhD/DPhil: Cambridge; Oxford; London; Manchester; Trinity College, Dublin; Queen's, Belfast; University College, Dublin; University of Ulster; Paris IV; Paris XII; American University (Washington, D.C); University of Limerick (Mary I. College of Education); University of Northumbria; Royal Holloway University