Graduation of Tony Bromell in 1954

Item

Format

JPEG

Title

Graduation of Tony Bromell in 1954

Depiction

Family group depicting adults and a young girl with a graduating male student wearing academic robes

Description

The image is of Tony Bromell from Limerick, who graduated with a BA in 1954, with his parents and other family members on the steps to the entrance to the Aula Maxima in the Quadrangle, UCG. Tony was the first person from his family to graduate from university, and his entire family travelled to Galway for the ceremony in a taxi that was hired for the purpose.

People

Tony Bromell, The child in front is his younger sister Anne Bromell (wearing new coat and dress for occasion), the mother of University of Galway's Sinéad Beacom. Also shown are Tony Bromell's parents Mary and Christopher Bromell, Tony's maternal grandmother Margaret Phillips at back and Tony's other sister Celine at back.
Tony Bromell taught as a secondary teacher until 1968. He was elected president of the ASTI in two consecutive years 1966-8 and served for many years on the Limerick city Vocational Education Committee. As chairman of that committee he signed the building contract for the Limerick Technical College (now LIT) in 1973. Recognising the necessity to make the opportunity of a university education more widely and equitably available, Tony was a founder member of the Limerick University Project Committee established in 1958. This project culminated in the foundation of NIHE Limerick in 1973 and ultimately in the establishment of the University of Limerick in 1989. In 1968 he was appointed to Mary Immaculate College Limerick as a lecturer in Irish and became registrar in 1970. Appointed to the Higher Education Authority in 1968 Tony remained a valued member of the HEA until 1982 and served as vice chairman from 1977 to 1982. Nominated to the Senate of the National University of Ireland in 1982, Tony served for two five year terms.

References

Personal communications: Context for the photo was provided in Tony Bromell's  contribution to the University in Living Memory Oral History Project, and notes provided by Sinéad Beacom.

Jackie Ui Chionna, An Oral History of University College Galway, 1930-1980: A University in Living Memory (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2019).Sinéad Beacom

Contributor

Bibliographic Citation

S. Beacom, J. Uí Chionna, ‘Graduation of Tony Bromell in 1954’, Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 14138, Archival Record Id VHRS

Temporal Coverage

Period

1950s

Category

b&w
group
on-campus
outdoors

Keywords

Family

Language

English

Creator

Jackie Ui Chionna

Publisher

University of Galway Library

Rights

This image may be used for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC-SA see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/