Ambassador Award
The Ambassador Award is presented to a person who has worked to promote the relationship between the people of the Republic of Ireland and the people of the United States.
2024 Ambassador Award Recipient: Catherine B. Shannon
Catherine B. Shannon is Professor Emerita of History at Westfield State University where she taught courses in Irish, British, Medieval and Women's History. She also taught Irish history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After graduating from St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto, she earned a Master of Arts in History from University College, Dublin, and a Ph.D. in Irish and British History from the University of Massachusetts.
She held National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships at the University of Virginia (1976) and Brown University (1982) and research fellowships at Queen's University, Belfast (1991-92) and the National University at Galway, Ireland (2001-02). Author of Arthur J. Balfour and Ireland, 1874 -1922 (1988), she has also published on the roles of Lord Randolph and Sir Winston Churchill in Irish affairs between 1877 and 1921.
Professor Shannon has published a number of articles and book chapters on the Northern Irish conflict, focusing on the role of women and that of the Clinton administration in furthering the peace process. Between 1982 and 1999 she convened five conferences in the USA which engaged nationalist and unionist Northern Irish politicians, civil society leaders and academics in discussions aimed a finding common ground.
In 1982-83, Professor Shannon directed a $40,000 US Department of Education grant to integrate Irish studies into Westfield State's arts and humanities curriculum and to engage local Irish-Americans in public programs on Irish history and culture. Professor Shannon was the consulting historian for the New Bedford Whaling Museum's exhibit "Famine, Friends and Fenians" in 2016, and the Massachusetts Historical Society's exhibit "The Irish Atlantic" in 2017. Her recent publications have focused on the role of Boston and New England in providing relief to Ireland during An Gorta Mor of the 1840s and the Forgotten Famine of 1879-1882. For her scholarship and activism, Professor Shannon has received awards from the Irish Voice, the Irish Immigration Center of Boston, the Irish American Partnership, the Eire Society of Boston, the Charitable Irish Society, the South Shore Irish Heritage Trail, and an honorary doctorate of sacred letters from the University of Saint Michael's College in the University of Toronto.
Catherine Shannon will be honored at the Ambassadors Award Breakfast the morning of the Parade on Sunday, March 17 at 8am at the Wyckoff Country Club. To purchase tickets, please contact Cathy McEvady at (413) 313-5559 or cmcevady@comcast.net
The Ambassador Award: Strengthening Irish-American Bonds
Since its inception in 1992, the Ambassador Award, presented in collaboration with the Republic of Ireland’s Ambassador to the U.S., has honored those who have fostered strong ties between the U.S. and Ireland. Recipients of this distinguished honor have included celebrated musicians Tommy Makem (1998) and John McDermott (2002); influential U.S. Congressmen Richard E. Neal (1999) and Peter King (2000); literary giants Frank McCourt (2003) and Niall O’Dowd (1997); the esteemed “Irish America” editor-in-chief and co-founder, Patricia Harty (2009); the dedicated Chairman of the American Ireland Fund, Loretta Brennan Glucksman (2011); and the former Boston Mayor and Secretary of Labor, Martin Walsh, recognized from 2020 to 2022 for his contributions.
Past Ambassador Award Recipients
1992 Eoin McKiernan
1993 William M. Bulger
1994 Claire O’Gara Grimes
1995 William J. Flynn
1996 George R. Ditomassi
1997 Niall O’Dowd
1998 Tommy Makem*
1999 Congressman Richard E. Neal
2000 Congressman Peter T. King
2001 Professor Thomas F. Moriarty*
2002 John McDermott
2003 Frank McCourt*
2004 Brian P. Burns* & Robert K. O’Neill, Ph.D.
2005 Vincent G. Dowling*
2006 David Kelly*
2007 Kathleen M. O’Toole
2008 Charlotte Moore & Ciarán O’Reilly
2009 Patricia Harty
2010 Dr. John Lahey
2011 Loretta Brennan Glucksman
2012 Adrian Flannelly* & Aine Sheridan
2013 Christine Kinealy
2014 The Belfast-Beltway Boxing Project
2015 Jean Butler
2016 Mary C. Kelly, Ph.D.
2017 Turlough McConnell
2018 Mary Pat Kelly
2019 Dr. Christopher Fox
2020 - 2022 Hon. Martin J. Walsh
2023 Hon. Claire D. Cronin
* Denotes Deceased