Biography
Richard Hayes is a graduate of St Patrick's College Maynooth (BA [English and Philosophy], MA [English]) and of University College Dublin (PhD). His doctoral research was on American theatre and film which remains a research interest. He has also published articles and books on regional development and has a particular interest in the role of higher education institutions in regions.
He worked in a number of higher education institutions, including St Patrick’s College Maynooth and Mater Dei Institute of Education, before joining the teaching staff of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in 2000. He held a number of management roles in the Institute including Head of the Department of Languages, Tourism and Sport (2003-2006), Assistant Registrar (2006-2012), Head of the School of Humanities (2012-2017) and Vice President for Strategy (2017-2022). He was appointed Vice President for Strategy at SETU in 2022.
He is a committee member of the Association for Canadian Studies in Ireland. He is a board member of the Waterford Chamber of Commerce, Waterford Leader, the Waterford Film Centre, and a founder board member of and creative advisor to the Eugene O’Neill International Festival. He has previously been a board member of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Waterford.
Richard Hayes has taught in a number of higher education institutions in Ireland, including Mater Dei Institute of Education, NUI Maynooth, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, as well as in Waterford Institute of Technology (now SETU).
Dr Richard Hayes has published a number of articles and book chapters on American theatre, American cinema, Irish poetry and Irish literature. His most recent publications relate to regional and urban development.
Richard Hayes is currently the Vice President for Strategy at SETU working within the President's Directorate. He was formerly Head of Humanities (2012-2016), Assistant Registrar (2006-2012) and Head of the Department of Languages, Tourism and Sports (2003-2006) at Waterford Institute of Technology. He was recruited to WIT in 2000 as a lecturer in Communications. He has previously held full-time lecturing posts in the English departments of the Mater Dei Institute of Education (1996-2000) and NUI Maynooth (1995-1996).