Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellow Patrick Griffin was elected as an Honorary Member of the prestigious Royal Irish Academy (RIA). Griffin is the Madden-Hennebry Professor of History and director of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
"This is an extraordinary achievement for any Irish academic, but even more so for an American scholar," proclaimed Kellogg Faculty Fellow Brian Ó Conchubhair, associate professor of Irish Language and Literature.
The RIA is an independent, all-island-learned society established under a Charter in 1785 with approximately 650 Members, chosen for their distinguished contributions to scholarship and research in the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and public service. Membership is by election and is considered the highest academic honor in Ireland. A small number of Honorary Members are elected each year. The distinction of Honorary Membership is usually reserved for academics who have made a major international contribution to their disciplines, but who are not normally resident in Ireland.
Griffin's research explores the intersection of colonial American and early modern Irish and British history, focusing on Atlantic-wide themes and dynamics. He has published work on the movement of peoples and cultures across the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the process of adaptation. He also examines the ways in which Ireland, Britain and America were linked during the 17th and 18th centuries. He has studied revolution and rebellion, movement and migration, and colonization and violence in each society in comparative perspective.
He is the author of several books, including The Townshend Moment: The Making of Empire and Revolution in the Eighteenth Century (Yale University Press, 2017), a chronicle of two British brothers who helped incite revolution in America and insurgency and reform in Ireland, and The People with No Name: Ireland’s Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World (Princeton University Press, 2001). He also is editor of Experiencing Empire: Power, People, and Revolution in Early America (University of Virginia Press, 2017).
Griffin is the recipient of several awards, including grants and fellowships from the American Council for Learned Societies (2004-2005), the Huntington Library (2015), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (1997), and the Filson Historical Society (2001). He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2008 and served as chair of the Department of History from 2011 to 2017. He was honored with the James A. Burns, CSC, Graduate School Award for his numerous contributions to graduate studies.
Griffin holds a PhD in American history from Northwestern University,