AIS Mourns the Loss of Member and Volunteer Pat Finnegan

Longstanding AIS member and volunteer, Pat Finnegan, passed away on February 16, 2021. He was the Past President of the Irish chapter of AIS and a former Senior Editor at the Information Systems Journal (ISJ). He also served as Chair of the Standing Committee for the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) from 2010-2017.

For his service to the field of information systems and AIS, Pat has been awarded The Distinguished Member Memorial Award. The award honors members of the AIS community who have made significant contributions to the field of information systems but, unfortunately, passed away before they could be considered for an AIS Fellow or AIS LEO Award.

Most recently, Pat served as a professor at the School of Information Systems and Technology Management at the University of New South Wales. His work at UNSW included redesigning multiple undergraduate and postgraduate curricula, and leading a major recruitment and staff development initiative. Prior to UNSW, Pat served as a professor at University College Cork, Ireland, where he designed and directed multiple postgraduate programmes including the PhD in Business Information Systems. Pat was a prolific research supervisor, supervising nearly 100 MSc and PhD students to completion. He received his own PhD in Information Systems from the University of Warwick under the supervision of Philip Powell and Bob Galliers.

“We want to recognise Pat's wonderful vision for the School of Information Systems and Technology Management and for his dedication to the University of New South Wales, in particular his leadership, kindnesses and support which is evident in the strong and close-knit School we are today," said colleague Lemuria Carter. "We also want to acknowledge the messages we have received from around the world highlighting the valuable contribution he made to not just UNSW but also to UCC in Ireland, and the international IS community. The support globally has brought us much comfort. Pat was a much valued and admired member of our community, who will be missed, fondly remembered and his legacy will live on.”