Professor James C Mahoney (1907-1997), Professor of French
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James Charles Mahoney was Professor of French for twenty-three of his forty-four years distinguished service at the University of Queensland - service which included terms of office as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, President of the Professorial Board and Senator. An outstanding scholar and athlete, Professor Mahoney was named Queensland Rhodes Scholar for 1929. After study at Oxford where he gained degrees and a half-blue as a miler, he was appointed tutor in the Department of Modern Languages at UQ in 1933 and later became lecturer in that department. |
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Listen to a 1979 interview with
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From his student days on, Professor Mahoney held many offices in societies within and outside the University. These included Honorary Secretary of the University of Queensland Union, Vice-President and President of the University of Queensland Staff Association, President of the Alliance Francaise (Brisbane) and Vice-President of the Fédération Internationale des Langues et Littératures Modernes. His scholarly excellence has been recognised by awards such as the Rhodes scholarship, the Heath Harrison Travelling Scholarship from Oxford (1930), and a grant in aide from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (1952). The French Government has honoured Professor Mahoney by receiving him as their guest in Paris in 1952 and ultimately by awarding him the Crois de Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1960. In his retirement in August 1977 the Senate conferred on him the title of Professor Emeritus and the following year his considerable contribution to the University was recognised by the University awarding him an Honorary Doctor of Letters. In his retirement he maintained his association with UQ, serving on a Senate sub-committee responsible for the Great Court carvings and for the development of the campus recreation areas. The University sculptor, Rhyl Hinwood, completed his grotesque featured on the outside of the Parnell Building in 1983. |
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