In 1998, Cornelia Ireland Hallinan ’76, her husband, Robert E. Hallinan ’74, and the trustees of the Elizabeth R. and William G. Mather Fund gave a gift of $1.5 million to endow the James D. and Cornelia W. Ireland Chair in Music with the intention to encourage a fuller appreciation for the richness and importance of music at the College and in the human experience. Everyone in our family loves music, says Hallinan. The gift honored the memory of Hallinan’s parents, Cornelia W. and James D. Ireland. The gift of this chair in music is especially meaningful to Kenyon because of the long association of the Ireland, Mather, and Hallinan families with the College, said former President Robert A. Oden Jr. As students, alumni, and trustees of Kenyon, they have been exceedingly generous with their time, talents, and funds.
Cornelia and Robert Hallinan remained active in Kenyon affairs long after their undergraduate days. A psychology major, Cornelia Ireland went to work as an admissions officer for the College following her graduation before moving on to a position at the University of Rochester. She has played a major role in Kenyon’s presidential searches; in 1991, she became the first alumna to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the College; in 1998, she became the first woman to head the Kenyon board of trustees. Robert Hallinan, an English major at Kenyon, was a law graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and retired from a career as senior counsel with the Investment Law Division of Teachers Insurance and Annuity in New York City.