The following is a list of University of Galway people, including notable alumni and faculty members of the University of Galway and its forerunners: Queen's College, Galway (QCG) created in 1845 as a college of the Queen's University of Ireland; University College, Galway (UCG) chartered in accordance with the Irish Universities Act, 1908 as a university college of the National University of Ireland; and National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway and later NUI Galway without the comma), a constituent university of the National University of Ireland and newly named since the Universities Act, 1997 until 2022.
Alumni
Politicians
Michael D. Higgins - 9th President of Ireland
Enda Kenny
Eamon Gilmore
Frank Fahy
Joseph Brennan
Séamus Kirk
Michael Kitt
Pat "the Cope" Gallagher
Heather Humphreys
Michael Ring
Lisa Chambers
Barry Cowen
Anne Rabbitte
Sylvester Barrett
Mark Clinton
Paul Connaughton Jnr
Ciara Conway
Rose Conway-Walsh
Brendan Griffin
Fidelma Healy Eames
Jim Higgins
Lorraine Higgins
Seán Kyne
Patrick Lindsay
Farrell McElgunn
Bobby Molloy
Rónán Mullen
Ronan Moore
Carol Nolan
Derek Nolan
Maureen O'Carroll
Pádraig Ó Céidigh
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh
John O'Mahony
Pat Rabbitte
Seán Sherlock
Madeleine Taylor-Quinn
Mary Upton
Pat Upton
John Dallat - SDLP politician
Aisling Dolan
Government officials
Henry Arthur Blake - Governor of Hong Kong (1898-1903) Antony MacDonnell, 1st Baron MacDonnell - Colonial Administrator Charles James O'Donnell - Colonial Administrator John Sheehy - Colonial Official William Alfred Browne - Civil servant
Diplomats
Noel Dorr
Pádraig MacKernan
Law
John Atkinson
Joseph R. Fisher
Mark Heslin, judge of the High Court
Likando Kalaluka - Attorney General of Zambia in 2015
Walter Lewis
Robert McCall
John Monroe
Thomas O'Shaughnessy
Andrew Reed
Guy Rutledge
Mathilda Twomey - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Seychelles
Raymond West - High Court Judge in British India
Máire Whelan - Attorney General of Ireland, Judge of the Court of Appeal
Military
Major General Michael Beary - UNIFIL Commander
General Bindon Blood - British military commander
Major General Kieran Brennan - Deputy Chief of Staff (Ops) and former Kilkenny hurler Lieutenant General Sean McCann - Former Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Vice Admiral Mark Mellett - Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Brigadier General Maureen O'Brien - First woman to attain the rank of Lt Colonel (Army Line), Colonel and Brig Gen in the Irish Defence Forces Commandant Cathal Berry - Former Deputy Commander of the Army Ranger Wing and Head of the Military Medical School
Religion
Samuel Angus - Theologian
Brendan Kelly - Bishop
Fintan Monahan - Bishop
Robert Moore - Theologian
Michael Lenihan O.F.M. - Bishop of La Ceiba, Honduras (2011-present) William Mahony S.M.A. - Bishop of Ilorin, Nigeria Wilfrid Napier O.F.M. - Cardinal, Archbishop of Durban William Slattery O.F.M. - Archbishop of Pretoria George Thomas Stokes - Clergyman of the Church of Ireland and Historian
Literature
Emily Anderson- Linguist
Gerald Dawe - Poet
James Hardiman - Librarian
Mike McCormack - Writer
Eamonn McGrath- Writer
Ronan Moore - Writer
W. F. Marshall - Poet
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh - Poet
Breandán Ó hEithir - Writer
Valentine O'Hara
Academics
William Bindon Blood - first Professor of civil engineering at Queen's College Galway Alexander Anderson (physicist) - Physicist; former President of Queen's College and University College Galway J. E. Cairnes - Economist Louis Cullen - Professor of Irish History at Trinity College Edward Divers - Chemist Charles Joseph Gahan - Coleopterist John Hegarty - Provost of Trinity College Dublin Máire Herbert MRIA – Professor of Early and Medieval Irish at University College Cork Alfred Keogh - Director General Army Medical Services (1905-1910 and 1914-1918) Thomas J. Laffey - Mathematician known for his contributions to group theory and matrix theory. John A. McClelland - Physicist Mick Molloy - IRB Medical Officer Michael O'Shaughnessy - Chief Engineer of San Francisco Alice Perry - First woman in Ireland to graduate with a degree in engineering