Donal O'Shea

This article is about the mathematician. For the sportsman, see Donal O'Shea (hurler).

Donal B. O'Shea is a Canadian mathematician, who is also noted for his bestselling books.^[3] He served as the fifth president of New College of Florida in Sarasota, from July 1, 2012, until June 30, 2021. He was succeeded by Patricia Okker on July 1, 2021.^[4] Before coming to New College, he served in various roles at Mount Holyoke College, including professor of mathematics, dean of faculty, and vice president for academic affairs.^[5][6]

Donal O'Shea
Donal O'Shea
Citizenship	United States Canada Ireland
Spouse	Mary Della Barker ​ (m. 1978)​ [1]
Children	4
Academic background
Education	Harvard College (B.Sc.) Queen's University at Kingston (M.Sc., Ph.D.)
Thesis	On μ-Equivalent Families of Singularities (1981)
Doctoral advisor	Albert John Coleman
Academic work
Institutions	Mount Holyoke College New College of Florida
Notes
[2]

O'Shea graduated with a B.Sc. from Harvard College,^[6] and received a Ph.D. in mathematics from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1981; his thesis, titled On μ-Equivalent Families of Singularities, was written under the direction of Albert John Coleman.^[7]

Bibliography

Some of his best known books are:^[8]

• The Poincaré Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe.^[9]

The book has consistently received good reviews.^[10][11]

• David A. Cox, John Little, and Donal O'Shea: Using algebraic geometry, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 185, Springer-Verlag, 2005.
• David A. Cox, John Little, and Donal O'Shea: Ideals, varieties, and algorithms: an introduction to computational algebraic geometry and commutative algebra, 3rd. edition, Springer Verlag, 2007.