Lori Meghan Gallagher, J.D., Director of the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston, was born in northeastern New Mexico to a cattle-ranching family that emigrated from Donegal, Ireland.
UST’s Irish Studies program has been listed among the top ten Irish Studies programs in the country. UST has initiated a campaign to honor and name the Center after William J. Flynn, Chairman Emeritus of Mutual of America Insurance Company in New York, who played a significant role in facilitating the Irish peace process.
Gallagher lectures on early Irish history, politics, law and culture, the Irish Peace Process, the Irish American Experience and Contemporary Ireland.
Before joining UST, Gallagher was the partner-in-charge of the Appellate Section of Andrews Kurth LLP, where she practiced law for 18 years. She is a past chair of the appellate sections of the State Bar of Texas and Houston Bar.
Gallagher received her undergraduate degrees in English and Journalism and her J.D. degree from the University of New Mexico. She received a postgraduate diploma in Irish Literature from Trinity College, Dublin on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.
Her career at UST enables Gallagher to combine her Irish heritage and love of Irish literature, history, politics and culture with her legal background. Gallagher is married to Curtis Huff and they live in Houston.