Park in 1964 as an assistant professor of mathematics. In the 1966–67 school year, Kirwan was a visiting lecturer at Royal Holloway College, University of London. At Maryland, Kirwan was promoted to associate professor in 1968 and full professor in 1972; Kirwan would remain on the mathematics faculty until 1998. From 1963 to 1992, Kirwan had 26 articles published in peer reviewed journals on topics such as real functions, bounded functions, and conformal maps. Kirwan co-edited the 1976 textbook Advances in Complex Analysis. From 1977 to 1981, Kirwan was chair of the Department of Mathematics. Vice chancellor at University of Maryland, College Park (1981–1988) Kirwan served as the chief academic officer at Maryland from 1981 to 1988, with the title of vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1981 to 1986, provost from 1986 to 1988, and vice president for academic affairs in 1988; From August to November 1982, Kirwan served as acting chancellor between the administrations of Robert Gluckstern and John Brooks Slaughter. As vice chancellor, Kirwan instituted stronger admissions standards, expanded undergraduate merit scholarships and graduate fellowships, and started a process for academic planning. President of the University of Maryland, College Park (1988–1998) After serving as acting president since August 1, 1988, Kirwan became president of the University of Maryland, College Park, on February 1, 1989, by a unanimous vote from the board of regents. As president, Kirwan restructured the university's academic organization from one of divisions to schools and colleges. With budget cuts resulting from the early 1990s recession, Kirwan cut a college, seven departments, and 32 degrees from the university. Additionally during the Kirwan administration, the university had an increase in research dollars and one of the highest numbers of graduating students who were black. President of Ohio State University (1998–2002) On January 4, 1998, after E. Gordon Gee resigned to become president of Brown University, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees voted 17–0 to name Kirwan the 12th president of the university. Kirwan officially became president July 1 that year. At Ohio State, Kirwan focused his attention on improving the academic standings during his tenure. He left Ohio State on June 30, 2002 to become chancellor of the University System of Maryland. His legacy of striving for diversity at Ohio State, lead to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity being named after him. Chancellor of the University System of Maryland (2002–2015)