Professional Development- Business in Ireland JMU & Pitt 2022

Another of our customized professional development trips – this time we had faculty from Pitt Community College in North Carolina, and from James Madison University in Virginia. All of our faculty are interested in internationalizing their business schools, and came to see what Ireland has to offer. The answer is lots! We spend a couple of days in Dublin, visiting the Financial Services Centre, the GHQ and Epic Interactive Museum, then we travelled to Donegal to explore more opportunities, in both South Donegal, and in the Donegal Gaeltacht. The Donegal Gaeltacht has seen a fantastic growth of SME’s in this Irish-speaking area, through the partnerships of the Atlantic Technological University with Gaeltacht Enterprise Centre Gteic. Visits to new businesses such as the Crolly Distillery inspired our visitors, in particular to see how rural parts of Ireland can be re-energized towards entrepreneurship, in turn stimulating growth, employment, and a healthy work-life balance. We hope this will lead to fruitful engagements with U.S. Business Colleges going forward, and plans are already afoot for the return of Pitt CC and JMU.