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Aug
03
2010

Dublin Mobile Seminar Series

A letter to partners from Genevieve Judson-Jourdain, FIE’s Resident Director in Dublin.

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Dear Partners,

In support of the idea that excellent organizations do not just believe in excellence, but in constant improvement and constant change, I am delighted to announce to you FIE Dublin’s newest academic initiative: the Mobile Seminar Series.

This summer, during our inaugural summer programme, we launched a Mobile Seminar Series where students were taken to different locations across the city each week and given a guest lecture by experts in their field. Some examples of previous mobile seminars include a visit to the Dublin Docklands Authority where students learned about urban planning and recessionary politics; a tour and lecture on the Ballymun Regeneration Project which focused on social policy and criminality and a tour and discussion of Leinster House (the Irish Houses of Parliament) where students were given great insights into the legislative process and contemporary governance structures of Ireland.

This fall it is our intention to continue the Mobile Seminar Series by incorporating it into the curriculum of the Foundation Course. The Foundation Course presents a unique opportunity to encourage students to engage in a rigorous and analytical assessment of Irish history, politics, economics and society and it is universally our best opportunity to reach out to students and encourage a formal and informal commitment to learning about Ireland.

This fall, the Foundation Course will run for three weeks from September 6th to September 24th and during each week of the course students will be required to attend a Mobile Seminar. In addition to this, Mobile Seminars will take place on a regular basis at varying times and dates throughout the duration of the fall semester to suit all academic schedules. Students will be required to attend four additional seminars throughout the term—to ensure that an analytical approach to learning about Irish society and culture does not end when the formal instruction of the Foundation Course concludes.

These seminars will be supplemented with assigned background reading and students will be required to write a reflection piece on one of the seminars. The reflection piece will be graded and the mark will contribute to the student’s final grade for the Foundation Course.

This semester the Mobile Seminar Series theme will be Ireland: A Vicious or Virtuous Circle?  Students will have the opportunity to choose from seminars that cover everything from conservation efforts along the capital’s coast line to multinationals and foreign direct investment in Ireland.

The following represents a sample of the seminars students are invited to attend:

  • On the Fringes: Ireland’s Indigenous Traveler Communities
  • Ag labhairt as Gaeilge: Irish Language Preservation Efforts
  • A Hundred Years of the GAA: Sport in Irish Society
  • Taking the Boat: Irish Youth and Emigration
  • Irish Neutrality and the Armed Forces
  • Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation: Conflict Mediation and Nonviolence
  • Socialized Medicine: Inefficient or the Way Forward?
  • The Irish-American Connection: Contemporary Relations between Friendly Neighbors
  • Digicel: Entrepreneurship and Social Responsibility

This summer’s Mobile Seminar Series was met with outstanding student reviews and glowing faculty feedback. I personally am very excited about this development and see it as a way of integrating interactive learning with more traditional classroom based approaches.

In addition to the Mobile Seminar Series, this fall will also see the launch of additional supplementary lectures, workshops and conference opportunities for our students. Our aim is to create a vibrant intellectual community where students feel encouraged and supported to explore different aspects of their intellectual, personal and professional development.

As our valued partners, I hope you will join me in supporting these initiatives.

Sincerely,

Genevieve Judson-Jourdain
Resident Director