Mayo and Pittsburgh universities link up
LINKS are being forged between the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Mayo campus and the University of Pittsburgh.
Elizabeth J. Myers, Programme Administrator for the Pittsburgh Global Team, University of Pittsburgh, has visited Castlebar, making some important connections.
Her visit, which also included the business sector, saw meetings with Justin Kerr of the ATU, Maria Staunton, iHub at the ATU campus, Councillor Martin McLoughlin, cathaoirleach, Castlebar Municipal District Council, and Castlebar Chamber of Commerce president Bernard Hughes and John Mulroy.
During her stay Ms. Myers dropped by The Connaught Telegraph and joined with Michael Feeney at a special ceremony at the Mayo Peace Park.
The overall aim is to sow the seeds of possible collaborations between the ATU Mayo campus and the University of Pittsburgh, with student exchange/study abroad programmes, and Mayo businesses and enterprises.
It is hoped that further visits by other Irish American academics will take place later this year.
The seeds for the connections were sown thanks to the book written by local man Michael Larkin, 'Making the Right Connections', which, through its interwoven themes relating to emigration, transatlantic connectivity, evolution of telecommunications, etc., is a fitting symbol of transatlantic connectivity between Ireland and the USA.
The book, which depicts the journey of his ancestor Thomas Larkin, who, following his emigration to the USA, became one of the early telephone pioneers of America with the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, has been very well received in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in the US.
Ms. Myers is completing a masters degree in international education with a focus on Irish studies and has just completed a programme at NUIG. She is also taking classes in Pittsburgh to learn the Irish language.
During her visit to The Connaught Telegraph, she explained how she had been to the ihub at ATU and was exploring the opportunities between education and medicine in Mayo.
Pittsburgh, she explained, is very much an education and medicine city, attracting students from all over the world. It has a very competitive school of medicine and school of nursing, with the top physical therapy programme in the US.
The university also boasts an excellent international studies programme, with a less commonly taught languages programme where Irish is the most enrolled language, and has the most activity - a result of the Irish diaspora.
There are opportunities to create partnerships between the two education centres and these will be explored, she said.