When a team of Georgia Southern University leaders
traveled to Ireland recently to officially open its learning center in Wexford,
the ceremonial event proved to be so significant it attracted the deputy prime
minister of Ireland and led to a meeting with Ireland’s president – the first
official meeting between a Georgia Southern president and a foreign head of
state.
The attention underscored the fact that Georgia Southern University is the
first public university in the United States to open an outreach learning
facility in Ireland.
“Visiting with Irish President Michael D. Higgins, opening our new center and
meeting with a number of important Irish partners made for a moving,
once-in-a-lifetime visit,” said Georgia Southern President Kyle Marrero. “The
excitement from Irish leaders in Wexford was overwhelming – we heard repeatedly
that having our delegation visit in person sent an important message about our
commitment to this learning center and our intent to expand the scope of our
new partnership.”
The new Irish learning center is a logical outgrowth of a long-time partnership
between Wexford and Savannah, and Georgia Southern’s Center for Irish Research
and Teaching.
A large percentage of Savannah’s population claims Irish ancestry, specifically
tracing their roots to Wexford. The Allen company of Wexford town and the
Graves and Howlett companies of New Ross (ports in County Wexford) operated
direct services to Savannah in the mid-19th century. That connection brought
many emigrants across the Atlantic on vessels like the Dunbrody.
To this day, family names associated with Wexford abound
in Savannah. Georgia Southern students and researchers have been studying those
immigrants, their descendants and the larger historical connections between the
two countries.
That history – and years of collaboration between Savannah and Wexford leaders
and academicians – led to Georgia Southern – Wexford, a global hub for learning
housed in a historic building constructed in 1812. The space now features
state-of-the-art classrooms and student apartments.
“This is going to work for everybody, and in my view, it may become a template
for other universities in the US to build a footprint and create an
international hub in Ireland based on partnership, on trust, on friendship, and
on research and education,” said Simon Coveney, TD, deputy prime minister of
Ireland and minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.
A significant milestone
Howard Keeley, director of Georgia Southern’s Center for
Irish Research and Teaching, noted that the opening was a significant
milestone.
“This constitutes the university’s most important study-abroad initiative since
its founding over 100 years ago,” Keeley said. “Our ambition is to develop this
center in Wexford Town as Georgia Southern University's primary educational
venue for Europe. While the principal user will be Georgia Southern’s 26,000
students, we anticipate and welcome use by our sibling institutions in the
University System of Georgia, which serves some 330,000 students.
“In addition to classroom instruction and field experiences, the intention is
to provide networking opportunities for Wexford Town-based Georgia Southern
students and faculty,” Keeley said.
Among the offerings during the initial phase of Georgia Southern – Wexford will
be humanities and international-studies courses, presented under the auspices of
Georgia Southern University’s Honors Program. Occurring over four weeks in May
and June 2020, the courses will center on the unique emigration story that
links the county of Wexford and the city of Savannah.
“During the early summer of 2020, these courses will provide undergraduate
students with opportunities to conduct primary-source research at the Wexford
County Archive and elsewhere in the region; to present their findings to public
audiences; and to gain knowledge about diaspora identity, a matter that’s more
important today than ever,” Keeley said.
Marrero said he expects the Wexford learning center to be not just an
instructional facility but also a vibrant community space, where folks from
across and beyond County Wexford can enjoy activities such as performances by
faculty members and students from the music and theatre programs, as well as
lively public lectures, workshops, and symposia.