T![\"Biz](\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2015\/08\/Biz-Conference-photo-300x232.jpg\")
wo faculty members from Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University headed to Uruguay in July where they joined fellow educators from Jesuit universities from all over the world at the 2015 World Forum of The International Association of Jesuit Business Schools \u2014 an organization with more than 60 Jesuit universities globally.<\/p>\n
Marilu Marcillo-Gomez, Ph.D., assistant professor of business administration, Mary Kate Naatus, Ph.D., assistant professor of business and acting director of the Ignite Institute, and Naatus\u2019 research partner Aleksandra\u00a0 Lacka, who serves on the local economy working group for the Ignite Institute, all presented at this year\u2019s World Forum at the Catholic University of Uruguay.\u00a0 The conference featured academic paper presentations, sharing of best practices in business education and cross-cultural exchange and relationship building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis international conference is an excellent forum to feature all of the innovative programs and inter-disciplinary initiatives that Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s faculty and students are engaged in to make significant community impacts,\u201d explained Dr. Naatus. \u201cIt also allows us to connect with other Jesuit institutions from around the world and identify meaningful ways to be involved in this global network.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme was \u201cLeadership & Innovation for a Sustainable World.\u201d During the conference, international scholars presented a vision of how Jesuit universities must take a lead in addressing the most pressing global challenges. Dr. Marcillo-Gomez presented her paper titled \u201cCollaborative Online International Learning Experience in Practice: Opportunities and Challenges,\u201d which was about research findings from a collaborative virtual student project in partnership with a university in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Dr. Naatus and Lacka presented their paper titled \u201cBuilding Bridges in the Urban Local Economy: A Jesuit University Non-profit Partnership Model,\u201d which proposes the model of the Ignite Institute \u2014 a strategic partnership between Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s and its Jersey City-based non-profit partner Rising Tide Capital \u2014as a model for community engagement and economic growth. In addition to Lacka, the paper was also co-authored by Alfa Demmellash and Mike Caslin of Rising Tide Capital and Kim Zeuli of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to see the interest both presentations generated and the impact those initiatives could have if replicated globally,\u201d said Lacka.<\/p>\n
Dr. Naatus recalled other local entrepreneur-focused initiatives presented by business schools from India and Brazil, which she said only proved how important it is to engage business students with local entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch initiatives present a great opportunity for collaborations within the Jesuit business schools network to optimize their collective impact and to share learnings and best practices,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
In participating and presenting their innovative research and initiatives, Dr. Naatus and Dr. Marcillo-Gomez and Lacka agreed that it not only enabled them to promote the great work the students and faculty are doing at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s, but that the World Forum is one of the best opportunities to build relationships with the global network of Jesuit business schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike other business conferences, this is a forum where our Jesuit identity is front and center, focusing on collective social impact and stakeholder value,\u201d said Dr. Marcillo-Gomez. \u201cDeveloping collaborations and sharing best practices is instrumental in optimizing our learnings and collective impact as a network.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of the conference, the experience had impacted them all both professionally and personally. They learned new classroom strategies to improve student engagement and learning outcomes, discovered potential global student and faculty exchange opportunities, established new international research partners and collaborations, discussed ways to connect Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s students and alumni to the larger Jesuit network and learned how to make a larger global impact by collectively working for social justice and a more sustainable world with the larger Jesuit network.<\/p>\n
For Dr. Naatus, it was particularly inspiring to see the unique impact that Jesuit business schools have globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt validates the work we are doing in engaging the local entrepreneurial community,\u201d she added. \u201cWe are bringing back specific strategies of growing, expanding and funding these community-engaged and globally-connected programs that will advance not only our students\u2019 experience, but also Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s impact on our larger urban community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two faculty members from Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University headed to Uruguay in July where they joined fellow educators from Jesuit universities from all over the world at the 2015 World Forum of The International Association of Jesuit Business Schools \u2014 an organization with more than 60 Jesuit universities globally. Marilu Marcillo-Gomez, Ph.D., assistant professor of business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":4268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-current-students","category-faculty-staff","category-future-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n