so u wanna CHANGE your world?

Student trip to Ireland and England, Summer, 2008

Information for PARENTS

Concept: For the first time, CNU is promoting a travel experience that will explicitly merge the desire of students to “see the world” with the desire of their parents that they get something useful and practical from the experience!

Advantages of traveling to Ireland and England: Both countries are safe, English-speaking, have familiar cuisines, boast modern infrastructure, and provide high-quality health-care. Especially for students who have never traveled overseas, the trip will foster an understanding other cultures, but will not be too foreign or intimidating. This trip will be a great first step to the wider world!

Destinations: We will visit Western Ireland as well as Dublin to understand the dynamics of the “Celtic Tiger,” a reference to the island nation’s recent rapid economic expansion. Students will visit western England as well, and will visit a museum based on a family-run business that specialized in custom-made metal tool crafting. London will be the final, capstone destination—we’ve received invitations to visit the global headquarters of Wolseley, PLC (the UK-based owner of Ferguson) as well as a day-long seminar in the offices of boutique investment bank Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin (the number one valuation company in the U.S., with offices in London). We are also working on finalizing a behind-the-scenes look at the London Stock Exchange, which is not open to the public!

Practical Experience: The trip will not only be interesting and fun for the students. As part of the experience, students will be interviewing and meeting one-on-one with entrepreneurs, investors, and CEOs. By the end of the trip, our primarily American students will understand that Europeans have a different viewpoint of the relationship between business and society, and what that means to U.S. citizens that will have careers in the global economy. As mentioned below, some students will also receive job offers from the firms that will be supplying scholarships. The point of the experience is to provide students with exposure to the global economy, and the ability to learn about how to participate in it as well!

Leader: Dr. Thomas Hall, who has worked in investment banking and management consulting from Wall Street to Western Europe, will be leading the students. In the past, he was awarded both a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for study at the Freie Universitaet Berlin, and a Fulbright Fellowship to study banking in Switzerland. He has published widely in such journals as Business Valuation Review, International Journal of Socio-Economics, and Journal of Economic Issues, and has over 20 refereed publications and has made numerous presentations for business groups, policy-makers, and academics. He received his undergraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University in political science, an MA in International Economics and International Relations from SAIS, and his Ph.D. from the Economics Department at the University of Southern California. Here is his CV. He has been traveling to Europe generally at least once a year ever since he was a Junior in college (back in the stone age, that is). In the last few years, he has been a visiting scholar at the Stockholm School of Economics and the Cass Business School at the City University of London. He is looking forward to exposing a select group of CNU students to the current world of international business and finance!

Paying for the Trip: Of course, parents (and/or guardians) tend to be interested in the financial aspects of the trip! Scholarships are available. To apply, students will submit a transcript and resume along with this form. These documents will be circulated in a discrete way to companies—located both in the US and overseas—that are looking for student help. We are approaching a number of firms, and are working diligently to provide a number of such opportunities. For up-to-date information, please contact Dr. Hall at thomas.hall@cnu.edu. The final, actual dollar amount of the trip will be based on the number of students: the more students sign up, the lower the cost of the trip. The trip will be capped at 20, to ensure access to a number of exclusive sights. Ideally, we will have 20 students, and the costs per student will be pretty reasonable—somewhere around $3,000 which can be defrayed with scholarships.

Process: This is a very unique opportunity, and we expect a lot of interest. Click here to apply. Once the application is received, students will be informed of their acceptance (or not) on a rolling basis. Accepted students need to sign up for BUSN395 which is a Spring, 2008 semester class. The initial check for $2,000 will be due in November; when it is received, we will hold a spot. During the Spring, students will sign up for a summer class, BUSN495. These classes count towards the business degree, contact Dr. Hall for more details on this. A second payment of around $1,000 will be collected in Spring, 2008 (the more students on the trip, the lower the second payment). Students and families with financial need will receive consideration for need-based scholarships; financing plans can also be discussed on a case-by-case basis. We’d ideally accept the best student irrespective of financial considerations, and are working hard to obtain scholarship monies for this event, but cannot guarantee such at this point. Here are the syllabi for the spring and summer classes. For more information, contact me at: thomas.hall@cnu.edu.

For more information on the trip, click here