Thirteen students from the International Business Association of the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology attended the American Society for
Competitiveness conference, in Washington,
D.C., on October 22, 2015.
Students
were given the opportunity to interact with scholars from IUP and from around the world, which provided a chance to learn
about international scholarship topics.
The
students participated in a luncheon program that featured Diana Furchtgott-Roth,
senior fellow at the Manhatten Institute.
In 2001–2002, Furchtgott-Roth served as chief of staff of President
George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors. From 1991 to 1993, she was deputy
executive director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and associate
director of the Office of Policy Planning.
Furchtgott-Roth also served as an economist on the staff of President Reagan’s
Council of Economic Advisors in 1986 and 1987.
Furchtgott-Roth covered topics from her latest book, “Disinherited: How Washington Is Betraying America’s
Young” (2015).
Above, Dr. Robert Camp, Dr. Abbas-Ali and Diana
Furchtgott-Roth stand with IUP students after the ASC conference.
The students participated in a presentation delivered by Sayed M.
Elsayed Elkhouly, from Ain Shams University in Egypt, who discussed the
relationship between economic freedom and stages of development.
IUP students also had the opportunity to visit various landmarks in
Washington D.C. Below, students from the International Business
Association stand in front of the World War II Memorial.
Cole Scisciani, a junior studying international business and
Spanish at IUP, appreciated the networking opportunities and experienced
speakers at the event.
“Through the conference I learned about my generation in the
business field and how competitive I will need to be to surpass the odds
against me,” Scisciani said. “This conference made me look at the bigger
picture of what could be done for our society.”
Linyu Li, president of the International Business Association, also highly recommended this trip.
“We learned things beyond what we would learn in a regular day
of classes,” Li said. “Program participants were very glad to see students at
the event and it was great to see Eberly’s role in running an international
conference. We really appreciate the
Eberly College of Business and IT sponsoring our participation.”
Quotes from our members
“Recently, I had
the opportunity to attend the ASC conference in Washington D.C. with fellow
members of the international business association. When arriving, we sat for
lunch and began networking with other attendees of the conference. At my table,
I had the chance to talk to a professor and two of her graduate students from
Saint Vincent College, as well as professor Rosendale, and other students from
IBA and the honors college. While waiting for our lunch, I asked questions
about what fields of business they specialized in as well as any research they
had previously compassed. I also observed when the two professors would
converse with each other, noting how they would network about people they knew
to try to make advancements in their own research. This was a new experience
for me to watch professionals network with each other since I had no prior
practice in networking. During lunch, we had the opportunity to listen to
economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth speak about competiveness in my generation,
which was very insightful to the struggles of a undergraduate student getting
ready to graduate. She made many valid
points about fighting against the odds with unpaid internships, student debt
and job employment in the economy. Another speaker I had the chance to listen
to was professor Sayed Elsayed Elkhouly, who gave a speech about economic
freedom with links to competitiveness and their stages of development. I was
able to relate to his speech with my own knowledge of international economics
which made it easier to develop questions for him to answer. To conclude, I am
grateful of this opportunity have attended this conference because of listening
to these speakers and absorbing the knowledge they gave as well as the overall
experience, which could not be given in a regular classroom.”
— Cole Scisciani
“The DC trip has definitely been a highlight of my
year. I had the chance to get to know people involved in IBA on a personal
level and make new connections that I didn't have before. It was a ton of fun
running around DC with with everyone, and now I have a new love for DC. It is
such a beautiful city! I am so excited to go back someday. Also, being a
freshman, I haven't had a chance to feel "professional" before (dressing
up business casual, having a formal dinner, talking with people I didn't know
while trying to make a good impression, etc.), so this was a perfect taste of
what I will be doing in the future, and I definitely felt that I learned a lot
in the one day I spent in DC-at the conference and looking at monuments. I
would recommend a trip like this to anyone!”
— Katie Campbell