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St Mary’s University College has been establishing links
with colleges in the United States for the last 7 years. In 1999
it began to work closely with Merrimack College, located in North
Andover, MA.
Merrimack College is a Catholic liberal arts college founded
by the Augustinian Fathers. It offeres four-year undergraduate
degrees in the liberal arts, business, the sciences and engineering.
It has an enrolment of approximately 2000 students. The well-known
annual review of American higher education published by US News
and World Report has ranked Merrimack among the top ten colleges
of its size and type in the North-East US.
St Mary’s has been keen to develop links with Merrimack
as part of its development of a BA Liberal Arts programme for
the Irish context. Faculty in Merrimack have been very helpful
in sharing their experiences of multi-disciplinary education,
and of the rewards and challenges of a values-centred approach
to the development of the whole person. In particular, staff at
St Mary’s have availed of this partnership in the development
of our innovative Writing Centre and its programmes.
As well as co-operation in curriculum development, the two colleges
have facilitated closer links between the two communities by supporting
staff and student visits. Several staff from St Mary’s have
visited Merrimack on short study visits to learn about their programmes,
and also to deliver classes at Merrimack. And in return, Merrimack
staff have also visited and taught at St Mary’s. Contacts
have flourished in this way between the Art and English departments.
The Art departments, under the guidance of Dr David Raymond (Merrimack
) and Mrs Deirdre Robson (St Mary’s), have exchanged exhibits
of student work. Prof Kathy Cain (Merrmack) and Dr Matthew Martin
(St Mary’s) have contributed to both teaching and research
activities between the two colleges.
Student links have also been extensive. In the summer of 2000,
twenty business students visited St Mary’s and followed
an intensive study programme on international marketing. They
were accompanied by Merrimack lecturers, Drs Chuck Comegys and
Sue Pariseau, and met a wide range of local business leaders in
and around Belfast. Representatives of the St Mary’s Students’
Union visited Merrimack in 2001 to promote student links and in
the spring of 2002, student members of the St Mary’s College
Drama Society visited Merrimack as part of a study programme in
the US. More recently, student tutors from the College’s
Writing Centre attended an international conference of Peer-tutoring
organised by Merrimack.
The wide range of activities are evidence of a lively relationship
between the two colleges which is co-ordinated by Fr Feidhlimidh
Magennis (St Mary’s) and Fr Scott Ness (Merrimack), both
members of their respective college’s international outreach
teams.
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