The
International Business Association, one of the 13 student-run
organizations in the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, participated in a professional
development trip on October 25 to attend the annual American Society for
Competitiveness Conference in Washington, DC.
The students participated in Eberly’s International Conference at the
Westin Hotel in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, in the Washington, DC. Metro area. All
members and officers attended the session “Critical
Rethinking of Competitiveness in the Era of Ideologies.” In this session,
the panel of professors from several universities explored questions asked by
different generations with regards to how certain ideologies should be taken
place in the business world. The panelists concluded by giving the audience a
chance to ask any questions or suggestions they may have.
IBA participated in a luncheon and
keynote address on Global Trade, held by Grover Norquist, an American political
activist and tax reduction advocate. During the lunch, all IBA members had the opportunity to network with various business
professionals sitting at each of their respective tables, including the
board of directors at IUP.
The students also attended the session “Workforce and Competitiveness Involvement” as another speaker presented their case. During
this session, professors talked about certain issues that women face in the
workplace. Panelist Haroon Chaudhry from Southern Connecticut State
University specifically spoke about the gender gap in tech companies. His
presentation showed the statistics behind his research, and he asked the audience
about the reasons why there are not as many women working in technology
companies. Towards the end of this presentation, a few of our members engaged
in an intellectual conversation about what can be done from a young age to
solve these types of issues.
Once the conference concluded, students had the opportunity to go to the
National Mall, where everyone had a chance to walk around and take pictures
with the famous Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson
Memorial, the White House, etc. All members then split into groups to tour
museums such as the Holocaust, the Air and Space, and the African American
History museums.
Overall, the trip helped everyone came closer together as a group and
gave them the chance to take away valuable business world knowledge from this
experience. Destiny Lucas, a current freshman international business major,
said with enthusiasm, “I enjoyed talking to professors from different
universities during the luncheon. I can’t wait to go back to DC with IBA
again!”
Hyungoung Lee, an exchange student at IUP from Korea, said, “The
conference was really interesting, I really enjoyed listening in on the session
about women in the technology field.”
IBA President Aylinee Villagomez
said, “This was my third annual trip with IBA to Washington, DC, and I
could not have asked for a more enriching experience. This year, I was able to connect with more professors from different universities, which I enjoyed.
Secondly, I was very satisfied with how IBA always
manages to increase cross-cultural awareness and bring diverse groups of people
together to share an educational experience.”