Study abroad students get valuable business briefings

University System of Georgia business students recently received the "red carpet treatment" from a French affiliate of Valdosta-based SAFT America, and from the Brussels Office of Valdosta-based Griffin, L.L.C., while studying International Management based in Paris. Their Valdosta State University professor, Dr. Fred Ware, Jr., a professor in the VSU Management and Information Systems Department, led several off-site field trips including Tours, France, and Brussels, Belgium, during the summer, as part of a statewide Study Abroad Program.

SAFT Power Systems allowed the students to tour their manufacturing facility and assisted Ware in planning a side trip to Amboise, a nearby castle in the Loire Valley. Griffin, L.L.C. provided a formal briefing of their European operations and arranged transportation for the group when they visited the European Commission before returning to Paris.

"We greatly appreciate the support of these firms," Ware said. "It is obvious that they believe in the value of international business education and the concept of study abroad."

The Board of Regents' European Council selected Ware and Dr. Melanie Byrd of VSU's History Department to join other University System faculty members from across the state for the Paris, France Program in 1999. Other VSU faculty had also been chosen for similar programs in London, England and St. Petersburg, Russia.

"Valdosta State University students were well represented among all three of the European Council programs," Ware said. Next summer he will join other VSU faculty, this time teaching in the London Program.