WIT Press Release
Title: WIT welcomes establishment of Craig Dobbin Scholarship
Release date: Fri, Jul 11, 2008
A new scholarship exchange programme for business students at Waterford Institute of Technology builds on age-old links between the region and the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador and opens a world of opportunities for the entrepreneurs of the future.
The Craig Dobbin Memorial Scholarship for Master of Business Studies at the Waterford Institute will be a significant boost to business graduates planning to continue to study. It will also see students from Newfoundland spending time in Waterford.
The late Canadian business leader Dr Craig Dobbin's ancestors came from Waterford and at least three of them were mayors in medieval times. Their names can still be seen on a plaque in City Hall.
Institute Director, Professor Kieran R Byrne, said Waterford and Newfoundland have long enjoyed close links and the memorial scholarship is a tremendous boost. “We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the Dobbin family for allowing him to be commemorated so meaningfully in this fashion.
"We are committed to helping the scholarship beneficiaries to achieve their potential and to contribute to their community's welfare and prosperity. This will be a valuable legacy for our respective communities.
"We are deeply grateful to all who have been involved in bringing this project to fruition, and in particular in Newfoundland to Patrick O'Callaghan, Prof Gary Gorman, Barry Snow, Susan Tobin and their colleagues and associates. Likewise, in Ireland this initiative has been generously championed and supported by Agnes Aylward, Director, Ireland Newfoundland Partnership who was responsible for bringing Dr Dobbin to this Institute along with the former President of Ireland, Dr Patrick J Hillery in May 2003. Beannachtaí na nDéise orthu uilig," Prof. Byrne said.
Waterford's interest in Newfoundland & Labrador is built on a history which saw about 25,000 people leave through Waterford harbour for the Province in the latter half of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
"Waterford city has twinned with St John's, the provincial capital. Both governments have established agencies, the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership here and the Ireland Business Partnership in Newfoundland & Labrador to support, enable, facilitate and channel co-operation between our peoples. Waterford Museum of Treasures also exhibits material relating to these ties of history," Prof Byrne added.
"At the Institute, this relationship has been renewed by the establishment of the Centre for Newfoundland & Labrador Studies, by student and staff exchanges, by research, by knowledge creation, by resource sharing and by institutional agreements."
Dr Gary Gorman, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University said the Dobbin scholarship is a great opportunity for students. "The creation of this scholarship is a huge benefit to the Faculty of Business Administration. Our students have the opportunity to study at the Waterford Institute and we in turn benefit from having the Waterford students as a part of our community," he said.
Head of WIT's School of Business, Dr Thomas O’Toole, welcomed the scholarship and paid tribute to the Ireland Business Partnerships and the Dobbin family. "It is a great honour to be part of a scholarship named after such a great business leader as Dr Dobbin.
"Students will be challenged in a positive way to live up to his memory. The scholarship promotes learning and exchange at graduate level and as such the creation of new knowledge. The links between the business schools in Waterford and Memorial are strong and this scholarship will further cement these relationships.
"This scholarship initiative with Memorial was led and developed by John Maher, Lecturer in Accountancy. His commitment to the Newfoundland-Ireland Business Schools' link has led to this announcement," Dr O’Toole added.
Dr Dobbin and Dr Hillery jointly established the Ireland Canada University Foundation (ICUF) in 1993 to encourage and facilitate scholastic links between Ireland and Canada.
Among his many accomplishments, Dr Dobbin founded the world's largest helicopter company, CHC Helicopters Corp. He was the Honorary Consul General of Ireland for Newfoundland & Labrador. Appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992, he received a number of honorary doctorates from universities from around the world. In January 2000, he was awarded the distinction of Newfoundland's Businessman of the Millennium. He died in October 2006.
