Ryan Griggs ’14 is Elon University’s first student to participate in its business dual-degree program.
Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business has partnered with the top-ranked European School of Business (ESB) at Reutlingen University in Germany to offer a business dual-degree program that will allow students to receive degrees from both institutions in four years. Elon students spend their first two years studying at Elon and their last two at ESB, while the reverse is true for ESB students.
As part of the program, Griggs, who had not taken a German language course until last year, will complete a semester-long internship abroad, become fluent in German and learn how to be successful in a foreign business environment.
“We want the students to be truly fluent in two languages and be comfortable in the foreign business world and culture,” said Thomas Tiemann, Jefferson Pilot Professor of Economics and director of Elon’s dual-degree programs.
The program, which launched this past fall, strives to give students the knowledge and skills needed for a future leadership position in international business and management with companies operating globally.
Griggs transferred to Elon in the fall of 2011 from the Stern School of Business at New York University in order to participate in this program. He is pursuing a B.S.B.A. in business administration from Elon and a B.Sc. in international management from ESB. He hopes this experience will help him “build a strong professional network, learn the ways of various European cultures and work to master international business relations.” After graduating, he would like to work with an international consulting firm and take on travel intensive projects so he “can experience even more of the world.”
Griggs will begin his studies at ESB in the fall of 2012 and begin his internship in the spring of 2013. The professional skills he will gain from his internship combined with a foreign culture, language and new faces are a major source of excitement and nerves for him. “I embrace it though; this opportunity is too great to be afraid of what might or might not happen,” Griggs said.
When asked what he will miss most about Elon, he replied the friendships he made. While at Elon, he captained one of the university’s Mock Trial teams, taught a mini-course on Austrian economics as part of Elon’s Winter Term Burst the Bubble program, and received the 2012 Omicron Delta Kappa W.L. Monroe Christian Education and Personality Award.
By Rachel Vierling ’12 and Nicole Filippo