Today is a provincial holiday in Newfoundland and Labrador. Well, sort of. It’s a provincial government holiday, so all of the schools are shut and provincial government offices are closed. Oddly enough, while St. Patrick’s Day is also a holiday for staff at Memorial University of Newfoundland, it is business as usual for students and untenured faculty.
On the topic of things Irish, the Ireland Canada University Foundation recently announced the establishment of new Irish language exchange scholarships between Ireland and Canada:
To meet a big rise in Irish language courses in Canadian universities, the Irish government has established an awards programme to fund Irish language teachers and professors so they can spend time in Canadian universities while Canadian students will be able to visit Ireland to attend courses in the Irish language.
The Ireland Canada University Foundation announced the new programme of exchange scholarships in the Irish language for the coming academic year, with funding from Ireland’s National Lottery and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The foundation is providing Irish language teaching assistantships and visiting professorships tenable at six Canadian universities that offer substantive courses in the Irish language.
Of course, we all know that there’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama: