DR. PAATA BREKASHVILI
Associate Professor of Business Administration, Buller School of Business
About Paata:
Dr. Brekashvili obtained both a BSc in Economics and MA in Business Management degrees from Georgia State Agricultural University. He also completed Agribusiness Program at Agribusiness Teaching Center that is affiliated institute to Texas A&M University, a PhD in Management from Caucasus University (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA, USA), and has attended various educational programs at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC, USA), Polytechnic Institute of Braganca (Braganca, Portugal) and Bath Spa University (Bath, UK). Dr. Brekashvili’s teaching and research interests range from organizational studies to employment relationships and research methods. For 15+ years, Paata has taught various management courses in Georgia, France, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Britain, Colombia and Canada. In addition to teaching at Providence, he is also currently an adjunct professor at the IESEG School of Management (Paris, France). Dr. Brekashvili has extensive curriculum development and administrative experience in university settings, and has previously served as an academic chair, director, dean, accreditation & quality assurance expert, board member, and is the recipient of the Presidential Order of Honour.
Q: Where did you call home before arriving in Canada?
I have roots in one of the oldest Christian nation – Georgia (Country in South Caucasus). I was born at the Monastery Hospital of St. Nino at Bodbe in wine country Signagi, (popularly called city of love) Georgia. This place was settled in the Paleolithic period and from 18th century stands as fortress town. People there have never experienced slavery (as only few places globally) and they keep their free spirit nowadays as well. From age of 3, I lived most of my life in capital city Tbilisi, until my postgraduate studies. Tbilisi is a cosmopolitan city and crossroad to eastern and western civilizations. It is known with its nice architecture and welcoming nature, where people of all ethnical and religious backgrounds are welcome. Georgia is known as cradle of wine and polyphony, and academics have mentioned that it has a “crossroads consciousness”.
Q: Before arriving at Providence, where did you live and what did you do?
I have been in academia most of my life, first half as a learner and student and second half as a teacher and lecturer. I attended educational programs in 4 countries in Europe and US and taught in 9 different countries globally. I have good knowledge of North American and European educational system and have contributed with teaching and administrative roles in several universities.
Q: What about Providence was appealing to you?
As I have spent my academic career in medium to big size private and public universities, I discover that, relatively smaller university like Providence has its own academic benefits both to students and faculty. It is an academic privilege to have small class size and mentor each student individually. As faculty, I have close relationship with students and I can tailor materials to needs of nearly each of them. In addition, our value based academic environment, where we transform students into leaders of character, is very appealing to my personal and professional value system.
Q: What is something you hope people will learn from your classes?
In financially driven business world, I teach my students so called – people skills. In various management subjects, I try to teach personal and organizational growth practices, which can be based on soft interpersonal skills. I teach students how social exchange, trust and justice can create big value in interaction and lead teams and corporations in a better world with greater outcomes. I hope students learn how can they develop individually and impact others in organizational settings to create positive reciprocity.
Q: What is your teaching philosophy?
Individual and social process of formation and development is not possible without continuous learning and discovery. Life is in fact continuous learning process. In classroom setting, we have instructed learning environment, where we try to achieve academic excellence. I try to provoke intrinsic interest to learning in my students and then facilitate and guide them in context what is known as best practice in a filed with their own flavour of curiosity. I believe, students learn better when they are actively listening and question their understanding by expressing opinions. I systematically question my students and ask reasoning in their opinions to generate learning besides understanding.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
Last few years, most of my time is spent with my family: my wife Irina and our two daughters, Barbare and Mariam. My family is my happy castle. In our family we multiply love and create lifelong memories. When I get time I like to read, listen to music and travel to new places.
