The School of Business is home to world-class faculty who stimulate a global mindset in students through their teaching, service and research.
On the 75th anniversary of the preeminent cultural exchange program known as the Fulbright Program, several business school faculty members with Fulbright ties reminisced about their time abroad.
Steve Litvin
Professor of Hospitality
“I have been fortunate to have had a decade-long relationship with Fulbright. As a Fulbright Scholar, I spent a semester at the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) as their Research Chair of Sustainable Commerce, researching sustainable tourism and teaching a class in their outstanding hospitality program. Following my Fulbright, I was invited to serve on North American Fulbright selection committees for a three-year term, reviewing and voting upon Fulbright submissions from others hoping to be as fortunate as I had been in being selected for a Fulbright.
When my selection committee appointment concluded, I was invited by Fulbright and the US State Department to serve as a Fulbright Ambassador, to spread the Fulbright ‘gospel.’ I conducted 14 Fulbright workshops at universities and academic conferences across the country during my two-year appointment, after which I was awarded Ambassador Emeritus status. My time with Fulbright has been nothing short of wonderful.”
Brumby McLeod
Department Chair and Professor of Hospitality and Tourism
“My host country of Iceland has taught me so much about life and culture. I went there to study the Icelandic home. My time in Iceland inspired the strategic narrative of my first opera. The opera is titled Little Iceland and it is about a little Viking child named Brumby who is searching the Americas for the Heart of Hospitality. The Don Quixote-like Viking thinks it resides in the East Side neighborhood of Charleston.”
Rene Mueller
Director of the Global Business Resource Center and Professor of International Marketing
“I spent a semester in Innsbruck, Austria. Thirty-eight years ago, I was stationed in Germany and worked as a Cold War crypto-linguist (German) in military intelligence. The Fulbright experience gave me the opportunity to relearn German. The university there also encouraged me to travel around Austria and learn a lot more about its history and culture—which I did. Finally, I was asked by the Fulbright Portugal program if I would be willing to give a few lectures in Porto, Portugal via its Intercountry Program. Surprisingly, Portugal was never on my radar, but I seized the opportunity to work a bit in Portugal. I had a wonderful experience there and plan to go back for a longer period of time. Both of these international experiences allowed me to meet new people, experience new cultures, and develop long-term relationships.”
Mark Witte
Professor of Economics
“A Fulbright in Croatia opened up a variety of opportunities for research, created a valuable network of fellow academics and taught me more than a few lessons in how to teach a class. By spending an entire semester abroad, there were a variety of topics for academic research brought to my attention by my Croatian colleagues including extra-Eurozone dynamics, labor market issues within the European Union and, most importantly, beaches.
When teaching classes, I learned how a different exam structure can create opportunities for test-weary students to achieve and the value of inter-university exchange among students. I remain grateful for my time abroad and hope to find other opportunities for future Fulbright work.”
John Crotts
, professor of hospitality, served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist from 2010 until 2015. In 2013, he was a visiting senior Fulbright specialist focused on curriculum development and faculty/graduate student research at H.N.B.Garhwal University Centre for Mountain Tourism and Hospitality Studies in Uttarakhand, India.
