Global Leadership Lecture Featured at Thursday's TAMIU Speaker Series

Discussion of the global economy will take center stage at Texas A&M International University as the University's Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade Speaker Series presents University of Memphis (UM) professor Dr. Ben Kedia Thursday, Oct. 3 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. in the Western Hemispheric Trade Center (WHTC), room 116.

Admission to the lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Kedia, who holds the Robert Wang Chair of Excellence in International Business, is director of the Wang Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), and director of the International MBA Program at The University of Memphis, will present his lecture entitled "Global Leaders for a Global Economy."

Prior to joining UM in 1989, Dr. Kedia taught international business and management at Texas Tech University and at Louisiana State University, where he also served as director of the Division for Business Research and chairman of the Department of Management. He has served as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Strasbourg, France; Unilever Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, India; Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh; Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Nankai University, China; Gambrinus Fellow at the University of Dortmund, Germany; and a visiting Professor at the Czech Management Center.

His teaching and research interests include international business strategy and cross-cultural and comparative management. In addition to his academic and administrative responsibilities, he has served as a consultant and provided executive training for Federal Express, Smith & Nephew, Citibank, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, American Cyanamid, and Entech Systems.

Kedia is the recipient of over $5 million in grants and contracts, including major grants from the U.S. Department of Education designating UM as a national Center for International Business Education and Research.

He has directed study abroad programs in international business in England, Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, former Soviet Union, Japan, Peoples' Republic of China, Hong Kong, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. He has presented papers and seminars in Mexico, Canada, Austria, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

He holds a Ph.D. from Case-Western Reserve University, and an MBA from Atlanta University. His LL.B. was received from the University of Bombay in India and his bachelors degree in commerce from the University of Rajasthan in India.

For further information, please contact Virginia Vincent, associate director of the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, at 326-2827, e-mail vvincent@tamiu.edu or visit offices located in the WHTC, room 203H.

University office hours are 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu