MIAMI, FL – Florida International University (FIU) Professor Emeritus of Finance in the College of Business Emmanuel Roussakis has received six Fulbright grants that “have sent him to Romania (as a Fulbright Scholar), Russia, Indonesia, Morocco, Kuwait and Tunis (with Fulbright Specialist awards),” FIU News reported.

Prof. Roussakis spoke to FIU News about his time at FIU, noting that “I joined the College of Business in 1976, at the rank of associate professor. FIU was then designated an upper level university, with Miami Dade Community College a feeder institution. Through the years, as FIU grew in enrollment, academic programs and degree levels, I went with the tide advancing successively to full professor, endowed professor, department chair and director of the downtown MBA and MSF programs. A three-year stint as dean of a school of business at a Cyprus University refined further my leadership and administrative skills and prepared me for the Fulbright challenge.”

When asked about the Fulbright program, Roussakis told FIU News, “Although first acquainted with the Fulbright program in the 1980s, my Emeritus status offered me the opportunity to share my multifaceted academic experience with eligible institutions worldwide. I received my first Fulbright grant to Romania (2010), followed by four more grants to Russia (2012), Indonesia (2013), Morocco (2015), Kuwait (2017) and soon I will depart to Tunisia (2020). In the interim before joining the specialist program, I received a Fulbright Lecturer award by the Bulgarian-American Commission to teach at the Fulbright International Summer Institute.”

Roussakis also noted the difference between the types of Fulbright awards. He told FUI News that “the Fulbright program includes three basic awards, each of which differs in focus and length of service:

“Distinguished chair grants provide for distinguished lecturing, distinguished research and distinguished lecturing and research awards ranging from three to 12 months. “Viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program, they are open to eminent scholars with a significant publication and teaching record. Scholar grants are offered to faculty for the conduct of teaching, research or combined teaching and research for a period up to one year. Both of these awards are administered by the Institute for International Education (IIE) and the application deadline generally is Sept. 15 each year.

“The Fulbright Specialist Program awards offer faculty and professionals the opportunity to serve as expert consultants on a wide variety of academic disciplines and professions for a period of two to six weeks. World Learning coordinates these awards and accepts applications five times a year.”

Roussakis told FIU News of the rewarding outcomes of his Fulbright experiences, noting that “from an academic perspective, my Russia and Romania experiences stand out in terms of outcomes. In Russia my faculty case-writing and teaching workshop attracted about 20 business faculty which organized itself in groups by area of specialization and developed and presented case studies for use in their respective classrooms. In Romania, although nine years have lapsed since my visit, I maintain contact with three professors at two different universities. I wrote the foreword to the textbook of one professor, reviewed two contributed chapters to the U.S.-published textbook of the second professor, and, recently, I heard from the third professor (now a department chair) who invited me to visit and lecture his graduate students.

“From a social perspective, Fulbright grants gave me the opportunity to connect with different cultures and lifestyles. It was a great experience to witness theatrical and musical plays in Romania, see traditional dances in Indonesia, enjoy Orthodox church services in Moscow, and communicate in French in Morocco and Arabic in Kuwait, especially when visiting the medina markets and the local souk.”

Of the prestigious program and its competitive nature, Roussakis told FIU News that “although I possessed the required academic qualifications and my project satisfied pertinent criteria, no less important were my personal attributes. My educational and academic background offered strong evidence of my cultural sensitivity and adaptability. I completed my primary and secondary education in Egypt, my undergraduate studies in Greece, graduate studies in the United States and my doctoral program in Belgium. Miami’s multi-ethnic community and my FIU tenure, together with academic assignments and in-house training programs in the Caribbean and Latin America, enhanced and developed further my adaptability and multi-cultural sensitivity thereby enabling me to also fulfill this qualification.”

Of his upcoming assignment, Roussakis said, FIU News reported, “My forthcoming assignment begins on Feb. 1 and will be at the Tunis School of Business (TSB) of the state University of Tunis. TSB is the first and only public business institution using English as the main language of instruction in a French and Arabic speaking country. Come Feb. 1, I will be flying with my wife to Tunisia for a six-week teaching assignment. Upon my request, the Fulbright program accepted to delay my return to Miami by allowing me to fulfill a standing invitation to teach at the EMBA program of a university in Cairo, Egypt. Thus, I will get back to Miami in time for the summer term and my teaching assignment.”