EMU Today

YPSILANTI – A group of Eastern Michigan University faculty recently visited Malaysia to attend an international conference on recent advances in business communication.

Attending were Eastern Michigan management professors David Victor and Kimberly Barker, finance professors Mahmud Rahman, Al Diallo and Asrat Tessema, and marketing professor Matt Sauber. 

The 10th annual Global Advances in Business Communication (GABC) Tricontinental Conference was held from June 25-27 in Johor Bahru. The event brought together experts in academia, industry and government from around the world to share and present their latest findings under the theme “Empowering Future Talents through Language and Communication.” The academic gathering was held jointly with the 11th Language for Special Purposes Conference. 

EMU Marketing professor Matt Sauber won the Best Paper Award at the GABC conference. His paper was entitled, “Digital Transformation of Global Trade: A Paradigm Shift.” The paper discussed the slowdown of global trade and how the exchange of information and data flows have superseded the trade of goods and services in the 21stcentury. 

“Global data flows now account for a lion’s share of global trade and economic growth,” Sauber said in describing his paper. “And cross-border digital exchanges in search, information, communication, and commerce continue to grow astronomically and fuel the advances in global trade.”

The attendees were honored to have the Opening Ceremony addressed by the Queen of Johor, her Majesty Zarith Sofia. Queen Zarith Sofia gave a speech on the need to focus on technological advances. The Queen was kind enough to pose with the EMU faculty contingent and GABC Coordinators before leaving. EMU’s Victor, as the co-founder of the decade-old conference, was also included in the official visit portrait of the Queen with visiting dignitaries. 

Eastern is one of five partners in the GABC initiative, and hosted the first GABC Conference on its campus in 2008. The GABC initiative began as a three-university collaboration among EMU, the University of Antwerp in Belgium and the Technological University of Malaysia (UTM). Over the last decade, the collaboration has grown to include the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) in Mexico, and the Delhi School of Businessin India. The annual conference rotates among the five sites. The host this year was UTM, with the chief Malaysian representative of the initiative herself an EMU alumna, Dr. Hadina Habil.

The five partner universities also co-host Global Advances in Business Communication Journal, which is published out of EMU’s Halle Library. Victor is its Editor-in-Chief and EMU Scholarly Communications Librarian Julia Nims serves as its Technical Editor. The GABC Journal is a online, open access journal which you can read at the Eastern GABC website.

"It is really noteworthy that the GABC Conference first began right here at Eastern Michigan University and has now reached its 10th anniversary,” said Victor. “The support of EMU's administrators and faculty in supporting the GABC Conference over this last decade has truly helped raise the visibility of the University internationally."

The visit to Malaysia aligns with Eastern’s efforts over the past two years to extend its international reach – one of President James Smith’s priorities since he took office in the summer of 2016.

Last month, Eastern introduced the TRUEMU Global Rate tuition plan, providing in-state tuition pricing to all new incoming international undergraduate students, beginning this fall. The move expands the University’s action in June 2016 to offer in-state tuition to incoming undergraduate students from anywhere in the United States. This provides a simplified single-rate pricing for all incoming undergraduate students, whether from Michigan, another state or from outside the U.S.

This past year, Eastern initiated the nationally-recognized #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign, designed to make international students aware of how they can flourish academically and socially at Eastern, includes a variety of initiatives, including social gatherings, efforts to grow campus awareness and special scholarships.

For example, the campaign features a highly visible banner initiative featuring 120 individual international students. The banners were placed on light-posts around the campus and on major roadways in Ypsilanti. The University also placed a large banner featuring international students on its parking structure, with other banners located around campus highlighting students and their many home countries.

In addition, a #YouAreWelcomeHere video features international students, faculty and staff, and the University also has developed the #YouAreWelcomeHere website to provide a comprehensive resource to international students and scholars, with links to important offices that support Eastern’s international community on campus.

Eastern also teamed up with the Washtenaw County Convention and Visitors Bureau to offer a further local touch, producing a video, narrated by Ypsilanti mayor Amanda Edmonds that spotlights the distinct, diverse and welcoming character of Ypsilanti and the University.

Earlier this spring, Eastern Michigan University, together with Temple University and seven other U.S. university partners, announced they are launching a national scholarship program for incoming international students for fall 2019.

Eastern currently hosts nearly 700 international students.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves 20,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.