Maki Eguchi
The School of Business and Management at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will welcome UAPB’s first Fulbright Foreign Language Teacher Assistant.
Maki Eguchi, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, will spend the academic year at UAPB as a language teacher and cultural ambassador.
The School of Business is a participant in the Globalizing HBCU Schools Program sponsored by the Institute for International Public Policy of the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corp., Centers for International Business Education and Research and the U.S. Department of Education.
This program is designed to infuse understanding and the importance of international and interdisciplinary business education by equipping faculty with the tools to incorporate international components into current or new courses.
The program sponsors a business language workshop for faculty in courses such as business Spanish, business French and business German.
“It was through this program that we realized the importance of including the foreign languages in the business curriculum,” said Carla Martin, Dean of the School of Business. “As we build a curriculum that focuses on internationalization, several students and faculty members have indicated an interest in foreign languages not commonly taught on this campus.”
Eguchi will co-teach International Marketing with Eddie Hand as part of an innovation designed to enhance students’ appreciation of language and culture in the marketing process.
She will also teach a one-hour per week language lab and collaborate with the Office of International Programs and Studies in the design of a Japanese study abroad program. In addition to her studies in English, Eguchi has excelled in language studies in German and French.
“My first reason for taking part in the FLTA program stems from my work experience at my university,” Eguchi said. “Through work as a language tutor and a teaching assistant, I became interested in English, as well as my native language, Japanese. Every day I worked together with foreign students, teaching them Japanese as a tutor. I also worked as a teaching assistant and coordinator of an educational project in my university entitled Innovative Global Communication with International Teaching Assistants.”
The Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program brings teaching associates from around the world to U.S. colleges and universities. Details: Call 575-8232.