DeSilva selected for new Fulbright program

Dharma deSilva, professor of international business and director of Wichita State’s Center for International Business Advancement, is among the first recipients of a new Fulbright grant program.

He has received a Fulbright Senior Specialist grant to spend six weeks at the College of Commerce, National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

DeSilva will leave Feb. 21 to spend six weeks teaching graduate-level workshops and lecturing on international business. The program at Chengchi University is the top-ranked and only MBA program in Taiwan taught entirely in English.

The new Fulbright Senior Specialist program provides two- to six-week grants to leading U.S. academics and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at academic institutions in 140 countries.

At Chengchi, deSilva will not only teach, but he’ll share with faculty his expertise in international business and marketing, curriculum development and forming links with the local business community. He has experience in all of those areas. DeSilva is the founding dean of the School of Management Studies at the University of Sri Lanka and started the World Trade Council of Wichita in 1980. The WTC, which deSilva chairs, is affiliated with the Wichita Chamber of Commerce. It offers monthly programming on various international markets. He’s also in charge of the Barton School of Business’ successful international business program at WSU, which has 130 majors.

Following his Fulbright experience in Taiwan, deSilva will travel to Japan to continue his research on Sogoshosha, a group of Japanese trading companies.

DeSilva is no stranger to the Fulbright program. As part of the Fulbright Scholar program he came from the University of Sri Lanka to observe business programs at Indiana University and Harvard University.

The traditional Fulbright Scholar program offers grants ranging from two months to an academic year; the new program was started as another option for faculty who find it difficult to be overseas for such a long time, according to Patti McGill Peterson, executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. The council manages the Fulbright Scholar program for the State Department.