Beginning in September of last year, I joined the faculty of the Department of Business Technologies and Entrepreneurship at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University to fulfill a full year Core Fulbright Scholarship award. This was my third Fulbright after traveling to Sri Lanka in 1992/1993, and Albania in 2003. While here at VGTU, I taught courses in Total Quality Management, Production Management, and International Trade. The experience was enlightening, fulfilling, and productive on many levels both professionally and personally.
Most of my time in academia has been spent at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green, Kentucky as a tenured full professor. Last year, I retired but still teach part time for WKU. Throughout my 37-year (and counting) career, I have been involved in, and have helped shape my discipline into what is now commonly known as Engineering Technology Management (ETM). ETM focuses on management in the industrial environment for students with a more applied technical knowledge, or what would be referred to as a knowledge of engineering.
On one hand, ETM focuses on management but without the emphasis on accounting, economics, marketing, and other detailed topics typically found in Management programs. On the other hand, from and engineering perspective, ETM de-emphasizes the theories of design, detailed material science, statics and dynamics, and calculus that are not typically used in production operations but usually found in Engineering programs. What we do focus on, and very successfully, is a blend of both management and engineering including Lean and other Operations Management topics. Courses include Systems Design and Operations, Supply Chain Management, Lean Systems and Philosophies, Project Management, Theory of Constraints, Innovation and Emerging Technologies, Quality Assurance and Control, Six Sigma, and several others. We look at the essential qualities that an operations managerial position requires in the manufacturing or service industry.
Typically, ETM students are from technical backgrounds. They have mechanical proclivities and are visual thinkers. But in recent years, many of our graduates have come from occupations outside of the manufacturing industry. I have seen the topics in ETM applied to (and by our successful graduates) the health industry, government, the military, and education. Although I teach mostly graduate students now at my home institution, my discipline applies to both graduate and undergraduate. The MS in ETM was a logical extension of what we offered at the undergraduate level. Many of the students entering into the MS in ETM were from either a management or engineering background. Several of those opted for the MS in ETM rather than an MBA. In the US, most ETM graduates enjoy lucrative and timely employment.
Here, in Lithuania, there is a great opportunity to develop and extend the ETM discipline to students at VGTU and elsewhere. GDP in Lithuania continues to improve, in no small part, because of efforts to attract more industry. As more manufacturing comes to Lithuania and other service industries develop, higher education must provide the managerial graduates required to sustain those organizations from within Lithuania. The ETM discipline is ideal for this type of resource and, from my observations, all constituents are available with the prominent managerial and engineering disciplines at VGTU. I was gratified to see this potential exist during my Fulbright here.
I was also very pleased at the warm hospitality that was extended to me during my visit. Yes, there was the full spectrum of cultural shock when I first arrived, and the grand modus operandi at the university was confusing to me initially. All these things are expected and make a visit to new culture all the more interesting. But after several trips to coffee, and countless questions, things became clear. And, of course, once I stepped into the classroom, all things were clearly familiar. Because of my experiences here, this new culture for me in Lithuania and at VGTU has now transformed into a culture that is familiar to me and to my family. For that, I will always be grateful. I have made friends and colleagues that will remain for a lifetime.
As my family and I prepare to leave Lithuania, I reflect on the hopes that I had in coming here a year ago. I hope I have contributed to the students at VGTU, to my colleagues in the Department of Business Technologies and Entrepreneurship, and to my discipline of ETM that is so closely aligned with what I found here at VGTU. I do feel, as I had hoped, that the purpose of the Fulbright was fulfilled in the peaceful, meaningful exchange of cultures where common interests were pursued for the sake of education. I wish VGTU, the students, and all my colleagues all the best in their future. And, I certainly hope our paths in academia will continue to meet.
