Off to Oxford University

I am almost packed and later today will be heading to catch a flight to London Heathrow and then will be picked up and taken to Oxford. My Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College at Oxford University is about to begin.

I am very much looking forward to being able to focus on supply chain network research with emphasis on quality and product perishability, a theme that I have been pursuing with multiple students and colleagues over the past few years.

Next Monday I will be settling into my office, meeting new colleagues, and neighbors, as new adventures in the academic life begin.

The past 4 years I was a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and spent about 44 days per year there. The research conducted, friendships made, cultural experiences enjoyed, and beautiful natural scenes explored, I will always treasure and they are part of me.

I do believe that putting oneself into new situations in various countries enriches not only scholarship and mutual understanding but also pedagogy since experiences are shared with students in classes.

I thank the Visiting Fellowship Selection Committee at Oxford for this great honor and opportunity.

I also hope to see Dr. Louise Richardson, the first female Vice Chancellor of Oxford in its history, who was the Executive Dean at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, when I was a Science Fellow there in 2005-2006. She then went on to head St. Andrews in Scotland, and now Oxford.

So, expect postings from England on this blog during my Fellowship at Oxford.

And I heard this morning that one of my Operations and Information Management colleagues will be in England for several weeks in June so it will be nice to see a fellow Isenberg School of Management faculty member!