Dr. Ray Fisk Awarded the Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair in Business & Economics

Professor Ray Fisk received the “Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair in Business and Economics 2020-2021”. He will visit the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland for several months in Fall 2020. 

Professor Fisk will be working with the Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management (CERS) at Hanken. His academic host will be Professor Kristina Heinonen, Director of CERS. 

Professor Fisk will conduct joint research with the marketing faculty and the CERS researchers on the topic of “Service Strategies for Societal Transformation”. 

According to the Fulbright Commission: “Fulbright Distinguished Chair Awards are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Candidates should be eminent scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record.” 

The prestigious Fulbright international exchange program was started by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1945. This is how he described it: 

"The essence of intercultural education is the acquisition of empathy-the ability to see the world as others see it, and to allow for the possibility that others may see something we have failed to see or may see it more accurately. The simple purpose of the exchange program...is to erode the culturally rooted mistrust that sets nations against one another. The exchange program is not a panacea but an avenue of hope...." 

The Hanken School of Economics is a leading university with 110 years of experience in education and research in economics and business administration. Hanken has three international business accreditations, which only 1 percent of business schools have achieved. 

The Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management (CERS) at Hanken is 25 years old, which makes it one of the pioneering service research centers in the world. In 2012, Professor Fisk was the second recipient of the Grönroos Service Research Award from CERS. 

This Fulbright Scholarship is the second in Professor Fisk’s career. His first Fulbright opportunity was to teach services marketing at Universität Klagenfurt in Klagenfurt, Austria in 1987.