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USF marketing professor awarded Fulbright Distinguished Chair position

University of South Florida Marketing Professor James Stock, who is a Distinguished University Professor and Frank Harvey Endowed Professor of Marketing, was selected to receive an award from the Fulbright Scholar Program on Tuesday.

Stock has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hanken Distinguished Chair in Business and Economics at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland - the first such Fulbright award given to a USF Muma College of Business faculty member. He will teach in Finland for the fall semester of 2016 and again a year later for the fall semester in 2017. He will also conduct research looking at supply chain sustainability in manufacturing and retail organizations in Finland.

Forty-three Fulbright Distinguished Chair Awards worldwide were available this year, and the awards are "viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program," according to the Fulbright program.

As one of the leading authorities on reverse logistics - in fact, he is the creator of that specific field of research - Stock has looked at how companies can improve their cost margins, increase sustainability, and improve customer satisfaction. Stock's research proposal aims to examine supply chain sustainability in Finland, including issues of energy, environment, and sustainability in Finnish companies. Finland has been a leader in sustainability research for many years, and Hanken is internationally recognized in the humanitarian logistics arena. Stock hopes his work will contribute to the nation's best practices in the areas of sustainability and supply chain management.

"Supply chain management is a growing field, with logistics jobs predicted to expand 25 percent within the next decade," Stock said. "It is an honor to be allowed to contribute further to this exciting research field internationally with this Fulbright grant."

"I am thrilled that with this Fulbright award, Jim Stock will have the opportunity to conduct extensive research abroad and contribute to Finland's scholarship in the area of supply chain management," said Moez Limayem, dean of the USF Muma College of Business. "He is a dean's dream. Between his teaching, research, and frequent speaking engagements worldwide, he has already raised the profile of our university internationally."

Stock is the second faculty member in the college to receive an award from the Fulbright program in the past 12 months - Grandon Gill, a professor in the ISDS Department, received a Core Fulbright grant in 2015 to do case study work in South Africa.

Additionally, Stock has authored 150+ publications in supply chain management, logistics, and reverse logistics/product returns, and is on the review board of several international journals. He has authored or co-authored several books and is co-authoring a new textbooks in supply chain management.

The Fulbright Distinguished Chair announcement is far from the only honor with which Stock has been recognized. Stock received the 2011 Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Distinguished Service Award, the 1988 Armitage Medal, and the 2003 Eccles Medal from SOLE - the International Society of Logistics – recognizing his contributions to the discipline. Stock, a 25-year member of the Muma College of Business faculty, was given one of the university's highest honors in 2012, when he was named one of two Distinguished University Professors for the year.

Active in more than 160 countries, the Fulbright Program facilitates educational exchanges between nations all over the world. Sponsored by the United States government, Fulbright exchanges are designed to increase understanding between people of the U.S. and other nations, and more than 360,000 people have participated in the program since its founding in 1946.