The United States Department of State and the J. William
Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board recently made the announcement. Pullins is
one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel
abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2014-2015.
Pullins will be teaching professional sales and conducting
research on professional business-to-business sales in international markets,
specifically Customer Affective Response to Professional Sales. 
"Obviously I was thrilled on being notified that I had
received the grant. I believe that business can’t be separated from
international business in today’s world, and that international experiences for
faculty are critically important," said Pullins, who is director of the
Edward H. Schmidt School of Professional Sales (ESSPS) in the UT College of
Business and Innovation.
"I am excited about the ability to immerse myself in a
culture outside the United States for an extended period of time, while at the
same time building productive new relationships in another part of the world.
In the past, the ESSPS has done international video-conferenced sales role
plays between students in Finland and UT. I can’t even begin to imagine what
other types of collaborative projects might be possible," she said.
"Buyer-seller relationships are critical in creating value
through social interaction," she said. "My research work will look at
business customer emotions, needs and motives and how they impact sales results
across multi-person B2B service seller interactions. The research will be part
of a team project, supported by a grant from the Finnish Tekes’ “Fiiliksestä
fyrkkaa” program, in conjunction with colleagues from Hagaa Helia, University
of Helsinki and Aalto University in Finland, as well as a number of Finnish
firms."
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international
educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed
to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those
of other countries. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is
an annual appropriation made by Congress to the U.S. Department of State,
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host
institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the
United States also provide direct and indirect support.
Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced
by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has
given approximately 300,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, scientists
and other professionals the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research,
exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international
concerns.
Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors,
cabinet ministers, CEOs and university presidents. They have been awarded 43
Nobel prizes, and 78 alumni have received Pulitzer prizes.
"I am confident that this will have a real impact on
the effectiveness of my own teaching in the future as I will be able to speak
firsthand about many of the international aspects of business, and also
incorporate a more global set of real world examples," Pullins said.
“We congratulate Dr. Pullins on her outstanding personal and
professional achievement of being selected a Fulbright Scholar,” said College
of Business and Innovation Interim Dean Thomas Sharkey. “In addition to her
outstanding work as director of our nationally recognized Edward H. Schmidt
School of Professional Sales, this is a testimony to her commitment to the
teaching/research profession and her dedication to personal lifelong learning
which benefits both her students and her academic colleagues.”
