June 7, 2022
Management professor to be Fulbright U.S. scholar to Nigeria
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
Ike Ehie, professor of operations and supply chain management and faculty fellow in the College of Business at Kansas State University, has been named a Fulbright U.S. scholar and will spend January to August 2023 in Nigeria working with a Nigerian university.
"The main objective of my Fulbright award is to assist the faculty in developing an outcome-based student-oriented assurance of learning program for a newly launched bachelor's in supply chain management at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri in Imo State, Nigeria," Ehie said. "This is the first time a Nigerian federal university has received approval from the country's National University Commission to offer a degree in supply chain management."
K-State has had a long history of collaborations with universities in Nigeria dating back to the 1960s. More recently, Ehie was a recipient of a U.S. Agency for International Development grant to revamp the business curriculum at the University of Lagos, in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ehie is an international expert on supply chain management and has served as a consultant with several manufacturing companies in Nigeria to help improve their competitiveness. His research has been published in the European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Agile Systems and Management and more. He teaches courses in supply chain management, managerial decision analytics, operations management, and project management.
To develop the assessment of the new degree program at the Federal University of Technology in Owerri, Ehie will involve both internal and external stakeholders in developing an assurance of learning program.
"In consultation with the stakeholders and adhering to the mission of the university, the college and the faculty, key learning objectives will be identified and incorporated throughout the curriculum," Ehie said. "Learning outcomes will be assessed on an approved timeline that spreads over a five-year planning period.
Ehie also plans to teach courses on logistics and warehouse management and take part in a research project on containerization/cargo optimization while in Nigeria.
"We are thrilled that Dr. Ehie has the opportunity to work on this project through the Fulbright program," said Bill Turnley, professor and head of the management department. "Given his expertise in supply chain management as well as his direct involvement in our assurance of learning processes, this project seems tailor-made for Dr. Ehie."
The Fulbright program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the U.S. and partner countries around the world. The program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program. Fulbright U.S. scholars teach, conduct research, or do both while serving. Alumni of the Fulbright include 61 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 76 MacArthur fellows and thousands of leaders and world-renowned experts in academia and many other fields across the private, public and nonprofit sectors.