LaSalle professor to teach in Donetsk on Fulbright (11/10/96)

LaSalle professor to teach in Donetsk on Fulbright

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle University's James A. Talaga, Ph.D., of Erdenheim, Pa., will return to the former Soviet Union for a third time to help build Ukraine's free market economy through education. Prof. Talaga, who chairs La Salle's marketing department in the School of Business, will head to Ukraine in February 1997 on a Fulbright Scholarship that will enable him to teach and conduct research for five months.

This marks the first Fulbright in the history of La Salle's School of Business. The prestigious award is given with the goal of fostering understanding between the United States and other countries.The United States Information Agency, an independent foreign affairs agency within the executive branch of the U. S. government, operates the Fulbright exchange program.

At Donetsk State Technical University in Ukraine, Prof. Talaga, whose specialization is international marketing, hopes to teach the principles of marketing, international marketing and market research. "That's my intent," he said. "But there's no guarantee exactly what I'll teach them ... I could teach economics - that's the most popular class in Ukraine because the students want to make money."

An assistant professor at La Salle, Prof. Talaga said he would probably teach undergraduate students in Ukraine, many of whom have English as part of a dual major. "Many of them may appreciate classes with a teacher whose primary language is English," he said.

Prof. Talaga will have administrative duties in Ukraine like helping to devise an MBA program and improve an existing engineering program at the university level.

He envisions eventually writing a marketing textbook for university students that would be geared specifically to Ukraine. Prof. Talaga said there's a real need for a book that is customized to the Ukrainian economy. Presently, American books translated into Ukrainian are used. "They just don't fit," he said of the translated American texts. "They're so different. The advantage of my book is it would reflect Ukrainian reality as viewed through American eyes."

Prof. Talaga was previously part of a La Salle delegation to Ukraine through USAID in August 1995 and May 1996. La Salle is part of a consortium that has been awarded a USAID contract to provide educational services in business to Ukrainian institutions (Ukrainian Partnerships Project).

In 1995, Prof. Talaga lectured in Donetsk to Ukrainian entrepreneurs. A small number of La Salle business faculty members were chosen to go to Ukraine to provide entrepreneurial training as well as help to develop teaching materials. In 1996, Prof. Talaga also worked in Donetsk to develop a "Principles of Marketing" course for Ukraine. During his first trip to Ukraine, Prof. Talaga taught a one-week course in marketing and an introductory business course during his second stay.

Prof. Talaga said the prestigious Fullbright award has professional advantages. But, most importantly, he said, living in the former Soviet Union will give him a more realistic perspective on life there. "It's one thing to go to a store and see they have different items or that they're displayed differently," he said. "It's another thing to live and have to cope with a system that's so different for five months. When I come back, I can better communicate to students the differences that they may encounter when they sell products in foreign countries."

Prof. Talaga received his doctorate and master of business administration degrees in marketing from Temple University. He earned a master of arts degree in library science from Northern Illinois University. He completed his bachelor of arts degree in economics at the University of Illinois.

The Fulbright scholar started at La Salle University in 1988. In 1982-1988 he was an assistant professor at West Chester State University. Prior to his West Chester assignment, he was a reference librarian at Trenton State College in 1976-1980.