A Georgia Southern University instructor has been named a Fulbright Scholar and is assisting a Thailand university’s hospitality management program this month.
    Larry Stalcup, an associate professor of hotel and restaurant management, is visiting Payap University’s International Hospitality Management program as part of the Fulbright Specialists Program.
    Fulbright provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) for U.S.-based university faculty and professionals. To be selected, a candidate must first apply and then be chosen after a comprehensive peer review of the application and qualifications.
    The goal of the Fulbright Specialists Program is to increase the participation of U.S. scholars and professionals through academic exchanges. Each of the selected specialists will not only participate in traditional lecture and research activities, but also will promote increased connections between U.S. and non-U.S. postsecondary academic institutions.
    “So far my visit at Payap University has been a wonderful experience. The university has about 6,000 students in liberal arts, music, business, nursing and pharmacology that are all taught in Thai,” Stalcup said.
    He is working through the university’s English-based International College, which houses about 400 students studying hospitality management and international business.
    “I am teaching two courses, guest lecturing in several others and giving one of the keynote speeches at small regional conference,” he said.  “There is a new president and dean who are repositioning the college to take advantage of Myanmar or Burma opening up and the 2015 creation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations common market. The college has been getting me involved in a great deal of the early planning, which is exciting.  The best part of the experience is working with the students.  The relationship is much more formal than in the U.S., but there are a lot of similarities to college students in our country.”
    Stalcup has a wealth of industry and academic expertise in the area of hospitality and hotel/tourism. He has worked at Georgia Southern since 1997. During his 15-year career in Statesboro, he has taught a variety of courses, such as Hotel Operations, Hospitality Sales and Marketing, and Hospitality Human Resources.
    This is not the first time Stalcup has taught overseas. He previously served as a visiting associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management in 2008. While in Hong Kong, he taught Managing Human Resources in the Hotel and Tourism Industry. In addition to his teaching experience, his professional experience includes roles at Williams Hospitality Management Corporation in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and various major hotels in Dallas and New York City.
    Stalcup earned a Master of Professional Studies degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and later received a Ph.D. in Hotel Management and Human Resources from Purdue University.