Usha Haley, an influential expert on international business, has been named the inaugural director of the Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy at West Virginia University.
Haley, who joined WVU this month, previously served as an international business professor at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand, and as an Asia Programs Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Mass.
Born in Bombay, India, Haley, has lived and worked on four continents – and at the age of 18, she earned her master’s degree in political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She went on to get a Ph.D. with co-majors in International Business and Management from the Stern School of Business, New York University.
With those credentials, Haley is a perfect fit for the College of Business and Economics, said Dean Jose ‘Zito’ Sartarelli.
“She’s someone with tremendous international recognition and brand name,” said Sartarelli, who also serves as the University’s chief global officer. “Her work speaks volumes. She’s written multiple books, mostly focused on international business, and she has the right tools to help us reshape some of the courses and curriculum.”
Haley will also teach courses relating to international business at the College.
“WVU has a great opportunity to develop its international programs and visibility,” Haley said. “There is commitment to doing so at all levels. That’s a heartening thing which will propel our efforts.
“The idea is to provide research facilities to work on international business projects, help with teaching international courses and contribute to internationalizing the curriculum, all supported by being at a top research university in a beautiful town in perhaps one of the most beautiful states in the Union.”
Haley said she hopes to enrich the business school right away by bringing in international databases that students and faculty can utilize for cutting-edge research and projects for industry and students.
In 2011, WVU alumnus Stuart M. Robbins and his wife, Joyce, donated $2 million to establish the Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy. The mission of the Center is to support research, education and outreach activities related to global business and strategy focusing on G-20 countries.
Sartarelli said the Center will soon have a physical location within the College of Business and Economics building. The Center could host seminars and visiting scholars, he added.
The Center’s launch and Haley’s arrival further promotes the University’s own 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future, which includes as one of its five goals advancing international activity and global engagement.
“Today we live in an interconnected world,” Sartarelli said. “We cannot be focused on just one city, one state or one country.”
The Center will also better equip students with a global mindset, and could lead to student assistantships and partnerships with universities in G-20 economies.
Haley’s expertise centers on Asian and emerging markets, as she has penned more than 200 articles and six books exploring business in India, China, Southeast Asia, Mexico and others.
Most recently, Haley testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate in historic hearings concerning Chinese company Shuanghui’s $4.7 billion proposed acquisition of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, the United States’ largest pork producer.
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