Associate Professor of General Management Nicholas Athanassiou earned a PhD from the University of South Carolina after 20 years of working for international companies in the United Kingdom, Japan, and other countries in Europe and the Middle East. The experience kindled one of his primary research interests: how internationally experienced top managers interact with each other in social networks, and how this influences a company’s internationalization. It also prepared Athanassiou to lead the College of Business Administration’s bachelor’s degree program in international business, which is ranked among the nation’s top 15 by U.S. News & World Report.

The program has a transforming effect on students that, for Athanassiou, is the essence of a college education.  “I see our students before they leave and after they come back, and the change is so dramatic. When they come back, they’re mature world citizens. They can cope with anything.”