Madhav Pappu: Leading a cooperative education effort

For Madhav Pappu, assistant professor of marketing, teaching students about international transportation and logistics comes easily.

A native of India, Pappu grew up in the Indian town of Hyderabad. His father built ships for the Indian government his entire life, and his uncles served in the Indian merchant navy, a private organization similar to the U.S. merchant navy. Pappu followed in their footsteps when he began a career as an engineer in the Indian merchant navy.

During his nine years in the merchant navy, Pappu visited nearly every country with a port in the world. His favorite place was Tuapse, a small port in the former Soviet Union that he visited three times.

"The people there were so interested in the Western world," Pappu says. "We would sit on the beautiful Black Sea beaches and pass vodka around while I would tell them about the places I'd been."

Pappu came to the United States in 1989 on a student visa to attend Virginia Tech and then the University of Tennessee. His visa was changed in 1999 so he could teach at UNT.

As a logistics professor, Pappu still shares his knowledge with people in other countries.

Since he began working at UNT in the fall of 1999, he has forged an alliance between UNT and Universidad Privada Bolivia in Cochabamba.

"There is so much to be gained by working together," Pappu says.

The alliance will allow the two universities to exchange faculty, students, logistics information and research, which could lead to improvements in Bolivia and enhance cultural understanding between the two countries.

The program has already influenced Pappu to learn Spanish. He currently takes the Spanish class offered for UNT faculty and staff. The teacher of that class, Angelica Mendoza, also serves as Pappu's teaching assistant.

"She translates the e-mails I get from Bolivia for me, and then I tell her what to write back and she translates that," Pappu says.

In August, Pappu traveled to the Bolivian university to teach workshops and conduct seminars on logistics.

During his two-week visit, he had a chance to meet many senior government officials, including a former Bolivian president who is also a current presidential candidate, to discuss transportation problems in Bolivia.

"When I got back from Bolivia, the guy heading up the campaign's platform called and asked me how they can include transportation as a factor in the election," Pappu says.

He says that, because only 10 percent of the roads in Bolivia are currently paved, transportation will be a huge election issue.

"Bolivia is not a glamorous country to do a project with, but there is more satisfaction working there than working some place that is more developed," he says. "The work will be much harder, but the fruits are much sweeter."

BY JENNY McCORMACK kreese@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue:

• UNT to square off with Colorado State in inaugural New Orleans Bowl Dec. 18
• Dallas deeds land to UNT
• TI use planning to start soon
• Regents approve science space construction
• UNT Health Science Center president to speak at fall commencement
• School of Visual Arts faculty member to participate in Leadership Texas program
• UNT employees raise more than $141,000 for SECC
• Future engineering school, TI plant purchase topics of November Faculty Senate meeting
• Severe winter weather closing information
• Holiday contribution drives in full swing
• UNT experts prove to be useful media resources

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