31 students participating in first study abroad program in Hong Kong and China

Two UNT faculty members from the College of Business Administration and the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management are leading a group of 31 students in the university’s first business and merchandising study abroad program in Hong Kong and China. The group embarked on the trip June 1.

By studying in Hong Kong and its vicinity, a major marketing hub for apparel and other industries, participating students are able to interact with local business leaders and firms competing in the global marketplace in a variety of locations, says Lou Pelton, associate professor of marketing and logistics and one of the two faculty leaders of the program. The other is Dee Knight, assistant professor of merchandising.

“Visiting the Pearl River Delta in China’s Guangdong province (formerly Canton) will allow our students to gather information in one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing economic regions,” Pelton says.

Pelton also says that the Hong Kong-based program will provide participants with hands-on opportunities to examine the way in which cultural norms and standards impact contemporary marketing tactics and strategies.

Scheduled tours will include Hong Kong and China manufacturing plants for J.C. Penney, Fossil, NCH and other companies that are headquartered in North Texas.

Featured speakers who will address program participants will include: Barry Friedman, senior commercial officer with the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong; Dr. Glenn Shive, director of the Hong Kong-America Center (an organization whose mission is to promote understanding between Hong Kong and American societies through educational and cultural exchanges); and Frank Ching of the South China Morning Post, a veteran journalist who has worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Participating students also will attend briefings by Hong Kong business executives and faculty from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Participants are earning six hours of regular course credit for Advanced Merchandising Applications (SMHM 4660) offered by the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management and Global Marketing Concepts (MKTG 2650) or Global Marketing Issues and Practice (MKTG 4280) offered by the College of Business Administration.

In addition to merchandising and business students, other participants are from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Visual Arts.

BY RODDY WOLPER rwolper@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• Eagle Drive construction to begin Sunday, slated to last all summer
• Regents approve 2004-05 budget, parking fee increases, holidays
• UNT students win morning radio show contest, will spend summer as Wild 100.3 apprentices
• College of Music receives $1.5 million for new organ in Winspear Hall
• Grad students offer online tales for tots
• Work dress code relaxes as temperatures go up at UNT
• UNT student and former librarian goes from ‘Super Shy to Superfly’ on TLC’s Faking It
• Faculty Senate elects officers for the 2004-05 academic year
• Staff Council reps elected

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