Christopher Stone

 

Christopher Stone came from Wisconsin to Bulgaria for a semester to teach upper-level Business Administration (BUS) courses - Organizational Theory and Behavior, and International Strategic Management at AUBG.

Could you tell us about your educational and professional background?

I got my education from Pennsylvania State University and I have two degrees: one in industrial psychology [and] another in counseling and educational psychology. Actually, I've been in the business world for most of my adult life. I've been on the corporate side and on the consulting side. On the corporate side, I worked for General Electric, for Deluxe Corporation and Midwest Airlines. From 1994 until 2000, I worked for an international consulting firm - Hewitt Associates.

I have done business in England, Holland, Japan, France, Ireland, Canada and now I'm [working as a professor] in Bulgaria. This is the first time that I lived in some place outside the U.S. for such an extended period of time as one semester. I have some teaching experience; I've been a professor before at three universities: Pennsylvania State University - that's where I got my doctorate degree - the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and a small college in Wisconsin.

In what way is AUBG different from the places you previously taught at?

The major difference is that it is overseas and in the part of the world where I don't speak the language. Actually, I have mostly taught adults in my life, adults who are returning to school for their degrees. This is the first time in many years that I have worked with students in the normal student age of 18 to 22. That's an interesting change, it's very refreshing. I find teaching young students interesting for one thing: they are very focused on their studies. They don't have full-time jobs, they don't have families of their own to worry about, so they are not so stretched between the different aspects of their lives. On the other hand, they have less experience. So, as I teach business I can't assume that my students have ever experienced any of the things that I'm talking about. Another difference is just being in Blagoevgrad, beginning to adapt to the community and to the Bulgarian culture. This is part of the world where I've never been before; I have no experience with the Balkans.

Do you like Bulgaria?

Sure! I took this job because I wanted a challenge; I wanted to do something different; I wanted to take a risk. If somebody had said to me even six months ago that I would be teaching business in Bulgaria in an American university, I would never believe it. That's why I never predict the future.

Most Americans looking for a foreign teaching assignment want to go to Western Europe or the industrialized areas of Asia, like Japan or South Korea. I didn't. I really wanted to have an experience that would be different, ambitious, risky and off the beaten path. I wanted to challenge myself by going to a part of the world where I've never been, where the vast majority of people don't speak my language. Of course, I could have stayed in Milwaukee, but [being in Bulgaria] is an experience unlike anything that I ever had before. I'm very happy here - I love my students, I love my colleagues, I love AUBG.

Now I'm learning to cope with the community that doesn't speak English. You have to be patient, you have to never lose your sense of humor and you have to remember that you are the stranger here. I find Bulgarians very nice and I'm enjoying my stay here. I'm grateful to the support and patience of my students as they get used to me, and also the support and patience of my colleagues who are making it much easier for me to be here.

How do you see the future of AUBG?

I believe that it's up to AUBG. A university has a great future when it has great faculty which it holds to high standards of teaching and if the students believe that the education they get will really lead to a great future. I think I see it at AUBG.

I'm very new, but I have understood that the students who have graduated from AUBG are making something of themselves in the world by advanced studies or immediate work. Later they are messaging back to the students who are here now: "Hey, here is where I've landed, that is what I'm doing." So, the graduates of AUBG are competitive.

In any university you should start with infrastructure because you need to have basic facilities which don't have to be abundant or rich. But you also need great faculty; you need students that care and are willing to work hard. You have to keep the faculty to high standards, and they have to hold the students to high standards. If they do that, then the students will be successful in the world. If students aren't successful, a university doesn't have a chance. This is like a cycle.

Any wishes for AUBG students?

I wish the students every success in their studies. I wish them the energy and the commitment to work hard. They are entering a fast-paced and unpredictable world of business that is crazier than it has ever been before. They need to take it into account as they work as students, they need to learn to become resourceful in the finding of information, they need to learn to leverage technology and find the knowledge that exists in the world. Every student needs to be very online savvy and he or she should be absolutely stellar in the use of the library. I have a wish for my students that they spend more time in the library. We have a wonderful library with a fabulous librarian staff. I'm very impressed with our library, but I don't see students using it enough. They need to expand their learning and I wish for them [to] get very furious about the knowledge assets of the world.