International Logistics & Industry-curriculum, travel, & culture from the American perspective
Author: Jim Tanoos
James Tanoos, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor at Purdue Polytechnic Vincennes, and has worked in various roles in higher education for more than 17 years in Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Terre Haute, and Vincennes. He earned his Bachelors degree from Purdue University, his Masters degree from Indiana University, and his Doctorate from Purdue University. Before he entered higher education, he worked as an intern for Volume Services, a supply-chain partner for the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis, MN (1998), in marketing/operations for Conseco in Carmel, IN (1999-2001), and as the department head for the Sen. Byrd Amendment (Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000) at US Customs and Border Protection in Indianapolis, IN (2001-2005).
Jim taught classes at Purdue in West Lafayette and Purdue Polytechnic Lafayette from 2004-2008. He was also an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, where he served as the faculty assembly president for two consecutive terms. He was an adjunct instructor for nine years at Indiana State University and taught graduate courses in each of the three higher education institutions in his hometown of Terre Haute IN: ISU, SMWC, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He also has been an instructor in the Purdue Honors College, Purdue College of Educations GERI (Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute) program, and Purdue Polytechnics ProSTAR graduate program. As a graduate of the Purdue Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment, and Research (CILMAR) advanced intercultural-pedagogy grant (IPG) cohort, Jim has led a Study Abroad to Europe since 2017.
He has published articles in more than thirty-five international journals and has presented academic work at more than twenty-two international academic conferences on a range of disciplines including international economics, supply chain management, educational pedagogy, and industrial technology, including the invited keynote presentation at four international conferences. Jim participates in editorial review for several global academic journals and is a peer-reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago, IL. He volunteers his time for a variety of local service clubs and enjoys coaching his sons sports teams. Jims other interests include college athletics, politics, and live music.
https://polytechnic.purdue.edu/profile/jtanoos
Cantor (2018) claimed that culture began in the 19th century because up until 1800, the world was too poor to care about art, and as such, the triumph of capitalism created a mass audience for cultural development. The rise of management and economic pedagogy and eventually the division of labor allowed for discretionary income and [...]
A new phenomenon at American institutions of higher education is domestic study away offerings, which are experiential learning trips within one’s home country. Domestic study aways have been rising in popularity for a variety of reasons and are now becoming increasingly available at universities such as Brown, Georgetown, Tennessee, William and Mary, Cal Berkeley, and [...]
In the book Pragmatics of Adaptability, Silva and Mey (2021) note that humans are adaptable. Adaptability has been an inherent attribute since the pandemic. College students have had to shift their styles of learning more than ever so that they can best adapt to new pedagogies in virtual learning. Similarly, the global supply chain has [...]
It is times like this, in the Spring of 2020, when one especially reflects on how wonderful the outside world really is... Several years ago, the Purdue Polytechnic’s transformation of the undergraduate learning experience added humanities into its traditionally technical framework, specifically the “integration of topics in the humanities that enrich our students’ understanding of [...]
The fourth and final leg of the trip was to Rotterdam, Netherlands, 499 km from Hamburg. Country Manufacturing Value-Added (% of GDP): 12% (World Bank) Rotterdam is a progressive, multicultural city whose mayor is the first in the country to be an immigrant (a Muslim, no less). New Economy (2016) noted that “Rotterdam has embraced innovation and experimental [...]
The third leg of the trip was to Hamburg, Germany, 490 km from Prague. Country Manufacturing Value-Added (% of GDP): 21% (World Bank) Hamburg is widely considered the most international of all German cities and has the highest percentage of international residents in Germany at 14% (LabourEconomics, 2019). It has a notable history in trade [...]
Last day in Europe. Definitely feel my body starting to wear down. Wanted to get up early and run but my body told me nope. Our first tour of the day involved seeing the windmills. It was interesting seeing the way people lived in them and how they operated as irrigation pumps. After that we [...]
The second leg of the trip was to Prague, Czech Republic, 402 km from Munich. Country Manufacturing Value-Added (% of GDP) 27% (World Bank, 2019) The Czech Republic was the longtime industrial center of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. According to EuroStat (2018), “The most important sector for Czech SMEs is manufacturing, which generates almost 30% of [...]