LETTER FROM THE DEAN

I've been a member of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University for over 26 years and currently have the honor and responsibility of serving as Interim Dean. During my time at Mays I've witnessed first-hand the commitment we have made to international business studies. Collectively we have worked to strengthen our faculty expertise in international business and to integrate international business throughout our curriculum. And today, our faculty publish major international business research articles in leading journals, we host the Journal of International Business Studies, and our students can participate in myriad international activities, including on-campus courses and overseas study programs. In short, international business has become a central element in all that we do at Mays.

The Center for International Business Studies (CIBS) has been and remains at the core of our international business activities. The CIBS staff actively promotes their mission and provides every imaginable resource for faculty and students interested in international business. And CIBS (which administers one of the nation's 31 federally-funded Centers for International Education and Research—the TAMU CIBER) has become known as a center of international business expertise not just in Mays Business School but also throughout Texas A&M University and across the State of Texas, the United States, and beyond our borders in other countries and continents.

As educators, we cherish those moments when it appears that our work has affected the lives of others. In October 2007 I participated in an economic briefing in San Antonio. After the session I was approached by a familiar looking young man. As soon as he identified himself, I immediately remembered who he was—he was a former student who had participated in a study abroad program that CIBS had sponsored and that I had directed back in 1986. During our conversation he mentioned that his study abroad experience was his fondest memory of Texas A&M University and that it had played a significant role in his life in terms of broadening his perspectives and expanding his horizons. The impact of CIBS is far-reaching, and I suspect that this one small story is just one of thousands with the same basic theme—the Center for International Business Studies at Mays Business School is a critical resource for all of us.

Ricky W. Griffin
Interim Dean, Mays Business School