Dr. Lisa Abendroth is a Fulbright Specialist at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) in 2025.
Fulbright Specialist Dr. Lisa Abendroth, Hoffman Melrose Toro Endowed Professor of Marketing Innovation at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA, and Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) successfully collaborated on a short-term project to help UIII translate their values into programs, practices, and strengthen their graduate education. The project was carried out from April 13 to April 28, 2026.
The collaboration spanned 10 engagements across the full breadth of the university: strategic discussions with the Rector and senior leadership, curriculum workshops with faculty, guest lectures for graduate and doctoral students, a staff capacity-building workshop, and 3 public lectures.
Dr. Muhammad Yazid at UIII admitted that they gained meaningful dialogue and knowledge exchange through the collaboration with Dr. Abendroth.
“The program was not only focused on sharing expertise, but also on encouraging collaborative discussions about how universities can adapt to rapid changes in higher education and global educational demands,” Dr. Yazid said.
Dr. Abendroth shared that the discussion was meaningful and closely aligned with her professional background.
“The topics that we discussed were very comprehensive and truly reflected my experience and areas of expertise,” she said.
She further said that although the audience and topics varied, one message remained consistent: that starting from your values and deeply understanding the people you serve isn’t just good ethics, it is the most durable competitive advantage an institution can have.
“In other words, Islamic principles and Indonesian traditions like Gotong Royong are not constraints to work around, but rather the foundation to build from,” she explained.
Prof Lisa on the Public Lecture “Navigating the Digital Divide: A.I. in the Context of Global South” at the Faculty of Social Sciences
Her public lecture, “Navigating the Digital Divide: AI in the Context of the Global South,” argued that the Global South is not waiting to be included in the AI future. It is building its own solutions on its own terms. She said that innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, and resilience – values at the heart of America’s 250-year story – translate powerfully when paired with Indonesia’s own traditions of community-driven problem solving.
“Indonesia’s own innovations, from the Sahabat-AI open-source language model to the Marlin app that guides fishermen using locally analyzed satellite data, provide evidence of what becomes possible when technology is built from community values rather than imported wholesale,” she asserted.
One takeaway she hopes will endure is for UIII to deeply understand the people they serve, deliver value aligned with their mission, and build a culture of continuous improvement focused on the horizon.
“This is what marketing, at its most powerful, really means,” she continued.
To UIII, the UIII-Fulbright Specialist Program marks another important milestone in advancing UIII’s vision of becoming a leading international Islamic university.
