Dr Shane T. Wasden is a Fulbright Specialist at Universitas Katolik Soegijapranata (Soegijapranata Catholic University, SCU) in Semarang from May 28 to June 26, 2024.

Dr. Shane Wasden, chair of the Business Management Department and professor of Entrepreneurship at Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho), completed a Fulbright Specialist project at Universitas Katolik Soegijapranata (Soegijapranata Catholic University, SCU) during the entire month of June 2024. He was hosted by the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at SCU. He often guest lectured throughout SCU in various Departments and Faculty. He also hosted faculty workshops and training about curricula design, program outcomes, teaching pedagogy, and research methods.

Dr Wasden met with over 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students during his Fulbright Specialist project through teaching courses, guest lecturing, hosting seminars, judging entrepreneur competitions, and one-on-one student advising. The country of Indonesia is ripe for entrepreneurial activity, and many students and citizens are actively engaged in entrepreneurship. Dr Wasden trained and consulted students in small business startup and operational strategies from an international US perspective. He consistently was heard admonishing students to “run the numbers” and to “never assume you are your customer.” Students were trained in marketing, finance, accounting, operations, and leadership principles from an entrepreneurial perspective.

Drawing from his previous experience and prior research with entrepreneurs in Africa, Central America, and the USA, he shared his knowledge with SCU students through the Fulbright Specialist program. These student interactions and relationships were the highlight of his time in Indonesia.

He commented, “My students back at BYU-Idaho and the students here at SCU have obvious differences; however, they actually have more similarities than differences. All students—no matter their ethnicity, no matter their religion, no matter their citizenship, no matter their gender, no matter their income level, no matter their major, etc.—all students need to feel loved, to feel respected, to feel heard, and to feel encouraged by a trusted mentor or teacher. The students of BYU-Idaho and the students of SCU have much more in common than they do in differences.”

As part of the SCU Fulbright Specialist Project at SCU, Dr Wasden met with Faculty of Economics and Business program leads to field questions and present workshops offering suggestions to faculty pertaining to their curriculum design, program design, learning outcomes, case study pedagogy, research designs, and experiential education to strengthen student learning. His visit was timely as SCU is in the middle of its accreditation cycle. His work assisted SCU FEB in its faculty development and capacity building. More importantly, a strong relationship was set up that will continue in various fashions for the future.

Lastly, Dr Wasden participated in several field research visits with local and regional small-medium enterprises. These entrepreneurs, in practice, exemplified the pure essence and basics of successful entrepreneurial activities currently happening in Central Java, Indonesia. He visited, observed, and interviewed entrepreneurs operating a plastic recycling business, an eco-print traditional batik apparel designer, a tourism sandal manufacturer, and a batik fabric material manufacturer. SCU will continue to use these field visits with future students and faculty research articles or cases. Dr Wasden plans to continue authoring and/or peer reviewing future research with SCU FEB.