Two scholars from Georgia State University have accepted invitations and will speak at seminars in two different Chinese cities.

Fenwick Huss, dean of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State, will be one of the keynote speakers at the International Symposium on Hospitality Management 2007, an event hosted by Xiamen University in the city of Xiamen.

Dr. Huss has lectured in China many times before on business information needs in transitional economies.

The seminar, which will be held August 7-9, will focus on promoting hospitality management education and research, according to Linda Sun, an international program consultant in Georgia who helped organize the symposium.

Xiamen, designated as one of China’s special economic zones, has a vibrant economy and a flourishing tourism industry and is located just a one-hour flight away from Shenzhen, one of China’s fastest-growing technology hubs.

Xiamen University has one of China’s top-ranked hospitality programs and wants to establish an exchange program with a university in America, said Dr. Sun.

She added that Xiamen University sees Georgia State, with its nationally ranked Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, as an ideal candidate for such a partnership, but she could not comment on Georgia State’s interest in pursuing it.

The seminar will end six days before Georgia State hosts the grand opening of its new Hospitality Learning Center August 15 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Richard Welke, director for the Center for Process Innovation in the Robinson College, will speak at the China Private Economy Innovation International Forum 2007 on August 11-12 in Taizhou, a city of about 5 million people near Shanghai.
The symposium, organized by the Institute of Economics Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing and the Taizhou Economic Association, will address “how local and regional resources and capabilities can be used to spur private innovation and improve competitiveness,” Dr. Sun said in a statement.

For a city its size, Taizhou has a substantial amount of private enterprise, Dr. Sun said. But local business leaders are still learning how to sustain domestic growth in the face of increasing foreign investment and pressure from publicly owned businesses.

The Taizhou government fully supports the conference and will facilitate business connections for enterprises and entrepreneurs from the United States and China that attend the conference.

For more information, contact Dr. Huss (404) 651-2604 hfhuss@gsu.edu;
Dr. Welke (404) 413-7863 rwelke@gsu.edu or
Dr. Sun at (770) 973-8732 asppress@yahoo.com.