President Aoun to receive International Educator of the Year Award

02/11/16 – BOSTON, MA. – President Aoun talks to a Linguistics class in Ryder Hall on Feb. 1, 2016. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University

Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun will receive the International Educator of the Year Award from the Academy of International Business for his contributions to international business education.

The award recognizes leaders in higher education who have created and grown international business programs, recruited and supported international business faculty, and provided students with meaningful education experiences through coursework, internships, and global learning. Aoun was recognized as a “distinguished president and educator” who leads and cherishes international business education.

Aoun will receive the award on Monday night in New Orleans at the academy’s annual meeting, where he will also lead a panel of AIB Fellows on the topic of globalizing education. Joining Aoun in receiving prestigious awards are Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, and Stanford University professor Kathleen Eisenhardt.

In receiving the award, Aoun will also become an Honorary AIB Fellow. Three other Northeastern faculty members have been named AIB Fellows: Ravi Ramamurti, Distinguished Professor of International Business and Strategy and director of Northeastern’s Center for Emerging Markets, in 2008; and Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra and Ruth Aguilera, professors of international business and strategy, in 2016. Cuervo-Cazurra and Aguilera will be inducted at this year’s conference.

Under Aoun’s leadership, Northeastern has become a truly global university. Students engage in experiential learning opportunities in 131 countries—and on all seven continents—which is a 128 percent increase since 2006. The number of international students has increased by 353 percent in that time as well, with international undergraduate enrollment rising from 4 percent to 19 percent.

In 2012, Northeastern received a $60 million gift from alumni Richard D’Amore, BA’76, and Alan McKim, MBA’88, to rename the business school the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, which has since increased its faculty by 25 percent and experienced a 34 percent rise in faculty members’ publications in top journals—with international business as a core focus. Global learning opportunities for business students include entrepreneurship education through co-op and field study programs, and the university’s unique Bachelor of Science in International Business program allows students to study and work overseas through study abroad and global co-op.

Northeastern’s global network also continues to expand. There are more than 230,000 alumni in 186 countries, the university partners with nearly 3,200 co-op employers around the globe, and earlier this year Northeastern announced its first international campus in Toronto.