Faculty Advice: It’s Not As Simple As…

Are CEOs paid too much? It’s not as simple as just looking at that fat paycheck. The question we need to ask is whether they earned their compensation, that is: were ceos paid for perfor­mance? Equally important, however, is the issue of what consti­tutes performance. Studies show that if you aren’t treating your shareholders fairly, you probably aren’t dealing correctly with your other stakeholders either! —Sandra M. Dow, Professor and Program Chair, Fisher MBA in Global Impact Management

It’s not as simple as you might imagine to estimate the true impact of Sea Level Rise (slr) and climate change. We’re an­alyzing these economic and social impacts by combining infor­mation about the location of economic activities and critical infrastructure with residential location and geographic char­acteristics to build an srl Vulnerability Index. Working with other experts, policy makers, and community leaders, we’re developing ways to help communities everywhere prepare for the new challenges. —Fernando de Paolis, Associate Professor, In­ternational Policy and Development, Public Administration

It’s not as simple as it it might seem to have a book, website, or mobile app localized into other languages. Each product re­quires a specialized team of engineers, layout editors, trans­lators, proof readers, reviewers, and testers to make sure the translations display correctly. Managing these teams requires a project manager who hires each person, decides how much time each has, designs the processes each will follow, resolves problems that come up, and works with the client to make sure the final product will meet the specifications. —Max Troyer, Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Translation and Localization Management

It’s not as simple as “training language teachers.” Being a pub­licly engaged applied linguistics educator, researcher, and prac­titioner involves collaboration—facilitating students’ devel­opment of language-teaching philosophies connected to their pedagogical practices, publishing and presenting in diverse venues with interdisciplinary language and social justice schol­ars, teaching critical service-learning courses with community partners, collectively shaping a vision for intercultural studies, and engaging in research on “heritage narratives” with immi­grant communities. —Netta Avineri, Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education

It’s not as simple as packing a suitcase. We pursue interna­tional education by offering programs focused on building global awareness and cultural understanding. We create shared understanding in a world that often exploits differ­ence. It starts and ends with unpacking—understanding nu­anced cultural customs, history, power, privilege, and iden­tity. Our work begins long before the suitcase is needed. —Paige Butler, Assistant Professor, International Education Management

In this day and age, it’s not as simple as “just teaching Arabic.” We design a rigorous Arabic curriculum that encourages stu­dents to be creative and think critically, and provides them with opportunities to discuss current issues that are relevant to their courses of study. While course content reflects the existence of different world views, we tend to focus on the properties that bind us all together in one world. —Mahmoud Abdalla, Associate Professor, Arabic Language Studies