College of Business and Technology

CBT Faculty Spotlight: Barb RibbensCollege of Business and Technology
Expert on international business encourages global perspective

As a child Barb Ribbens aspired to be a linguist at the United Nations.

Barb Ribbens photoAs an associate professor of management at WIU, her title may not be that of what she had planned, but she has indeed embarked on an international life. Since her start at WIU in 2000, Ribbens has spanned the globe, reshaping global awareness in the College of Business and Technology.

Her international experiences began when, as an MBA student, she served as an American teaching assistant for two months in Taiwan. Over the last nine years, her teaching has thrived through many opportunities for international projects. After coming to WIU, she took the opportunity to again teach overseas, with seminars in Bolivia; co-teaching with a Russian Ph.D. student in Ryazan, Russia; and arranging various trips for students to study abroad in Canada and Mexico. In 2008, while on sabbatical, she taught at Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara, Mexico for five months. This past summer, she taught at the Middelburg Center for Transatlantic Studies in Middelburg, Netherlands
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“This summer, I took my class to one of the Hague Debates, which are a series of international justice lectures in the Peace Palace in Den Haag. The students were astonished to be in an audience of 400 people including global leaders, with lots of audience participation about the current justice issues facing the world. As a tie-in to management, I challenged my students to think about what would happen if the international justice tribunals started taking on companies whose policies broke generally accepted ethical principles. That created some really good discussion in our group.”

In all, she’s traveled to 20 different countries, and each place she goes gives her an idea for a class example or a way to challenge her students’ perspectives. Over the years, she has become adept at integrating her international knowledge into the classroom and building a global bridge between the international cultures at WIU.

“It certainly helps American students grow by realizing that someone sitting next to them sees the world differently,” she said.

This is helpful for the international students in her classes at WIU as well, she said.
“All of my travels have given me wonderful examples for teaching and changed the way that I approach international students. I used to worry about tapping into their experience and making them feel ‘different’; now that I’ve lived elsewhere and realized that they already feel different, I’ve learned that they want to feel helpful. Asking them to share a perspective from their country, or comment on a company they may see differently than their American peers, often helps them integrate into the classroom instead of setting them apart. And often the American students are more curious and talk to the international students more after I’ve called on them to share.”

Her story might seem like that of many faculty at WIU. She first visited the WIU campus in 1995 and liked it right away. Like many visitors to Macomb, she was pleasantly surprised.

“I was intrigued with Macomb, given that it didn’t fit my ‘cornfield’ expectations. It had a bit more grace than many other Illinois small towns.”

She also admits a small bias for the simple life of Macomb, without traffic and big-city problems.

She likes the freedom to research the topics she loves instead of having to focus on high-volume research designed to meet overarching tenure requirements, and she gives credit to her colleagues in the management department for making WIU such a great place to work. She also likes having smaller classes, in which she can nurture each of her students to be the best they can be.

“I find that most students perform better than they expected if they are challenged, so I like to throw things at them that keep them thinking outside the box a bit,” she said. “I like the challenge of crafting the same material in new ways by incorporating current issues and real world events into my classes.”

And, while she admits that she’s done “some fairly cool research,” she’s fairly humble about her academic contributions.

“I really think my most important contribution is teaching creatively and trying to encourage others to take their teaching beyond the textbook by going outside their comfort zone. I’m hoping to encourage other students and faculty to travel more and realize how rich the global opportunities are.”

Going beyond the classroom, Ribbens says her international experiences have led her to see the world differently.

Ribbens also notes that she has come to understand international media in a new way.
“I remember being in Bolivia during the primaries five years ago, and the only U.S. news coming into their country the first week we were there was Michael Jackson’s alleged crimes, even though we were in the final stages of deciding who would run to become U.S. president. That really opened my eyes about how the way others view Americans is so colored by the access they have to information.”

Some might say she’s well-traveled. But, for Ribbens, the journey has just begun. She hopes someday to retire from WIU and teach semester or seminar courses in various spots around the globe.

Photo: Ribbens, third from right, with students in the Netherlands.

A snapshot of Dr. Ribbens' international favorites 

Favorite students: Bolivians who ask so many great questions after listening for hours

Favorite place to take her students:  Whale watching in a zodiac in Quebec

Favorite business site visits: Dow Terneuzen plant in the Netherlands and a tiny cheese factory in Queretaro, Mexico where I worked on a student consulting project.

Favorite mountains: The Andes. They are so sharp and high. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

Favorite ocean: At the moment, the Aegean Sea around Greece where my daughters and I had a delightful time swimming this summer. 

Favorite small town: Middelburg, Netherlands. I loved riding bikes everywhere. 

Favorite big city: Rome, Italy. I love the ancient ruins like the Colosseum. 

Favorite ice cream:  Mexican ice cream called nieves, which translates as “snow.” It’s made in all kinds of great flavors! 

Favorite foreign food: Georgian food I had in Moscow.

 

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