by MEGAN NORTHCOTE
Intern Lifestyles reporter

One day, Lyle F. Schoenfeldt hopes all 330 million Americans will visit China, and for that matter, he hopes all 1.3 billion Chinese citizens will visit the United States.

Schoenfeldt, business management professor, hasn’t quite reached his goal.

However, he is making a step in the right direction.

This semester, he’s co-leading 12 Appalachian State University students from the Walker College of Business who have been selected to participate in the 14th annual Holland Fellows Program. 

This exchange program began in the mid 1990s when Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock signed a contract with Fudan University in Shanghai, one of China’s most prestigious universities.

Last Wednesday, 12 Chinese business students arrived in Boone to begin their two-week stay working closely on a joint business project with Appalachian business students.

These Appalachian students will fly to China May 22 to finish their collaborative research and to present their findings at an International Conference in Shanghai.

“We hope to give students an opportunity to learn and study about China,” Unal O. Boya, marketing department chairperson, said.

Boya, an international faculty member from Turkey, has been co-leading the trip for several years with Schoenfeldt, who specializes in Asian business studies.

Assistant marketing professor Jennifer N. Henson, whom Schoenfelt and Boya describe as the “future faculty leader for the program,” will also be supervising the trip. 

But as Boya said, the experience is ultimately for and about students.

“Hopefully, as a byproduct, students will develop long-lasting relationships and friends,” he said.  

Alyssa K. Morris, junior accounting major and Holland participant, has already established a strong friendship with her Chinese business partner Dong Jiexus from Shanghai, known by her American friends as Sabrina.

“She was really shy the first day, but as I got to know her, she became less and less shy,” Morris said.

The program is designed for close group interaction among Chinese and American students.

All 24 students are divided into three sub-groups including laws and regulations, financial institutions and macroeconomics.

Within each subgroup, an American student is paired with a Chinese student to complete collaborative research addressing their specific area.

The theme of this year’s conference is the global and financial crisis in China and the United States. Ultimately, a 60-page research paper will be produced, published and presented at the Shanghai conference.

Thirty of the pages will be written from the American standpoint and the other 30 by the Chinese perspective.

“My goal for the conference is everyone [has] a sense of what’s really going on [financially in China and the U.S.] and getting the facts straight,” Morris said.

Morris is a part of the macroeconomics subgroup, which focuses on unemployment rates, consumer spending and mortgage problems among other issues.

However, research is only a part of the total experience.

While in America, Holland participants will travel to Winston-Salem for a day to speak with Bud Baker, a retired Wachovia CEO, who contributes greatly to the funding for this program.

Other lectures are planned throughout the week.

Morris is most looking forward to seeing her partner’s reaction when the group travels to Washington D.C.

In China, Chinese citizens can’t go inside their own government buildings, Morris said.

Appalachian participants have been working all semester to prepare for their trip to China.

Each student will receive credit for “International Business in China” where they learn about the Chinese language, culture and business etiquette.

While in China, Appalachian students will sightsee in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, spending a lot of time at Fudan University and at another university in Hangzhou.

Some former Appalachian Holland participants have enjoyed the experience so much, they decided to stay in China for summer internships. 

Morris is among this year’s summer interns in China, who will work for a financial software company.

“Even though you may not be totally into the history of the country, still it teaches a great professionalism that will really help in my career,” Morris said.

She hopes to attend graduate school to become a certified public accountant. 

But for now, Morris and other participants are enjoying the opportunity to knock down all cultural barriers by completing collaborative research and socializing.

Schoenfeldt can not emphasize the importance of globalization enough. 

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