The Distinguished Chairs are considered among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Recipients are generally senior scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record.
Belanger, who is an Alumni Research Fellow in her department and directs the Pamplin College's Center for Global E-Commerce (www.cob.vt.edu/cgec/), will spend the summer of 2006 in Portugal, where she will teach a master's level class on strategic information systems and conduct doctoral seminars at the Technical University of Lisbon's School of Business and Economics.
Belanger's research interests focus on the use of telecommunication technologies in organizations, in particular for distributed work and electronic commerce. In Portugal, she will also work with faculty and doctoral students on research related to e-business adoption, including consumer e-commerce adoption and cross-cultural studies, entrepreneurial e-business adoption, and Web site success.
Belanger is associate editor of the Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations. She has published in numerous information systems journals and co-authored the books Evaluation and Implementation of Distance Learning: Technologies, Tool,s and Techniques (IGP, 2000), and E-Business Technologies (Wiley, 2003). Her work has been funded by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Boeing, the Internet Technology Innovation Center, Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Belanger earned a Ph.D. in information systems from the University of South Florida and a bachelor of commerce in economics and finance from McGill University.
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship international educational program, is designed to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The program has provided more than 250,000 participants, chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, with the opportunity to study and teach in each other's countries, exchange ideas, and develop joint solutions to address shared concerns. The program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by former Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.
Virginia Tech's nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of leadership skills and ethical values and the integration of technology in the academic curriculum, and prepares students for global business challenges through faculty-led study abroad programs. A member of the college's marketing faculty directs the interdisciplinary Sloan Foundation Forest Industries Center at Virginia Tech. The college's other research centers focus on business leadership, electronic commerce, and organizational performance. The college is committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students.