Fulbright Focused: Prestigious Award Sends Dr. Anjali Chaudhry to Irish University as Visiting Professor

Dr. Anjali Chaudhry’s passion for teaching sustainable business practices in the fight against climate change took her to Ireland this semester as the recipient of a prestigious award.

Chaudhry, professor of management in Dominican University’s Brennan School of Business, is a 2024 Fulbright U.S. Scholar. The fellowship allowed her to join Cork University Business School at the University College Cork in Cork, Ireland as a Fulbright visiting professor of sustainable business. There, she engaged in workshops and seminars on sustainability, conducted research and assisted faculty in developing curriculum initiatives in sustainability education across disciplines.

“I have been amazed at how warm and welcoming everyone has been at UCC,” Chaudhry said earlier this semester. “On a daily basis, I get to engage in insightful conversations as well as presentations with faculty, staff, and even students.”

Incorporating sustainable practices in business encompasses Chaudhry’s work at Dominican and is a key initiative of the Brennan School of Business. Sustainability is part of the curriculum and students are challenged with identifying sustainable practices within their majors and future careers.

During her first week at UCC, Chaudhry led a workshop on climate action where professionals of the school’s executive MBA program participated in a simulation, playing the roles of industry leaders in conventional energy, clean technology and agri-business.

“As one [participant] noted, the immensity of the climate action is a sobering realization, but also cause of optimism as collaboration is going to be the key for averting the worst effects of global warming,” Chaudhry said.

Collaboration has been Chaudhry’s focus in business sustainability education at Dominican. Since 2021, her students have partnered with college students from Canada, Spain and Indonesia through the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) experience. The students met virtually and interviewed local business owners with a goal of writing a paper on innovative sustainability practices adopted by these businesses. In 2023, their submission, “Reducing the Carbon Footprint in the Footwear Industry,” was a finalist for the Flourish Prize. This prize recognizes students for “discovering innovations that promote economic prosperity while contributing to a healthy world and human wellbeing.”

Chaudhry said would like to expand Dominican’s COIL experiences to include students from UCC. 

This interest in collaboration and sharing of ideas initially led her to apply for the Fulbright opportunity and join the work taking place at the Irish university. 

“UCC is at the forefront of things we, at Dominican, care about, whether it’s sustainability or social justice,” she explained. 

Chaudhry plans to bring the knowledge she has gained from her time at UCC back to the classroom at Dominican and continue working to make students more aware of sustainable practices and the impacts they can have on the climate.

Chaudhry plans to bring the knowledge she has gained from her time at UCC back to the classroom at Dominican and continue working to make students more aware of sustainable practices and the impacts they can have on the climate.

“To get students to care, the first step is bringing awareness,” Chaudhry said. “Sustainability is a complex issue that most people have a difficult time understanding. It requires creativity and ingenuity so that it goes beyond cognitive learning and appeals to the students at an emotional and a personal level.”