Since he began at Wayne State in 1978, Dr. Attila Yaprak has consistently advanced the business school. From developing students to conducting leading-edge research, Dr. Yaprak's award-winning work has benefited many at Wayne State and beyond.

Dr. Yaprak's illustrious career has earned him many awards in both teaching and research, but two in particular elicit wide smiles.

"The Academy of Marketing Science's Outstanding Marketing Teacher Award is a highlight because it's only given to three marketing professors per year worldwide," Yaprak said. "The finalist pool is large every year and it was a true testament to my teaching Wayne State students that earned me this award."

He also won the Wayne State University President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, which also is given only to a handful of faculty members across the university every year.

"I won that award in only my third year on campus, before I was even tenured," Yaprak said.

Dr. Yaprak's international experience and accomplishments are often the basis for such high acclaim. For instance, he was invited by the University of Oulu's (Finland) Martti Ahtisaari Institute for Global Business, which is named after the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, to help doctoral students develop research ideas, including one on how economic crises affect innovation. He was also invited to teach or conduct research with colleagues at universities in France, Germany, Spain and Turkey.

In addition, Dr. Yaprak has worked with the World Trade Organization of the United Nations to develop international business curricula in universities in China, and internationalization strategies for firms in Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand.

Dr. Yaprak has also published many articles in many renowned academic journals and has served on the editorial review boards of many of these.

Part of Dr. Yaprak's international acclaim comes from his work with the Academy of International Business (AIB), the most prestigious scholarly association focusing on international business in the world. He was the organization's Executive Secretary for three years.

"When we brought the AIB to our campus, our work involved helping raise its scholarly position through organizing its annual conferences and managing the AIB Foundation," Yaprak said.

As one can imagine, such a decorated track record leads to many accolades - and grants! Dr. Yaprak has been awarded several grants and contracts, including those from the U.S. Department of Education, the NSF/Greenfield Coalition, the U.S. Small Business Administration and DTE Energy.

In addition, Dr. Yaprak has served on multiple domestic and international grant funding review panels. This dimension of his scholarship includes work at the U.S. Department of Defense, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Israeli Science Foundation, to name a few. Dr. Yaprak commands international appeal and attention, which is particularly impressive given that he has no bloodline connection to many of the nations in which he has done work.

To be sure, Dr. Yaprak has accomplished much during his career. To no one's surprise, he's keeping at it! His current research explores concepts that can greatly increase knowledge about consumer behavior in emerging markets, such as China. Given his track record, we'll likely hear more about it in the future.