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The professor and his wife are described in the Preface in a first career: 20 years in the U.S. Army, followed by a second career in academia that started with a PhD from Virginia Tech. This was followed by five years at Auburn University and then a move to The University of Alabama at Huntsville. In both places, the Professors taught classes.

Then he got a Fulbright Scholarship to go to Romania. This led to him bringing Romanian managers to Huntsville and other trips for both to go to Romania to teach classes. Later, they taught classes for the Universities of Maryland, Maine, Black Sea, and Romanian-America.

It was an exhilarating adventure for us to go a ‘worse case’ former communist country to teach and do research. Upon learning of the problems Romanians faced, the visiting scholars undertook to advise and consult with the people and to devise ways to help them through the transaction.

“Professor Emeritus, Author and Doctor, Shares Travels and Compelling Events in His Memoir, The Professors’ Tales: Work & Play in Foreign Lands

As Dr. McCollum remembers receiving mail from the United States Fulbright Program in Washington, two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dr. McCollum requested to go to Russia, unfortunately all positions were filled out and he was offered to teach in Romania instead. He was soon scheduled to teach classes at the Academy Study for Economy (ASE). After a long flight, on Sept. 23, 1991, Dr. McCollum and his wife had their first Fulbright orientation at the Embassy in Bucharest.

Dr. McCollum recalls, that he felt that he had a mission to help the Romanians. He had taught three university classes and 40 seminars ranging from two hours to five days with more than 1,000 students. Barbara had tutored English to numerous Romanians, consulted with several Romanian companies and had written business plans for some of them.

The Holistic Marketing Management Journal of the Romanian-American University recently awarded the prestigious HMM Diploma of Special Merit to “Dr. James K. McCollum, Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama in Huntsville, U.S.A., for various contributions in the field of Business and Talent Management on the occasion of RAU’s 30th anniversary. “Today, Dr. McCollum is recognized as one of RAU’s most beloved Visiting Professors.”