Appointed as the First "VIP" by the University of Münster (Germany)

I had the privilege of being named the first "Visiting International Professor" (VIP) at the end of my stay at the University of Münster.  As I understand it, this is a new program being implemented by the School of Business and Economics.  This program is something the Marketing & Media Department and Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau have been working on for some time to make happen.

Dean Theresia Theurl, new VIP Dwayne, and Thorsten Hennig-Thurau

Interestingly, during our meeting and the presentation of this award, I learned that Dean Theurl and I both have family roots in Tyrol, Austria!  I really enjoyed getting to meet her...a very nice lady.

The primary administration building (Schloss) at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Dining at Rick's Cafe with Christof (Muenster, Germany)

Christof Backhaus joined me for dinner at Rick's Cafe for my last evening in Muenster.  I met Christof in 2014, and we have been able to meet every time I visit Muenster.  Christof is a marketing professor at Aston Business School in Birmingham, UK, but lives in Germany and commutes.

Dwayne and Christof in the "garden" at Rick's Cafe

Interestingly, this restaurant was right across the street from my hotel...I had been thinking I should have a meal there, but never did until Wednesday evening.

My room at Stadthotel Muenster was just to  the right of the red roof in the upper left part of the picture.

Final "Field Trip" for Service Management Course (Muenster, Germany)

We finished the face-to-face portion of the Service Management course today at the University of Muenster.  As is my tradition, I treated the class (at least those interested and available) to a treat at Extra Blatt Cafe...everyone selected some form of dessert with ice cream!

The students are happy to be done with the lectures!

As part of our field trip, students pointed out that should the customer have any concerns or complaints, the company's complaint department is ready to go to work...see below...note the employee assigned to the task of handling customer complaints!

Lunch in Maastricht (The Netherlands)

As I left (in my rental car) from Liege, Belgium, the most direct route back to Muenster is thru Maastricht.  So, I stopped off there for a couple of hours and Jos and Marian Lemmink treated me to lunch at the Cafe Local (right next to the Market, which was taking place today, too).  Sigrid Kasper joined us...she is the daughter of another Maastricht marketing professor (Hans Kasper) whom I shared an office with 12 years ago when I was teaching in Maastricht.  Sigrid also studied at BGSU for a semester (in 2011) and once came to our house (in Perrysburg) for dinner.

Marian, Dwayne, Sigrid, and Jos at Cafe Local in Maastricht

"Jury Duty" for Simon Hazée's PhD Defense at HEC-Liège Management School (Liege, Belgium)

I drove a rental car from Muenster to Liege, Belgium, to participate in Simon Hazée's PhD dissertation defense.  I have known Simon for nearly 12 years, but really got to know him when I was a visiting professor at the HEC-Liège Management School during my sabbatical a couple of years ago.  He also helped to coordinate bring a group of Belgian students to BGSU in 2014 and joined them for dinner at our house in April of that year.

The "Jury" for Simon's Defense: François Pichault, Zelal Ates, Cécile Delcourt, Simon, Yves Van Vaerenbergh, Dwayne, Sabine Benoit, and Bart Larivière

Simon with his academic parents and "grandparents": Dwayne (a supervisor for Cecile's PhD), Cecile (Simon's co-advisor), Simon, Yves (Simon's other co-advisor), and Bart (Yves' supervisor for his PhD)