Visiting a New University to Conduct the Publishing Scholarly Research Seminar, Braunschweig, Germany

The Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany) was the next stop of my 2025 "Publishing Scholarly Research" tour.  My contact there is Christof Backhaus, a colleague whom I met at a conference about 15 years ago.  (Neither one of us knows exactly when we met, but we believe it was in Florida.)

Dwayne, Candy, Paula, and Christof having coffee in Muenster

We had 12 attendees participate in the two-day seminar in Braunschweig.  Perhaps you might know Braunschweig because the famous mathematician, Carl Gauss?

There is a statue in his honor near campus.

Carl Gauss

Several good questions were raised during our seminar discussions.  Attendees seemed to particularly like pointing out the issues as to why one of my papers was rejected at the Journal of Marketing many years ago.

As with our other seminars, attendees were quite willing to prove they have developed more than sufficient publication celebration skills...

Prost!  (Cheers!)

Making a Quick Stop in Muenster, Germany

We left Koblenz and had one free day on our way to Braunschweig.  My (distant) relatives, Gunter, Claudia, and Philip Gremmler met us at the Muenster train station at about 11:00 a.m. and treated us to coffee in their village, Handorf.  Then the took us to Telgte and we walked around that village for a little while.  We ended up at a strawberry farm near their house and where they treated us to a wonderful strawberry drink (loaded with strawberries).

Dwayne, Claudia, Philip, Candy, and Gunter

The Gremmlers took us back to Muenster where we had coffee with Christof and Paula Backhaus.  It was a coffee shop where Paula's daughter Luana works.  And while we were there her son, Gabriel, stopped by, said hello, and introduced us to his girlfriend.

After coffee we took a taxi over to visit Thorsten and Claudia Hennig-Thurau.  We first met via email (Thorsten introduced himself electronically back in 1998) and eventually collaborated on several research projects.  (One of our published research papers has now received more than 11,000 citations.)  Several years later I taught an MBA course on Services Marketing annually...until COVID arrived.

Dwayne and Thorsten

Thorsten grilled bratwurst for us and Claudia made several excellent salads for our dinner.  We stayed up late while getting caught up on each other's lives.  We left shortly after noon for Braunschweig, the next stop on our tour.  It was a quick 25 hours in Muenster!

Returning to WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany

 I returned to Koblenz (actually, Vallendar), Germany, for the seventh time to conduct my Publishing Scholarly Research seminar.  (I also conducted the seminar twice via Zoom because of COVID.)  I returned to the same classroom that I first used back in 2015.

Dwayne at work at WHU.

Although we had a small group this year, the attendees were excellent.  So, it was truly an issue of quality over quantity.  And, as usual, we completed the seminar with one last lesson---here they are demonstrating they have learn how to celebrate publication success!

Daniel, Oliver, Dwayne, Miriam, and Kim celebrate each attendee's next publication!

Concluding This Year's "Publishing Scholarly Research" Tour

My sabbatical (2023-2024) "Publishing Scholarly Research" tour came to a nice conclusion today at WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany.  (Just down the Rhine River from Koblenz and the "German Corner.")  Although the number of participants was relatively small, what the group lacked in quantity they made up for in quality.  This was the eighth time I have done the seminar at WHU, including six times in person and two times (during COVID) via Zoom.  We concluded the seminar today in a nice fashion. 

The 2024 "PSR" at WHU...what a great looking group!

Continuing the "Publishing Scholarly Research" Tour

I was invited to conduct my publishing seminar at the University of Hamburg.  Through some interesting conversations, Anja Class (our German "daughter" who lived with us for a year (the year Samantha went off to college) learned that her advisor (Silke Boenigk) knew me.  Silke was on the faculty at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland) in the early 2000's and Dwayne taught some MBA courses 3-4 times during that time period.  Once this was discovered, she and Dwayne had conversations about doing the seminar at her university.

Anja is in the first row, second from the right.

Although Anja is not a PhD candidate, she sat in on about half of the seminar...she was interested in what I would say about her, about Silke, and about publishing academic research.  She might have sat in on the entire seminar, but she was busy getting her (Master's) thesis done this week.

The last part of the publishing process is celebrating success.  It seems this group learned that aspect first!

Celebrating Jos Lemmink's Career at His Farewell Symposium at the University of Maastricht

One of the key events of this trip to Europe was to attend Dr. Jos Lemmink's "Farewell Symposium" at the University of Maastricht.  This was a special event and was attended by many of his former PhD students and several colleagues. I served as a moderator for a session that included 8 former PhD students discussing service innovation and AI in business schools.  Several former students shared stories of how Jos had impacted their research and/or their academic careers.

Jos received the Tans Medal of Honor from Nick Bos

As I understand it, Jos was quite surprised to learn he was receiving the Tans Medal of Honor.  This is apparently a very BIG deal...If I understand correctly, only 5 have been so honored at the University of Maastricht.  The Tans Medal is the University of Maastricht's highest distinction and honors those who have made a significant contribution to the development of the university.

Jos and Dwayne after the Farewell ceremony.

Candy and I were able to spend a bit of time with Jos and Marian the day after the ceremony.  We had drinks on the Onzw Lieve Vrouweplein ("OLV Plein")...THE place in Maastricht to hand out with friends....and enjoyed catching up with them.

Dwayne, Jos, Candy, and Marian

In terms of my connection  with Jos, I first met him at a conference in Karlstad, Sweden, in June, 1996.  He invited me to visit his university, which I ultimately did for six weeks in 1998.  Shortly after that he became the Chair of the Department of Marketing.  In 2002 I helped to organize the Frontiers in Service conference in Maastricht (the first time it was held outside of the U.S.).  The entire family came with me...the first time our girls travelled outside of the U.S.

The Lemminks hosted the Gremlers in their back yard (in 2002).

A couple of years later I applied for a Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Maastricht.  Jos wrote a letter of invitation that was quite influential in me receiving the Fulbright.  Our entire family lived in Maastricht from January through July, 2006.  By that time Jos had become Dean of the Business School, a position he held for 8 years.

Dwayne and Dean Jos during Carnival at the Business School in February, 2006

Revisiting Our "Home Away From Home" in Maastricht, The Netherlands

 Nearly one year ago we kicked off my sabbatical travels with a trip to Maastricht to attend a conference they were hosting.  This trip will be the last of 5 trips to Europe that occurred in the past 12 months.  It is quite possible you have seen pictures of us at the Vrijthof in the city center.  We flew all night and stayed awake.  Once we arrived in Maastricht we took a walk around the city that seems like a second home.

Some iconic symbols of Maastricht (no, not Candy and Dwayne)

Although we recognize many stores in the city, some change has occurred.  Mallory's favorite store, Claires, is no longer.  And, there is now a store devoted to rubber duckies.