Zain is a well-known, highly regarded academician in Malaysia and holds the position of “Distinguished Academic Fellow” at IIU. His areas of teaching and research interest include retailing and consumer behavior.  After completing his undergraduate degree at WMU, Zain earned an MBA from the University of Arkansas (1982) and his Ph.D. from The University of Wollongong, Australia (1994).

“The Haworth College of Business provided us with a very strong foundation that was exceptional,” Zain said. “Zaidah and I learned a great deal both in and out of the classroom.  The classes were marked by the fact that we had faculty who were, open, easily accessible and always willing to help. We were first surprised because it was so different from Malaysia; HCOB faculty encouraged and invited interaction, discussion and dialogue. Faculty were respectful and welcoming of cultural diversity in the classroom—this was at a time when the largest contingent of Malaysian students studying in the United States were at WMU.”

 Jaafar, a senior manager and branch manager with Bank Islam Malaysia, said the campus and Kalamazoo community also played major roles in making the young couple feel welcome and helping them adjust to a new climate and culture.

“It was not only the classroom experience that was outstanding,” Jaafar said. “We had an eight- month-old daughter at that time. It was difficult to balance the demands of academics with parenting. The community was helpful and supportive and many people helped look after our child while we went to classes. We learned a great deal about parenting from our American friends; on how we could provide a more nurturing atmosphere for our girls, allowing them greater freedom of choice and expression than I had experienced growing up in Malaysia. Our three girls are now accomplished confident professionals thanks to what we learned at Western about being more open to ideas and valuing healthy debate and discourse”.

 

Zain and Jaafer’s visit was hosted by Dr. Zahir Quraeshi, director of the HCOB Global Business Center, who took the couple on a trip down memory lane with campus and community tours between meetings to discuss potential collaborative activities between IIU’s business school and HCOB. He is the postgraduate coordinator for IIU’s Department of Business Administration and the chair of an international marketing conference planned for June 2010, to which he invited WMU faculty to participate.  CONFERENCE LINK

 

Zain is also interested in connecting his faculty with counterparts in HCOB for mutually beneficial research and publications. He was instrumental in arranging the logistics of a highly successful WMU study abroad program in Malaysia in 2000 that was partially supported by a U.S. Department of Education Business and an International Education Grant; he has expressed his willingness to do the same within the next two years.

“We have many alumni friends in Malaysia from our days at WMU that are in positions of significant responsibility in the public and private sector,” Zain said. “All of them are very loyal to their alma mater and have strong, positive sentiments about their WMU experience”.