Dr. Marie-Therese Claes PhD
by Dr. Iain Corness
There
are many words that can be used to describe Dr. Marie-Therese Claes, the
Dean of the Faculty of Business at the Asian University. Multi-lingual,
sophisticated, eloquent, intelligent, driven, feminist, well groomed -
the list goes on. An achiever at the highest level, and yet someone with
that certain ‘human’ touch, despite operating almost all her life in
academia. After suggesting that we did not meet in my office, which I
described as a pig-sty, she came back with the rejoinder that she was
pleased as she did not then have to wear her Wellington boots!
Marie-Therese was born in Belgium, in a region where her parents spoke
Dutch. Her parents were not academics, and ran a building company, but
yet the importance of education and language was appreciated by them,
and Marie-Therese was sent to a boarding school which operated in the
French language. As well as a basic education, it had already been
decided that she should grow up bilingual.
A bright young girl, she reveled in school. “I loved school. I was good
at it,” she said as a matter of fact. However, she also enjoyed the
family vacations, where they would all get in the car and travel
throughout Europe. “You realize people eat different things, speak a
different language and you become aware of cultural changes.” It is
obvious that even at that stage in her life, she was very much aware of
her surroundings.
When she finished school she was still undecided as to her future
direction, but it was decided she should go to university to study
languages. “(It was) one of the mistakes I made in life – letting other
people make decisions for me,” she said. Like so many of us, she now
possesses 20/20 hindsight!
However, she applied herself well and four years later emerged with her
Masters degree in languages, having studied Dutch, English and German.
As well as the theory of languages, she would also baby-sit for
Americans in Brussels to learn the colloquial English. Marie-Therese was
not a person lacking in application.
With her Masters, it seemed that teaching was the only avenue of
employment and she taught at a secondary school for two years but did
not really enjoy it. She then transferred to the adult education sphere
and found this much more interesting. “Adults are motivated. They have
invested time and money.” She also found that with adult students coming
from many walks of life, as well as different countries, that she could
learn something about them and their cultures in return. This took one
complete decade, but then academia called again.
The University of Louvain, outside Brussels, asked her to come and teach
Business Communication. “The language of business,” was how she
described it. The next two decades were spent at Louvain University,
where she also studied herself to gain first a PhD in Cultural
Differences and then went on to complete an MBA. If this was not enough,
she also worked part-time for a business college in Brussels. I did say
that (now Dr.) Marie-Therese Claes was not lacking in application!
By this stage she was deeply involved in cross-cultural relations and
had joined the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and
Research (better known by the acronym SIETAR). Her involvement, and her
contribution to this international group, was such that she was asked to
be European president.
At this stage in the interview, she launched forth into something of an
academic discourse, saying, “When you speak several languages you
appreciate differences. When you speak another language, you are another
person. Language allows you to express things in a different way. You
interpret things in a different way. Races bring language and culture,
but more than 50 percent of words in any language are foreign!” To
hammer the point home, did you know that ‘sugar’ was Arabic?
We had no sooner dispatched that topic, when she told me she had also
been the president of the European Women in Management Development
(EWMD) organization. “Women have to be very good (to overcome bias). Men
lack self confidence, so they make laws to protect themselves.” I asked
directly if she were a feminist. “Feminist? Of course I am – in a
positive way. I’m not against men – on the contrary.” In fact, she later
revealed that she had been married “to a wonderful man. He ran a
language and computer school which I ran after his death.”
This in some ways precipitated her coming to Thailand, to the Asian
University. She was discussing matters with a colleague from Vienna
University and he mentioned the Asian University. “Why don’t you go?”
said Marie-Therese. “Why don’t you go?” was his reply, and now without
her partner she made the decisions to come to Thailand.
She has been here for 14 months and describes it as an interesting
challenge. “Teaching in Europe and Asia is quite different. The students
(here) are more dependent upon the lecturers. Because of the (Asian)
respect culture, there is no spirited discussion. It is a different
learning style.” However, with her vast past experience and her interest
and knowledge of sociological and cultural differences and change, I am
quite sure that she will more than rise to the challenge, and her
students will be the winners, with enhanced, educated enquiring minds.
With her single-mindedness, at (what I thought was) the end of the
interview, she said, “We haven’t talked about the Asian University yet.
We (Asian University) have to come out into the open. Who are we? People
don’t know it. I want to see recognition of Asian University and its
high standards. Our graduating students are bilingual and I want to see
recruitment days, established links with companies, internships and jobs
for these high achieving graduates.”
If Dr. Marie-Therese’s students can assimilate one third of her energy
and dedication, they will be the leaders of tomorrow. It is not too
often you meet someone with so much intensity. An enlightening
afternoon, with a very enlightened lady.
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