Fulbright teaching opportunities: Dr. Natalia Rekhter to share GovState expertise abroad
By Laura Pohl, Contributing Writer
In the countries of Azerbaijan and Republic of Moldova, university students and faculty will soon be enriched by the expertise of Dr. Natalia Rekhter, Associate Professor and Director of the Undergraduate Health Services Administration Program. The Governors State University (GovState) professor will embark on two prestigious teaching opportunities abroad through the U.S. Fulbright Program to share her extensive background in health care administration and management.
First, Rekhter will represent Governors State at Cahul University in the Republic of Moldova in May for a short-term Fulbright Specialist position, her third such teaching opportunity in her career.
Then during fall semester 2024, she’ll be teaching, consulting and conducting research as a Fulbright Scholar at Khazar University in Baku, Azerbaijan.
As so, Rekhter is the most recent GovState faculty member to be named Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Natalia Ermasova received the recognition last year, which led to her teaching at Hungary’s National University of Public Service.
With a sabbatical on the horizon and a keen interest in global health care and management, Rekhter decided the time was right to apply for both a short-term Fulbright Specialist assignment and a Fulbright Scholar opportunity. “I thought if I apply for two, I’ll get at least one,” she said. “But I received both!”
Rekhter has served as a Fulbright Specialist previously. “Becoming a Fulbright Scholar is a more intricate process,” she explained. “But both are very competitive awards.”
During two weeks in Moldova, she will teach a course focused on human resource (HR) management. “They want their business majors to be better prepared to work anywhere, to be more focused and more attuned to contemporary issues… and improve their skills in recruiting, interviewing, empowering employees and developing HR policies,” she said. “There’s a desire to understand differences in cultures and leadership styles. They want to be more forward-thinking and better systemize human resources management practices.”
Rekhter will return to Moldova in 2025 for the assessment of learning outcomes.
In her Fulbright Scholar role in Azerbaijan, she’ll be creating a health administration concentration within the M.B.A. program at Khazar University, with a focus on understanding private insurance, reimbursement, strategic planning and marketing for healthcare organization. Privatized health care exists in just a few countries worldwide; health care managers in other countries need to understand private insurance, reimbursement and eligibility, she said.
“In all other countries in the world, health care is a public right that’s guaranteed,” Rekhter explained. “The biggest challenge is to understand private options—it’s so different than their experience.”
Rekhter will develop the curriculum and outcomes for the new concentration while also teaching two courses, Health Care Micro Economics and Fundamentals of Health Care Management and Organization. In addition, she’ll pursue her research interest in the role of social media in channeling people’s perceptions of their need for health care services, including vaccination. Another project will be helping to organize a mini-conference next year.
During her free time in Baku, she hopes to travel to Budapest, Hungary, where she might do some lecturing, and to North Vietnam, where there’s work underway by Health Volunteer Overseas, an organization she’s involved with. She hopes to see more of Azerbaijan and to visit Uzbekistan; both countries were part of the Soviet Union until 1991. “I’m extremely excited about the opportunities to travel,” she said.
Rekhter joined the College of Health and Human Services at GovState in 2017, and holds a doctorate from Indiana University in Higher Education and Student Affairs. She holds a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree from the State University of Ivanovo in her native Russia. Rekhter speaks Russian, but will conduct her Fulbright work in English in both countries.
When she returns to GovState, Rekhter anticipates using her Fulbright experiences to assist others in applying for Fulbright teaching and study abroad opportunities. “My advice is that It’s not easy—but it’s doable.”