GSU Economics Professor Wins Fulbright Scholarship
Governors State University (GSU) Public Finance Professor, Author and Excellence Award Winner Natalia Ermasova now adds Fulbright Scholar to her many accomplishments – for the second time.
This fall, Dr. Ermasova will teach public management and finance courses at Hungary’s National University of Public Service as part of an elite cohort of 800 U.S. scholars selected to research teaching and learning around the world.
Fulbright alumni include 61 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 40 who have served as a head of state or government.
As a Russian native who studies international finance and public management, Ermasova could consider herself an academic liaison of sorts holding doctoral degrees in economics, innovative management, and public finance from universities in the U.S. and Russia.
Dr. Ermasova has been published or contributed to more than 60 peer and/or editor-reviewed publications, including chapters in the Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance (GEPAPPG).
In 2019, Ermasova served as a visiting professor at Hungary’s Corvinus University and developed academic and educational cooperation between Corvinus and Governors State University, which helped lead the way for her 2023 Fulbright scholarship.
“I’m excited to return to Hungary, as well as to teach,’’ said Ermasova whose scholarship will pay for housing, as well as a small stipend.
The fall classes - International Public Management and Public Finance courses in the Faculty of Public Governance and International Studies - will cover structure and fundamental rules of international public management and public finance, EU financial systems, and governance among other concepts.
On the research side, Ermasova will lead a comprehensive study of fiscal wellbeing and local government responses to fiscal crisis, a timely concept in the wake of both the economic instability and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Additionally, her work this fall will help build collaborations between the National University of Public Service and Governors State University, creating opportunities for students.
Ermasova first became impassioned for student engagement after serving as a Visiting Fulbright professor at Indiana University in 2006.
The experience led her to GSU, where she’s taught since 2012. In 2017, Dr. Ermasova’s peers successfully nominated Ermasova for the Excellence Award, honoring four consecutive semesters of perfect scoring on her teacher evaluations from students.
The Fulbright experience, created in 1946 by Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright, helped Ermasova find creative ways to reach her GSU students, whom she will continue teaching online this fall.
She also sees the program as an effective way to make a global change.
“I took to heart founder Senator Fulbright’s goal that an exchange program could make significant impact in increasing mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries. My 2006 Fulbright experience changed my life.”