Jacque Eidson Receives Fulbright Specialist Award to France

LAWRENCE — Jacque Eidson, a lecturer in the University of Kansas School of Professional Studies, has received a Fulbright Specialist Award to travel to France, where she will present on fintech.

ESC Clermont Business School in Clermont-Ferrand, France, is hosting Eidson for three weeks this semester. Eidson will lecture on the future of financial technology in personal finance, focusing on overspending nudges during fintech use and the effects of fintech on existing economic disparities.

Additionally, Eidson will collaborate with faculty on research for two comparative projects between Europe and America. One is a study on board gender diversity, and the other is an analysis of first-generation college graduates working as faculty.

During her time in Europe, Eidson will also travel to Brussels to meet with the leadership team for European Women on Boards.

Eidson is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens selected each year to share their expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program. Recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Established in 2001, the Fulbright Specialist Program enables U.S. academics and professionals with significant expertise to complete short-term, project-based exchanges designed by institutions around the world.

Eidson came to KU in 2021 as a lecturer teaching financial management. She has more than 25 years of experience in strategy development and execution, fiscal management, business consulting and higher education. She serves as the director of the National Higher Education Benchmarking Institute, which is housed at Johnson County Community College.

The Fulbright award enables Eidson to build upon KU’s long-lasting relationship with ESC Clermont, as she plans to meet with the business school’s dean to discuss future collaborations and enhanced partnerships.

“As a first-generation college graduate with a nonlinear career path to higher education, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve as a Fulbright Specialist,” Eidson said. “I look forward to contributing to the advancement of global education, research and understanding.”

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between people in the U.S. and other countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has allowed more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists to travel abroad to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.