Farmington Faculty

Waleck Dalpour, Ed.D., M.B.A.

Professor - Business

Ed.D,. University of Northern Colorado
M.B.A., University of Northern Colorado
B.S., National University of Iran

In the Classroom: Engaging Students — Setting High Academic Expectations
Waleck says his students take a hands-on, real-world approach to learning business and management strategies. Students select a real-life company, coffee retail giant Starbucks for instance, and research every aspect of the business to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Then, Waleck challenges his Business students to identify their target company’s problems and develop strategies and solutions to address the problems. Using this case analysis method, he and his students examine industries and businesses inside and out to understand marketing, financial planning, strategic decision-making and more.

Meeting Real-World Business Leaders, Live and in Person, in the Classroom
Students also get to learn directly from business professionals who come regularly to give presentations at Waleck’s classes. Recent speakers have included top management from L.L. Bean, the Maine International Trade Center, and two Maine hospitals. Many of these speakers are Farmington graduates who are happy to help Waleck, their former business professor and mentor.

This type of "real-world-meets-academia" interaction also helps to motivate and inspire his students, helping them to see what they might also achieve with their Business Economics degree from Farmington.

Role playing as a International Billion Dollar Deal Maker
International Business is one of Waleck's (and his students') favorite classes, especially when he assigns his students to role play as a way to learn global economics. The students work in groups as consultants to a major bank in the U.S. who are asked to assess the potential risk of a $50 billion international loan package or investment. Each student consulting group is assigned an international company operating in a foreign country such as China, Vietnam, India, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, or South Africa.

Role playing as consultants, students conduct research to uncover the political and economic challenges and strengths of their country. Finally, students create a videotape presentation. Based on that student consulting group presentation, the class decides whether or not to approve the loan.

Out of the Class Room and Into the Board Room
In Waleck's Strategic Management Business, students select a real company to research and analyze in depth. Students approach the project much as a business consultant by searching online, using news sources such as the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, The Economist and others and by actually contacting the company for public information.

Waleck helps his students contact company officials because he believes talking with professionals is invaluable to analyzing management philosophies and also to making professional contacts. Sure, students learn industry analysis, comparative analysis, financial analysis, but with his numerous business contacts across the globe, Waleck also provides his students with an opportunity to interact on a personal basis with industry leaders.

Double-checking the Data
The role playing process students undertake is very similar to actual international business practices, Waleck explains. Waleck shows his students how to dig deep and double-check the official governmental information against other databases including the Central Intelligence Agency’s. Occasionally his students have found that some government agencies misrepresent their numbers.

He also encourages and helps students to make actual contact with people in their study country. In the end, students create detailed, up-to-date analyses. In fact, one year after contacting the embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for national data, the UAE embassy's Education Department requested a copy of the students' final presentation.

If You Build It — You have to Sell It
In Waleck's Principles of Marketing class, students team up to create a new product and take their concept through the various stages of product development such as promotion, price, distribution, and marketing strategy. Each week, the teams have progress meetings with Waleck. "We talk about their interest, and they get very excited about what they’re going to accomplish," Waleck says.

Respected in the Field — A Noted Speaker, Author and International Business Consultant
Waleck’s area of academic specialty is international trade. He is a much sought after speaker, both nationally and internationally, on subjects such as such NAFTA and other global economic issues. He recently visited Dubrovnik, Croatia where he attended and presented a paper to the Affiliation of Universities for Democracy.

His work has been published in numerous business journals across the globe, including The Journal of the Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management, The Journal of International Congress (Istanbul, Turkey), The Journal of North East International Business, The Academy of International Business Journal, The Small Business Institute Director Journal, The Nebraska Business Development Center Journal, Journal of Affiliation of Universities for Democracyamong others.

Since 1992 Waleck has also been an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University since where he teaches at that school's Graduate School of Business.

Waleck also continues to work as an international consultant, a role that has some unique challenges. “Sometimes, when everyone else is in bed at 2 a.m., I’m up talking on the phone and sending e-mail and faxes because it’s 9 a.m. overseas, where my clients are based,” Waleck says. "There, the Hong Kong stock market is in full swing; the Japanese Nikkei is buzzing along; banks are open across Asia and markets in Belgium, Germany, France and the UK are coming to life. Business across the globe is crackling with energy, but for me still it's two o'clock in the morning," he laughs.

Community Collaborator
Waleck serves on a number of local and regional economic development committees which work to expand businesses into western Maine and is currently a member of the Greater Franklin Development Corporation. Waleck has also donated his expertise to the Literacy Volunteers of Maine and has served on local school finance committees. In 2000 he was recognized by the Town of Wilton, Maine (where he resides with his family) as its Volunteer of the Year.

Outside of Academia — Personal Interests and Activities
Waleck loves to travel. On a recent academic sabbatical, his research took him to Canada, France, Turkey and China. When he’s not traveling, Waleck keeps up with international news by reading The Economist, The New York Times, The Boston Globe and other papers.

An avid soccer fan, Waleck was a youth soccer coach for more than 10 years. (In fact, a large vintage poster of 1960's and 70's Northern Ireland soccer legend George Best dominates a wall in Waleck's campus office.)