Coastal Carolina University professor Darla Domke-Damonte has been named Executive Director of Global Initiatives, a new position that reflects university-wide emphasis on increased international relationships and activities.

Domke-Damonte was appointed by Provost Robert Sheehan to the position, which will officially begin in the 2009 fall semester. She will serve as the University's liaison on all international programs and affiliations. Her duties will include advocating, developing and managing international initiatives; facilitating faculty and student participation in Fulbright and other international scholar programs; developing University policies for international programs; working with deans to advance each college's international initiatives; and exploring appropriate partnership relationships with international universities.

Domke-Damonte, professor of management in the E. Craig Sr. Wall College of Business Administration, will continue to serve as assistant dean for international business programs and a full-time faculty member.

She has been instrumental in developing exchange programs and double-degree programs with universities abroad, particularly in Germany and, most recently, China. She has also developed bidirectional transatlantic cooperative summer school programs and successfully obtained federal funding for international programs.

Domke-Damonte, who is conversant in six languages, earned a Ph.D. in strategic management from Florida State University, a master's degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor's degree from the American University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in Russian and communications.