Life as a Visiting Professor at Arizona State University

Until the end of April, Per Kristensson, Professor of Consumer Psychology and Innovation, is a Visiting Professor at the Center for Service Leadership, one of the flagships of Arizona State University. We had a chat with Per to see how he is doing. 

Hello Per, how is life at Arizona State University, ASU?
- It is great! ASU is large, with 77,000 students and 12,500 employees. The University is ranked second highest in the U.S. when it comes to online education – a form of teaching that they are investing heavily into for the future. The pace here is fast, both for students and employees. As a researcher you are compared with other scientists all the time, those who succeed are well rewarded. The same goes for the students. There are some famous names associated with ASU, including former Nobel Prize Winner in Economics in 2009, Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science, and Robert Cialdini, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing and author of one of the world’s best-selling textbook in the Social Sciences. I have met Robert during my visit here and we talked about research, very interesting.
How is life outside work?
-Life here is good on all levels. The weather is fantastic, warm and sunny. It is very nice to take a hike up the Red Mountains among all catcti and rattlesnakes, the latter we have so far only seen on warning signs, and I hope it remains so. Our children go to American school and are getting better and better at the English language. We had the opportunity to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday, the finale of the American football, which is incredibly big here in the U.S. You go out to eat chicken wings, drink beer, and watch the final game.
It sounds like you are doing great, will you stay there?
- Nah, I guess I need to go home…but I am waiting until the weather gets better back home!