Beyond the Classroom: Eileen Daspro Takes the Helm at the Ahlers Center for International Business

For Eileen Daspro, clinical professor and the newly appointed director of the Ahlers Center for International Business at USD’s Knauss School of Business, the power of international education isn’t just professional philosophy—it’s personal history.

During her senior year at Tufts University, Daspro studied abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed historic city. “I moved right upon graduation, and then lived there in different parts of Latin America for 25 years,” she says. 

The experience launched a remarkable career spanning two decades of international work as a professor, researcher and manager across Brazil, France, Venezuela and Mexico. 

Today, Daspro brings that transformative experience full circle as she leads the Ahlers Center. 

Creating Connections and Leveraging Location

Daspro has been connected to USD since 2012, initially working at one of the university’s partner schools in Mexico. Now, as a clinical professor of international business, her work focuses primarily on teaching, as well as industry outreach and engagement with the business community.

In her new role at the Ahlers Center, Daspro brings a background in global experiential learning, and over 30 years of firsthand international business expertise working abroad. Under her leadership, the center is already expanding its reach through multiple initiatives. 

“The idea is to create opportunities for global experiential learning for all students at the Knauss School of Business,” she says. Previously, much of the work had been limited to international business students.

Graduate students now work on international consulting projects with clients in Japan, Germany and Argentina, while undergraduates pair with San Diego exporters like Aquacycl and Surf Loch through the Global Market Navigator Program to develop internationalization plans.

The center also capitalizes on USD’s binational location, a “huge strategic advantage,” per Daspro. Just recently, she took 20 students across the border to Tijuana to visit CETYS and Foxconn. “Our internationalization efforts can be everything from an afternoon, a day, a few weeks or a full semester.”

A Vision for Global Readiness

Daspro’s vision for success is both ambitious and measurable. “100% of our Knauss students have the opportunity to engage multiculturally in our San Diego community or internationally through an experiential learning opportunity prior to graduation,” she says.

Her approach centers on serving three distinct but interconnected groups: students, faculty and the business community. 

For students, this means international experiential learning opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate programs. For faculty, it includes “teaching abroad, international research collaborations, and scholarship that’s focused on global business themes.” For the business community, it encompasses local San Diego businesses, global educational partners, international companies and our Knauss alumni network worldwide.

The key, she says, is “making those connections between the three groups.”

Bringing It Full Circle

Daspro’s commitment to connecting education with real-world impact recently manifested in one of her proudest accomplishments. Last summer, she earned a $120,000 GoBiz grant from the California Office of Business and Economic Development to train small businesses throughout California to export.

“It was very impactful, training these small businesses that are seeking to grow and expand abroad,” Daspro explains. The program served over 25 businesses across diverse industries throughout the state while providing paid consultancy opportunities for a dozen students—many of them recent international business program alumni.

Why International Business Matters More Than Ever

“There’s been a bit of a backlash on globalization, countries turning inward, and the rise of economic nationalism, and therefore a higher degree of polarization,” Daspro explains. She points to geopolitical tensions, trade policy uncertainty and technological disruption from AI.

“Individuals might argue, do we need international business anymore if everyone’s looking inward? From the perspective of an international business professional, I’d argue that now more than ever is when we need international business, cross-cultural understanding, global collaboration and the ability to work across borders effectively.”

Honoring a Legacy

The Ahlers Center has existed since 1993 as an endowed center of international business excellence. “There are global partnerships in place that are a testament to the longevity of this institute and the accomplishments of its leadership over the years,” Daspro says. “It’s really a privilege to be a part of that legacy.”

What Daspro enjoys most about her new role is the collaboration it enables “with a much larger range of stakeholders, different departments, different areas across the whole campus.” She’s consistently impressed by the university-wide commitment to internationalization as “an essential element of our mission.”

Building the Future

Daspro continues to deepen the international connections that define both her career and the Ahlers Center’s mission. As someone who still gets excited by “packing my suitcase, crossing immigration, visiting new sites, and trying new foods,” Daspro has never lost her passion for international engagement. 

It all goes back to that first transformative experience in Oaxaca: proof that international education doesn’t just prepare students for global careers—it can reshape the trajectory of their lives.

— Katie Payne