Kishore Kulkarni is an accomplished economist, but it is his family of which he is most proud.

Despite a lion’s share of professional achievements that pepper his résumé, Professor of Economics Kishore Kulkarni says he is most proud of his family life.

Kulkarni met his wife—an accounting professor at Metro State—while both were playing an Indian game called Kho-Kho. His two daughters are both accomplished gymnasts and one is studying dentistry while the other sifts through college recruitment letters as a high school senior. Neither has ever known anything other than the letter A on a report card.

Kulkarni adds that when the family foursome vacations it’s a fun-filled time that inspires great celebration of his achievements outside of the classroom.

“I live life the way I want,” says Kulkarni. “It’s wonderful to be in that situation.”

He also teaches the way he wants—with a sense of humor. Despite the seriously number-crunching nature of economics, Kulkarni believes that it can be lighter fare for the palates of his students.

“Most of the things I do in my life, including teaching, I look at as a fun exercise and that applies in my classes, too,” he explains. “Education can be done with a smiling face.”

All kidding aside, Kulkarni is seriously well versed in all things economic. He has authored or co-authored seven books that are used in classrooms, including his, the world over.

“Students see almost everything that is in the book on the blackboard,” says Kulkarni. “It makes learning that much easier…they obviously relate to the book and the face of the author much better.”

He is the founding editor of the biannual “Indian Journal of Economics and Business,” another effort that enjoys world circulation and acclaim. He has written numerous articles dealing with most everything economic. And he has taken his show on the global road.

In August, he was invited to India to present an academic paper that he and two Reserve Bank of India research assistants will finalize for publication in the next few months. While there he visited five universities, including his alma mater the University of Poona in Pune, which had a ceremony for him to celebrate his graduating the first rank in merit out of 2,000 economics majors at the school as a 1974 graduate. He also did 12 hours worth of lectures at an MBA program at the School of Communications and Management Sciences (SCMS) in Kochi and was invited to become visiting faculty at the school.

Kulkarni—who has been a professor at the College since 1989 and former chair of the Department of Economics—says his international journeys are likely of great benefit to his students at Metro State. He notes that he teaches two international economics classes where much of his experience is offered up to students as practical and relevant knowledge.

In keeping with the College’s global initiative and vision of preeminence, Kulkarni initiated a May 2007 visit from a director of an Indian business school, the Institution of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University. Kulkarni says that the director visited with Metro State President. Stephen Jordan and the two schools plan to sign an exchange program agreement in the next few months to extend learning opportunities for interested students and faculty.

“Preeminence is essentially doing a better job than somebody else does,” says Kulkarni. “…If we look around, most of the schools that are preeminent are doing similar things to us.”