text: MONACA, Pa. — A company with a money management problem in Italy may not seem like it has anything to do with Penn State Beaver, but a case study of the company will be the basis for Andrea Patrucco’s fellowship.
  Patrucco, assistant professor of product supply chain management, was accepted into the prestigious Paul R. Lawrence Fellowship Program. The fellowship, given through the North American Case Research Association, known as NACRA, only is awarded to a handful of applicants from around the world each year. Patrucco said he was one of only eight people accepted out of 150 applicants in 2019.
  Patrucco is basing his study on a case he used in his home country of Italy, where he co-authored a paper with a former colleague.
  An Italian company had an issue with poor spending and wanted an action plan to improve their money management, said Patrucco. Through a process of tracking orders and gathering data on the company’s operations, he said, students were able to apply strategic ideas and propose a plan of action to save the company money.
  Patrucco said his participation in the fellowship will give him an opportunity to develop his skills over a year-long period. He will be assigned a mentor who will work with him on content, editing and teaching notes.
  NACRA is a collaborative organization of researchers, case writers and teachers, mostly in the business disciplines, who support each other’s research and writing efforts, according to the organization’s website. The fellowship program’s goal is to train doctoral students and early-career academics in case research, writing and teaching.
  Carey McDougall, director of academic affairs, described Patrucco as an “outstanding scholar and teacher who is dedicated to advancing his skills in case teaching, research and writing.”
  He has been the lead or co-author of numerous published articles, book chapters and conference proceedings and has taken part in international professional organizations since he began teaching at Penn State Beaver in the fall of 2017.
  “Dr. Patrucco is exemplary in his research accomplishments and promises to continue on this path of excellence,” McDougall said. “As a researcher whose work is case-based, this fellowship will allow him to increase the quality of his findings, an especially important goal as he is now submitting research to higher-ranked journals.”
  Patrucco will travel to Arizona in October for the annual fellowship conference.