About Austin Education

Empowering Institutions. Advancing Research. Inspiring Future Leaders.

Founded on a legacy of academic excellence and visionary leadership, Austin Education serves as a premium educational network connecting elite scholarly research, higher education executive consulting, and transformative youth development. Under the direction of veteran educator and university administrator Dr. Robert Chi, Austin Education acts as a strategic catalyst—elevating institutional standards globally while building foundational pathways for the next generation of leaders.

Our Mission

To foster excellence across all levels of education by delivering top-tier academic publishing infrastructure, providing rigorous strategic consultation for university leadership and global accreditation, and engineering immersive youth programs that inspire lifelong academic curiosity and leadership.

Our Vision

To be a premier global conduit for academic and institutional advancement, where universities achieve gold-standard compliance, researchers publish impactful global insights, and students cultivate the critical thinking required to shape the future of business and technology.

Our Three Foundational Pillars

Austin Education drives impact by bridging three distinct educational domains into a unified ecosystem of excellence:

Academic Advancement & Open-Access Research
We champion international scholarly collaboration as the proud home of the Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (JECR). For over 25 years, this peer-reviewed, open-access quarterly publication has shaped the global discourse on digital commerce innovation.
Institutional Excellence & Higher Education Strategy
We partner with university boards, executive teams, and business school founders to navigate complex regional and programmatic compliance frameworks. Backed by real-world presidential and dean-level experience, we provide blueprinting for AACSB and WSCUC certifications.
Transformative Youth Development
We believe the foundation for future university success begins early. Through our immersive summer camps, we transition young minds from traditional rote learning to advanced, real-world problem solving and leadership development.

Our Core Values

Integrity & Quality: Maintaining absolute academic and operational rigor in publishing, consulting, and instruction.
Global Synergy: Bridging resources, institutional knowledge, and operational support across universities worldwide.
Forward-Thinking Strategy: Aligning traditional higher education governance with modern technological shifts and market demands.

Our Leadership Team

Dr. Robert Chi

Founder & Principal Consultant, Austin Education

President, Virscend University

Dr. Robert Chi is a distinguished university executive, strategic institutional consultant, and veteran educator with over three decades of leadership in American higher education. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from The University of Texas at Austin, specializing in information systems and artificial intelligence application models.

Dr. Chi's extensive administrative portfolio includes serving as Associate Dean for Accreditation (5 years) and Department Chair of Information Systems (6 years) at the College of Business at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), alongside a 31-year teaching tenure spanning CSULB, the University of California, Riverside (UCR), and other prominent institutions. In 1999, he co-founded the globally recognized Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (JECR). As an expert accreditation architect, Dr. Chi routinely advises university boards and executives globally on navigating high-stakes AACSB and WSCUC frameworks, while actively guiding institutional growth as the President of Virscend University.

Dr. Melody Kiang

Co-Founder & Chief Research Advisor, Austin Education

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (JECR)

Professor, California State University Long Beach

Dr. Melody Kiang is an elite academic scholar, research pioneer, and a prominent senior faculty member at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She earned her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the prestigious McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, focusing her advanced research on data analytics, artificial intelligence applications in business, and electronic commerce frameworks.

In 1999, Dr. Kiang co-founded the Journal of Electronic Commerce Research (JECR) alongside Dr. Robert Chi. Serving as its Editor-in-Chief, she has spent over 25 years piloting the journal into an elite, internationally indexed global publication (SSCI / Scopus Q1-ranked). Her deep expertise in academic screening protocols, peer-review infrastructure, and research methodology serves as the bedrock for Austin Education's publication pillar, bridging international research talent with gold-standard scholarly publishing systems.

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