Main Page | Month Archive | Email Updates | RSS Feed | Print Version

John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

JULY 27, 2005 EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
by Gordon Douglas

D) WEEKLY EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
The following articles are related to educational and cultural exchange programs. Specific topics in this supplement include USG-funded exchange programs (e.g., Fulbright scholarships, Ron Brown Fellowship, International Visitors) as well as issues relating to student visas, study abroad, and NGOs involved in exchanges. The articles are aggregated weekly by GORDON DOUGLAS, THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

D.1) USG–FUNDED EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION C.2 FOR OTHER TOPICS)

1. MARCY NEWMAN WINS FULBRIGHT AWARD—JESSICA CHRISTENSEN (BOISE STATE ARBITER, JULY 27, 2005):
Marcy Newman, an assistant English professor at Boise State University, has received a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research overseas at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. The prestigious Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year.
LINK

2. PINEWOOD PRINCIPAL A FULBRIGHT PICK—NEWS BRIEF (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, JULY 27, 2005):
Pinewood Elementary Principal Nancy Guzman was selected for the Fulbright program “Brazil for Award-winning Principals.” Guzman is one of 10 principals nationwide selected to participate. She will travel to Brazil to observe various schools and participate in seminars on school management.
LINK

3. FAU PROFESSOR TO TEACH AT UNIVERSITY IN GUATEMALA CITY—LIZ BEST (PALM BEACH POST, JULY 27, 2005):
Tim Steigenga, an associate professor of political science and Latin American studies at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University, received the Fulbright Visiting Scholar award to spend six months in Guatemala City. In December, he will teach and do research at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Guatemala’s capital. He is doing research on religion, transnationalism and migration.
LINK

4. MILLERSVILLE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL HELPS KIDS WITH AUTISM—HEATHER A. DINICH (ANNAPOLIS CAPITAL, JULY 26, 2005):
Dr. Diana Strohecker’s advocacy for her students with autism has helped the majority read and do math at grade level in mainstream classrooms, and it also has earned her a six-week trip to England next spring as part of the J. William Fulbright Administrator Exchange Program.  Dr. Strohecker, who received her doctorate in human communications and its disorders from Johns Hopkins, was one of 22 school administrators in the country chosen from a field of 80 applicants. She will observe the autism program at Shakespeare Junior School in Hampshire.
LINK

5. CLINTON CORNERS RESIDENT NAMED FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR—NEWS BRIEF (POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL [NY], JULY 25, 2005):
Mary Ann Forgey has been selected to receive a Fulbright Scholar Award to visit Ireland. She will leave her home in Clinton Corners for the University College Dublin this fall to discuss U.S. social work intervention in child abuse and intimate partner violence.
LINK

6. WATERS OF MEKONG RIVER FLOW WITH MEMORIES—YER T. YANG (SHEBOYGAN PRESS [WI], JULY 25, 2005):
Second in a series of correspondence from a teacher at North High School, who is in Southeast Asia with a group of educators as part of an educational seminar, this installment details her impressions upon returning to her native Laos.  Finally we arrived at the Thai/Lao boarder, crossed over the Friendship Bridge spanning the Mekong River. There it was, before my eyes, the beast that swallowed so many lives.” ... “We checked into Asian Pavilion in Vientiane, a place that was bombed a few years ago by extremists because it was a hangout for many Americans, according to Jim Harris, a retired educator from Wausau. Wisconsin. What a small world, huh? We were warmly welcomed by our hotel hosts with a hot traditional meal at 8 p.m.”
LINK
(previous installment)

7.BOMBS STILL SCAR VIETNAM’S LUSH LANDSCAPE—DENNIS RAABE (STEVENS POINT JOURNAL [WI], JULY 23, 2005):
In a series of correspondence from a Wisconsin school principal participating in a Fulbright seminar to Southeast Asia, this installment details his impressions upon visiting Laos. One of our delegation members expressed surprise by the many golf courses which he thought he saw dotting the hills and countryside of Laos as we flew in. He had mistaken the bomb craters which scar the earth of Laos for sand traps. It is estimated that 20 percent of these explosives remain just under the surface of the earth and can be detonated upon contact.” ... “Just when I started to lose myself in the enchantment of my surroundings, I noticed a small wooden hutch with a thatched roof. Upon it sat a cable dish. Laos is indeed changing, and the change is coming quickly.”
LINK
(previous installment)

8. TWO YEARS ON A FULBRIGHT GRANT: ONE MAN’S EDUCATION IN AMERICA—PAULS H. TOUTONGHI (YEMENI OBSERVER, JULY 23, 2005):
In August of 2003, Watheeq Al-Kubaty arrived in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship. He was unsure what to expect. He’d spent all of his life within Yemen’s borders, and now he was leaving his family and traveling around the world to attend a school – Quinnipiac University in central Connecticut – whose name seemed nearly impossible to pronounce.  “Culturally,” he says, “it was really hard to adapt to the way people here dress, communicate and argue about certain issues. But after about a year and a half, I gained confidence of how to respect different cultures and beliefs and also how to communicate my culture and points of view to Americans.” These adjustments, though, were mostly intellectual. What about the fundamental, material differences between cultures? “My breakfast changed from beans and eggs in Yemen to milk and cereal in the United States,” he says.
LINK

9. PROFESSOR TO HELP CHOOSE GRANT WINNERS—ALAN MILLER (CHRONICLE-TRIBUTE [IN], JUKY 23, 2005):
An Indiana Wesleyan University professor who has received two Fulbright awards has accepted an opportunity to help choose scholars who will follow in his footsteps. Michael Boivin, who has taught psychology at IWU since 1996, has been asked to serve on a committee that will review Fulbright applications for the African Regional Research Program and for East Africa. Boivin spent the 1990-91 academic year in Congo and returned to Africa in 2004 to Makerere University in Uganda, conducting on the neuropsychological effects of malaria and other diseases in children.  Boivin’s interest in the welfare of children who live a world away began in the summer of 1989 when he traveled to the Congo to visit his in-laws. It was his first overseas trip. “That month really changed my life, just seeing the culture, the level of human need and the tremendous difference in anything I ever had experienced,” he says.
LINK

10. OU STUDENT WORKING TO BUILD BETTER WORLD—JAMES S. TYREE (NORMAN TRANSCRIPT [OK], JULY 22, 2005):
The little girl who once helped her dad with maintenance projects at his rental houses has grown into a civil engineer and Fulbright Scholar. University of Oklahoma doctoral student Lisa Holliday will spend the upcoming school year in Turkey to study how existing buildings hold up in earthquakes. Her Fulbright scholarship will take her to the Middle Eastern Technical University in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Holliday also was awarded a Boren Fellowship to help pay for studies in Turkey and later in Nicaragua.
LINK

11. TWO PENN STATE DICKINSON FACULTY RECEIVE FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR AWARDS—PRESS RELEASE (PENN STATE LIVE, JULY 21, 2005):
Laurel S. Terry and Nancy A. Welsh, professors of law at The Penn State Dickinson School of Law, have been awarded Fulbright Scholar grants for the 2005-2006 academic year, according to the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.  As a Fulbright Scholar in Cologne, Germany, Terry will research the basis for, and response to, the European Union Commission’s Report that concluded some regulation of lawyers in the EU may be anticompetitive. Welsh will carry out her work in the Netherlands, where she will research the design, implementation and outcomes of the Netherlands’ initiative to offer mediation in all of the nation’s courts and legal advice services.
LINK

D.2) OTHER NEWS ON EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE ISSUES

12. “LONG WALK FOR PEACE” BALKAN PEACE PARK PROJECT—VILDAN PLEPI (SEE.ONEWORLD.NET, 27 JULY 2005):
The Environmentally Responsible Action Group, the Balkan Institute for Research and Development, in cooperation with the New Community Albania and Preservation of Forest and Green Environment announce the “Long Walk for Peace,” to take place in Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania, August 1-12, 2005. The Long Walk for Peace is a multi-ethnic and multi-national event which will bring together the youth, decision-makers and local communities from the Balkans, as well as international observers, in a trek to promote free movement, cultural exchange and sustainable development in the cross-border region between the three countries.
LINK

13. UCCP COLLABORATION WITH MEXICO WILL PROVIDE ONLINE COURSES IN SPANISH—JENNIFER MCNULTY (SANTA CRUZ CURRENTS [CA], JULY 27, 2005):
The University of California’s online education program took a leap forward with the recent announcement of a plan to translate its online math courses into Spanish. The university has agreed to share its online materials with Mexican educators, who will translate the courses and make the Spanish-language versions available to students in California. Spanish-language courses are a key step in the development of a binational high school that would support the educational goals of students on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, said the project’s director.  This would allow migrant students to finish their high school education online in Mexico or the U.S. and would enable students in Mexico to take high school courses that would help prepare them for admission to colleges and universities in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe, he said.
LINK

14. MIDDLETOWN’S SISTER CITY HOSPITALITY—DAVE FROMER (LAKE COUNTY RECORD-BEE [CA], JULY 27, 2005):
The community is gearing up to welcome a delegation from their sister city of Naka-Cho, Hyogo, Japan, which will arrive Wednesday for a week-long visit to Lake County. This is the ninth year that Middletown Middle School and Naka-Cho Middle School have participated in an educational exchange program in which a delegation of students and teachers visit each other’s country on alternating years. This year Middletown will play host to a delegation of seven students and three teachers from their Japanese sister city.
LINK

15. FULL HOUSE AT CULTURE NIGHT—SHANNON SALYER (OREGON STATE DAILY BAROMETER, JULY 27, 2005):
For a moment, some may have thought they traveled to Mexico on July 20. Sombreros, traditional clothing, music and a big ‘Welcome to Mexico’ sign greeted guests at the Centro Cultural Caesar Chavez. “A group of Mexican English teachers are here for a month on cultural exchange and are obligated to host a night like this,” said Eve Chambers, program director and instructor at the English Language Institute.  The teachers, mostly secondary teachers, represent all of the 32 states in Mexico.
LINK

16. YOUR BEST BETS TO STUDY ABROAD—JESSICA SCHNEIDER (DECATUR DAILY [AL], JULY 27, 2005):
A brief survey of study abroad options for college students: Nearly every university in the United States offers study-abroad programs. The most convenient way, and most promising, is reciprocal exchange. The name explains it: American and foreign universities exchange students for a semester or a year. Another option is a third-party exchange. Students take one or two semesters off at their home institution and apply for a stay abroad through a third party organization. Summer school or language courses abroad are other possibilities to experience a different country and culture during college.
LINK

17. NEED TO CURB BOGUS VARSITIES—KOH LAY CHIN (NEW STRAITS TIMES [MALAYSIA], JULY 26, 2005):
Thousands of Malaysians are holding worthless qualifications from two bogus universities which may have netted more than RM28 million from their scam. The Higher Education Ministry today confirmed that Cambridgeshire University and Irish International University are bogus, and said it would review necessary laws to ensure such institutions did not operate in the country.  “In 1999, the National Accreditation Board issued a circular to all colleges informing that LAN would not process any application for course approval involving this ‘university’,” the Ministry said, adding that the British Council and the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange deny any knowledge of this ‘university.’
LINK

18. MASTERWORKS OF CHINESE PAINTING AT THE WILLIAMS COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART (IBERKSHIRES.COM [MA], JULY 25, 2005):
Williams College Museum of Art presents Masterworks of Chinese Painting: In Pursuit of Mists and Clouds, a stunning panorama of distinguished Chinese paintings from the Ching Yüan Chai Collection.  The exhibition features pieces representing virtually every period of Chinese painting over the last 900 years, amassed over nearly fifty years by preeminent scholar of Chinese art James Cahill.  Professor Cahill began collecting Chinese paintings in 1955 while on a Fulbright fellowship in Japan, where he was completing his dissertation on fourteenth-century (Yüan) painting. In his teaching, Professor Cahill used the Ching Yüan Chai collection as a primary resource; he has often said that the paintings themselves are the best teachers.
LINK

19. GOING AROUND THE WORLD—TARA MEISSNER (MANITOWOC HERALD TIMES REPORTER [WI], JULY 24, 2005):
Three Two Rivers teenagers will embark on a journey bridging cultures and building friendships overseas as this year’s outgoing exchange students through the Two Rivers Rotary Club. Bridget Gallagher, Kayla Kasten and Nicole Becker were selected as this year’s outbound students heading to Spain, Australia and Denmark respectively. The Rotary student exchange program, which began in 1976 locally, emphasizes cultural exchange rather than an educational exchange. The program includes outbound and inbound exchanges for about 11 months.
LINK

18. MUSIC PROGRAM DRAWS PUPILS FROM ALL OVER—LISA CRAWFORD WATSON (CONTRA COSTA TIMES [CA], JULY 24, 2005):
Leticia Prieto Alvarez grew up in Madrid but lives in Boston, where, on a Fulbright scholarship, she is earning her master’s degree in viola performance at the New England Conservatory of Music. Pui-Shan Cheung grew up in Hong Kong but lives in Kansas City where the young composer is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri. Alana Murphy grew up on the Monterey Peninsula but lives in Indiana, where she is majoring in piano performance at the Indiana University School of Music. But three for weeks this month, all three rising stars in the world of classical music, along with 67 others, are living in Pebble Beach, participating in the prestigious California Summer Music program at Stevenson School.
LINK

19. N.C. FIRM SENDING FOREIGN TEACHERS INTO MARYLAND SCHOOLS—DAVID DISHNEAU (NEWS & OBSERVER [NC], JULY 24, 2005
Last year, Diana Marco taught English in her native Venezuela. This fall, she’ll teach Spanish in Hagerstown as one of 10 foreign teachers hired for hard-to-fill positions in Washington County public schools. In a telephone interview from her home in Maracay, Marco, 32, said she is a little apprehensive about moving alone from a city of nearly 1.3 million to the western Maryland town of 37,000 for a three-year commitment.
LINK

Read Comments:

No comments for this entry.

Add a Comment: