Wittenberg Joins Elite National List In Number of Fulbright Recipients
The Chronicle of Higher Education, the world's leading news publication in academia, has named Wittenberg one of the nation's top producers of Fulbright Scholars among bachelor's institutions. Already an established leader in the liberal arts in the number of prestigious Fulbright Awards received by faculty and students, Wittenberg recently learned that two more members of its university family have earned the coveted distinction.
Click here to read the article in the latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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Michael Anes |
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Michael Anes, associate professor of psychology, is the third faculty member at Wittenberg in this year alone to receive a Fulbright Award. Anes joins
Heather Wright, assistant professor of political science, and
George Hudson, professor of political science, in receiving the prestigious recognition. Anes is currently conducting collaborative research with Piotr Jaśkowski, head of the Department of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Finance and Management in Warsaw, Poland, a private university. Along with colleagues in Jaśkowski's lab, Anes is working with specialized cognitive neuroscience equipment to study how the two hemispheres of the brain pay attention to the visual world, specifically how they work together to rapidly identify faces.
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Blake Troxel |
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At the same time,
Blake Troxel, class of 2005, has been awarded a Fulbright U. S. Student Program scholarship to continue work on his master's degree in ecology/environmental studies at Yale University's School of Forestry. The scholarship allows Troxel to return to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, where he previously served for three years in Gaua with the Peace Corps, to continue his postgraduate studies with Vanuatu's Department of Forestry in the capital city of Port Vila, on the island of Efate.
During his previous work in the South Pacific, Troxel became proficient in the local language, which will benefit the sociological portion of his work. He will "use in-depth interviews, among other tools of social science, to gauge traditional resource management practices, resource use patterns, the cultural importance of specific resources and emerging conflicts that could affect the implementation of a management plan."
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Heather Wright |
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Troxel added that his environmental research will attend to the "biophysical inventory of soils, and of terrestrial and aquatic resources." His efforts will be completed under the supervision of Vanuatu's Department of Forestry and in conjunction with its Pacific Alliance for Sustainability forest conservation project, sponsored through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) regional office in Samoa. The research for and the design of the Lake Letes Conservation Area management plan, and the resulting document, will become the capstone of his master's degree and respond to the local landholder's desire for ecological conservation and resource management.
Click here to read a full-length news release about Troxel.
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Valerie O'Brien |
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Troxel's news follows another recent graduate's Fulbright recognition.
Valerie O'Brien, class of 2010, who graduated with a B.A. in biochemistry & molecular biology and a B.A. in German, is using her Fulbright to work with Dr. Jürgen Brockmöller at the University of Göttingen examining interactions between drug transporters and drug-metabolizing enzymes.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.
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George Hudson |
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For the 2010-2011 academic year, Anes will remain in Poland, where Wright is also currently teaching graduate-level courses in American studies and gender studies, and conducting research at the University of Lodz, in Lodz, Poland, in its Department of Transatlantic and Media Studies.
Hudson, who also serves as the director of Russian and Central Eurasian Studies as well as department chair of political science, is teaching and conducting research in the Department of International Relations at Tbilisi State University in Georgia, where he will focus on Russian-American relations on third nations and regions, emphasizing the impact of the relationship on Georgia and the Caucasus region.
For more on Wittenberg's Fulbright record, click here.
