Four VCU faculty members honored as Fulbright Scholars

By Malorie Burkett

Fulbright Scholar grants for 2003-2004 were awarded to four Virginia Commonwealth University faculty members selected to lecture and conduct research abroad.

The recipients are:

• Paul F. Dvorak, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, who attended the Fulbright German Studies Seminar in Berlin in June 2003.
• Lynn D. Nelson, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, will lecture from February-July 2004 at Moscow State University, Moscow in international studies and comparative politics; Internet technologies; and initiatives to promote the internationalization of education.
• Carol Daugherty Rasnic, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Marketing and Business Law, began lecturing and conducting research in September 2003 at National University of Ireland, Galway, on the comparison and analysis of disability law in the United States and the European Union. Rasnic's lecture and research in Ireland will continue through July.
• Jimmie Sherwood Williams, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, attended the U.S.-Germany International Education Administrators Program in Berlin from June-July 2003.

This year, approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals received Fulbright grants to lecture and conduct research abroad. A similar number of foreign scholars received awards to come to the United States, primarily as researchers.

The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government's flagship program in international educational exchange, was proposed to the U.S. Congress in 1945 by then freshman Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Congress approved Fulbright's vision and the program was signed into law by President Truman in 1946.

Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program's inception, more than 250,000 participants --chosen for their leadership potential-- have had the opportunity to observe each other's political, economic and cultural institutions.