Five Portland State University professors have been awarded grants for the 2007-2008 academic year by the U.S. Fulbright Scholars Program, receiving appointments in Ghana, Bosnia Herzegovina (Sarajevo), China, Israel and Sri Lanka.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The Portland State professors are five of 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 140 countries for the 2007-2008 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program.

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 its inception, the Fulbright Program has exchanged approximately 279,500 people. The program operates in more than 140 countries worldwide.

PSU Fulbright Scholar Grantees
E. Kofi, Agorsah, Professor, Black Studies and International Studies
James Nash, Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Jennifer Helen Ruth, Assistant Professor, English
Scott Wells, Chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering
An "Steve" Xue, Associate Professor, Speech and Hearing Sciences

PSU Student Fellowship Recipients
Andrew Eickman, Urban Studies, The Netherlands
Project title: "Making Room for Equity: Containment and Affordable Housing"

Heather de Glanville, Biology, Argentina
Project title: "Plant Biodiversity and Environmental Variation"

Jean Kjellstrand, Social Work, Sweden
Project title: "Child Resilience: Pathways to Health in Sweden and the United States"

Clare Washington, History, Trinidad and Tobago
Project title: "Women and Resistance in the African Diaspora: Caribbean and USA"

The Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Among thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation.

Fulbright recipients are among more than 30,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. For more than 40 years, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has supported programs that seek to promote mutual understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. For more information visit http://www.oia.pdx.edu/ea/scholarships/awards.php.

Source:
Debra Clemens (503-725-5859)
Office of International Affairs