Two students and two faculty members at Portland State University have been awarded federal Fulbright grants to study, teach and conduct research overseas in 2017-18.
The Fulbright program, sponsored by the U.S. Government, offers grants to study, teach and conduct research in more than 160 countries. During their time abroad, Fulbright scholars work and live with the people of the host country to promote cultural exchange.
For more details on the program and how to apply go to https://www.pdx.edu/fellowships/fulbright-grants.
2017-18 Fulbright Student Recipients
Megan Dale - Bulgaria
Megan grew up in the suburbs of Seattle and discovered her passion for international service through volunteerism and travel. After traveling to South and Central America for a year to learn Spanish, she realized her passion for International Development, and has focused her studies on the politics and cultures of the world. Through volunteering at David Douglas High School with immigrant and refugee students for two years, she realized education is her tool to share with developing countries. She has since networked and raised money for an educational non-profit in Indonesia, which she will visit and work with before going to Bulgaria. She plans to return to school for a master's degree in public service, education or immigrant services.
Stephen McNabb - Colombia - English Teaching Assistant
Stephen was born and raised in Portland where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and English with a minor in Publishing from PSU in 2015. He is currently finishing his Master of Arts in Spanish and writing a thesis related to Andean aesthetics in Peruvian literature. Stephen is the recipient of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant fellowship where he will travel to Leticia, Colombia this August to investigate the role of cultural production within a multicultural and multinational border community in the heart of the Amazon. He will also work within the local community to develop publishing and translation opportunities for young Latin American authors. Once back in the U.S., Stephen plans to use his experience in Leticia to pursue his doctoral degree in Latin American literature with a focus on cultural production, Andean and Indigenous Studies, and the role of new media within minor literatures.
2017-18 Faculty Fulbright Recipients
G.L.A. Harris - Canada
G.L.A. Harris, Department of Public Administration faculty, is the 2017-2018 recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship as the Research Chair for North American Integration (U.S.-Canada Relations). This Distinguished Fulbright Chair or named fellowship is one of only 40 such selections awarded annually and worldwide by the Fulbright Commission. Awards in this category "are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Candidates should be eminent scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record." Harris will be a visiting scholar during the fall 2017 semester at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada collaborating with faculty from the Department of Political Science, the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women and Gender Studies on groundbreaking research about women in the U.S. military and Canadian Armed Forces.
Betty Izumi - Japan
Betty Izumi, Associate Professor, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, has been selected for a 2017-18 Fulbright award to Japan. Izumi will join the Division of Natural Sciences at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. As a Fulbright scholar, she will conduct research focused on Shokuiku Kihon Ho, a groundbreaking piece of legislation passed in 2005 to address a wide range of problems at the intersection of health, food systems and culture — increasing rates of diet-related chronic diseases, shrinking and aging agriculture and fishing industries, low food self-sufficiency, and loss of traditional food culture due to globalization. Specifically, she will examine how Shokuiku Kihon Ho has been translated into practice in Tokyo elementary schools through their school lunch programs.