Grambling State University has been awarded another Fulbright-Hays international studies grant for $63,000, this time for a five-week program in Turkey. This is the most prestigious faculty professional development grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Dr. Sue Abraham, associate professor of psychology, who wrote the proposal, has stated that the grant will enable Grambling State University to provide leadership in international studies by recruiting 15 professors in social sciences, humanities, education and business from college and universities in the South and giving them first-hand exposure to a country in the Middle East, which serves as a bridge between the East and the West.
Dr. Abraham has been involved in several such Fulbright seminars since 1974. She has participated in Fulbright grants in Indonesia, Brazil and China and directed two such international programs in India (1981) and in China (2001).
The Fulbright-Hays Seminar grant is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary five-week program in international education and cross-cultural studies. This is also one of the most competitive grants since top universities, colleges, state Departments of Education and international studies organizations compete for the same grant.
The grant, titled “Seminar on Women, Religion and Secularism in an Islamic Society,” is for five weeks to travel, seminars, lectures, field trips, interviews and conferences in Turkey.
The primary purpose of the program is to diversify and strengthen international education, area studies, Middle Eastern Studies and Women’s Studies at Grambling State University and other participating schools.
Although participants may be selected from any college and university in the United States, Grambling State University is responsible for the selection and orientation of participants and the entire academic program in Turkey.
Dr. Abraham says that she would like to see good GSU faculty participation in the program.
Conferences and lectures are planned at Middle East Technical University, Ankara University, the Attaturk Higher Institution of Culture, Language and History, Dokuz Eylul University, and Istanbul, Ankara, Urgup, Kapadokya, Konya, Aspendos, Ephesus and Selcuk.
Archaeological sites will include Roman and Ottoman sites as well as Anatolian and Greek civilizations and the Biblical Antioch.
Tentative dates are June/July 2006, and faculty members interested in the seminar may contact Dr. Sue Abraham at Ext. 2225 sometime in September 2005.
The federal grant covers international travel from Monroe to Turkey, all travel within Turkey, hotel, meals, field trips, academic program and most cultural events.