10 U.S. Fulbright Scholars from 2007-2008 returning to Ukraine

Ten U.S. Fulbright Scholars who were awarded grants for the 2007-2008 academic year will be returning to Ukraine this spring to follow-up on projects and activities they started during the time of their Fulbright grants in Ukraine.  The return visits of two to three weeks are made possible as a result of a decision by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars to award these grants to the scholars from funds that were left-over from the 2007-2008 program budget.

Returning scholars include:

William Roba, Department of Social Sciences, Scott Community College  -

Dr. Roba taught courses in American Studies at the Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, introducing an interdisciplinary approach into sections of Modern American Literature and the first course in Cultural Studies at the university. His visit during the last two weeks of March focused on tracking the curriculum influences he introduced during the last two years by interviewing students, faculties, and administrators; assessing curriculum development in the Division of Foreign Languages; and offering departmental seminars on the topics of American English language acquisition, literary studies, and faculty interaction involving both graduate students and senior faculty. 

Gregory Gardner, Department of Business, State University of New York-Potsdam –

Dr. Gardner taught economics and entrepreneurship in the Small Business Development Center at the Kherson State University.  The term of his grant was March 7-21 and involved a visit V.I. Karazin Kharkiv National University to collaborate on research into regional economic patterns of development, prepare a future joint publication, and to meet with administrators to explore an ongoing research and faculty exchange relationship between V.I. Karazin Kharkiv National University and Dr. Gardner’s  home institution, the State University of New York-Potsdam.  He will also visit the Kherson State University to conduct study of the entrepreneurs who were in the small business management program when he taught there in 2007/2008 to better understand the real impact this entrepreneurial training center is having on the region’s economic development.  He met with administrators and faculty from the school of Economics and Law to further university to university relations, particularly as regards student exchanges and joint research and faculty development opportunities.

Naomi Uman, an independent filmmaker

Naomi Uman was, and continues to be, affiliated with the Historical-Cultural State Preserve “Trypillian Culture in Legedzine, Cherkassy region, will visit a number of Ukrainian cities during the Spring of 2010 to show the six films, called The Ukrainian Time Machine, that she produced during her time in Ukraine.  She has shown the films in festivals from Korea to Mexico and Chile. The films Coda and Kalendar have won several prizes. She will also work with specialists on translation and subtitling on a new, as yet unnamed, video piece which is a direct continuation of the the Ukrainian Time Machine.

Susan Benz, an independent specialist in library science

Ms. Benz will return to Ukraine in early April 2010 to lecture on American library trends and conduct research on trends and issues of Ukrainian librarianship.  She plans to interview Ukrainian librarians and compare their understanding of changes in the field of library science with those described by U.S. librarians during similar interviews.  She will lecture and conduct research in the English Speaking Librarians Club of Kyiv, the Vernadsky National Library in Kyiv, the Library of Sevastopol National Technical University (Crimea), and the I. Gasprinsky Library (Centralized Library System of Simferopol, Crimea).

Allan Allday, Oklahoma State University, School of Teaching and Curriculum Leadership

In 2007-2008 Dr. Allday lectured at Kyiv Municipal Pedagogical University and provided in-service training, consultation, and direct services to teachers of students with disabilities throughout Ukraine (Kyiv, L’viv, Zhitomyr, Yalta, and Poltava) with the majority of his time spent in L’viv at Dzherelo Rehabilitation Center.  He will return to Dzherelo Rehabilitation Center in early May 2010 together with his wife, Carrie Allday, a Transition Specialist in the U.S. who assists adults with disabilities with integration into society and provides training in how to better integrate individuals with disabilities and how to teach employment skills.  Dr. Allday will conduct training with  teachers in the areas of Autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.   He will create a model classroom for students with Autism that incorporates research-validated practices. Through this model classroom, he will demonstrate the methods needed for academic and social success for students with Autism and train teachers and staff to provide instruction.

Nancy Lenihan, Pima Community College, Communication Arts Department, Tucson, Arizona

Ms. Lenihan taught English language (translation, speaking, composition and creative writing) at the Sevastopol National Technical University in 2007.  She will return to Sevastopol in mid-May 2010 to conduct English pedagogy seminars on interactive and collaborative methods of instruction with the Foreign Language Department’s English faculty at the university.

Andrew Robert Greene, Samford University, Department of Law

Mr. Greene taught a course at the Odessa National Academy of Law entitled “Environmental Law:  American and Comparative Approaches” emphasizing pollution control issues and land use and protection of threatened resources.  During his visit in late May and early June 2010 he will lecture at the National Academy of Nature Protection and Resort Building in Simferopol and again at the Odessa National Academy of Law.  His seminars/workshops will be presented to students and other interested persons on U.S. laws and regulations for protecting fragile coastal areas, wetlands and endangered species.  He will also meet with the faculties and scholars at each institution who are involved in similar matters, for example the Department of Agrarian, Land and Ecological Law at the Odessa National Academy of Law.  The seminars would provide the framework for further discussions and his own continuing research. The outcome will be a comparative law curriculum on coastal protection that would be useful to Ukrainian (and possibly American) students and policymakers.

Robert Mercer, Cypress College, Department of Journalism, Cypress, California

Mr. Mercer taught innovative courses in convergence journalism at the Lutsk Liberal Arts University in 2007-2008.  Upon his return to the U.S. he developed on-line courses that were taught in Fall 2008 at the university in Lutsk and in dnipropetrovsk, with the results that students from the US and Ukraine formed international reporting teams.  He will return in late May-early June 2010 for another round of innovative courses on convergence journalism that will link his students at Cypress College with students at the Lutsk Liberal Arts University in new joint international reporting projects.  He will also

Linda Gray, Norwich University, Department of History, Norwich, Vermont

Dr. Gray taught at American History and History of Borderlands at Dnipropetrovsk National University and at the Ivan Franko Lviv National University in 2007-2008.  In late May 2010 she will return for four weeks to continue her work with these two institutions by presenting her research on borderlands theory as it applies to Ukrainian history and current events; leading discussions on President Barack Obama’s first year in office, and on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, incorporating the requested topics of trends in education, current affairs, cross-cultural psychology, historiography and communication into the lectures/discussions.  She will also gather together a working group of the alumni of the youth leadership conference which she organized and held in May, 2008, from Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv to discuss the next steps to continue their efforts on their theme, “Together we shape Ukraine:  Time to Live Green”.

Youngtae Shin, University of Central Oklahoma, Department of Political Science

Dr. Shin lectured at the Dnipropetrovsk National University, Political Science Department in 2007-2008.  She will return to this institution in late May-early June 2010 to consult on the DNU political science department’s efforts to revise the curriculum to be in line with international standards.  She will also lecture on the political changes taking place in the U.S. since the Obama administration took office in January 2009.  She will research the outcome of the Ukrainian presidential election and its impact on the tenuous relationship between Ukraine and Russia.