KU News Release

KU faculty members receive Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards to work abroad

LAWRENCE — Three faculty members at the University of Kansas have won Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards for the 2007-08 academic year.

Gregory Cushman, assistant professor of history, has received a Fulbright for the fall semester to teach in the Georgikon Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Pannonia in Hungary. Cushman will teach courses in environmental history and its ethical dimensions.

Erik Herron, associate professor of political science and director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, has received a Fulbright grant to teach and conduct research in Ukraine during the fall semester. He will teach courses on electoral systems and democracy at Ivan Franko National University in L’viv, one of KU’s partner institutions. Herron will also conduct research, work on a book addressing post-Soviet elections, observe parliamentary elections and deliver lectures at several universities across the country.

Mashasweta Banerjee, associate professor of social welfare, has received a Fulbright to conduct research in India during the fall semester. Banerjee, who will be based in Calcutta, will focus on the ability of residents of West Bengal, India, to earn a living. By examining personal and institutional resources, she expects to better understand why 32 percent of people there live below the poverty line and why female unemployment is more than 80 percent. She hopes to demonstrate ways to implement positive changes.

One of the oldest and largest international exchange programs in the world, the Fulbright Scholar Program offers grants to college and university faculty and administrators to lecture and conduct research in 140 countries. More than 280 KU faculty members have received Fulbright grants since the program began in 1951.

KU’s International Programs coordinates all the Fulbright programs at the university. The Fulbright Scholar Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

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