College of A&S faculty members Andrea Case (BSCI), Derek Damron (BSCI), Xiaozhen Mou (BSCI), Colleen Novak (BSCI), Austin Melton (CS), Hassan Peyravi (CS), and Andrew Curtis (GEOG) will mentor scholars from Libya and Iraq during summer 2013 as part of Fulbright Visiting Scholar Programs hosted by Kent State University. The prestigious programs are administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau. Funding for the Iraq program is also provided by the U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq.
Kent State will host five information technology scholars from Libya and nine science and technology scholars from Iraq, including five women. The 2013 cohort of 14 Fulbright Visiting Scholars from Iraq and Libya have been assigned to 16 Kent State University faculty mentors from four colleges (CAS– 7, CAEST– 3, CCI– 2, NUR– 1), Digital Science– 1, Vice President Ed Mahon of Information Services and Vice President Grant McGimpsey of RASP.
With their assigned mentors, scholars will observe or participate in teaching and research activities including: classroom instruction; service learning opportunities; undergraduate research mentoring; faculty development seminars in use of instructional software, teaching methodologies, & research approaches; workplace visits/observation, shadowing; professional and/or departmental meetings; as well as courses and lectures.
Scholars will also meet with KSU administration and with professionals in the community as well as address academic or community groups on higher education in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regions. They will also participate in cultural enrichment events such as local sports, concerts, and theater as well as a sightseeing trip to Niagara Falls.
The interdisciplinary proposals, which were submitted to Council for International Exchange of Scholars in December 2012 under the leadership of I. Richmond Nettey, Ph.D., associate dean of Kent State’s College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology, were approved by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs in February 2013.