Bulgarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange No 68 www.fulbright.bg Newsletter January-March 2012 Sofia 1000, Al. Stamboliiski blvd., tel. (359 2) 981 85 67, 980 82 12, 981 68 30; fax (359 2) 988 45 17; E-mail: [email protected]; Internet: www.fulbright.bg, www.fisi-bg.info Fulbright Commission Activities in 2011 Message from the Executive Director ear colleagues and friends, We have just entered the year 2012 and before mov- Ding forward, let us quickly look back and take stock of what we did so that we could continue on the chosen path fully aware of what we need to further improve our work. In 2011 all our activities aimed to fulfill the goals of the Ful- bright exchange as defined in the 1961 Fulbright-Hays Act and the 2003 agreement between the US Government and the Gov- ernment of the Republic of Bulgaria. They could be summed up as promoting mutual understanding between the people of Bulgaria and the people of the US through exchange of education, knowledge and cultural values. Grant Activities In AY 10-11 the number of US grantees was 27: six lecturers, four graduate students, ten English teaching assistants, two Fulbright-Hays researchers, and five senior specialists. The lec- turers came from the following fields: law, history, journalism, and painting. They were placed at Sofia University, New Bul- garian University, the American University, and the National Prof. Dr. Julia Stefanova Executive Director In This Issue: Bulgarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange Fulbright Commission Activities in 2011 01 Fulbright Office News 04 Academy of Arts. The senior specialists were experts in the fol- lowing spheres: ecology, anthropology, U.S. studies, hearing Announcements 08 and speech sciences, and endocrinology. They were hosted by Plovdiv University, Sofia University, New Bulgarian University, EducationUSA Success Story 10 South-West University, and the Medical University of Sofia. The Commission also hosted four US graduate students in interna- To Chicago and Back 11 tional studies, psychology, theology and religion, and music. They were placed at appropriate institutions, such as the cau- Out of America 14 cus of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms Party at the Bul- garian National Assembly, the Animus Foundation, the Bulgar- N68, January-March 2012 01 Newsletter Bulgarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange ian Helsinki Committee and the National Academy of Music, students who work in foreign language schools in the towns Dance and Fine Arts. of Sofia, Vratsa, Vidin, Montana, Blagoevgrad, Kardzhali, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Shumen, Lovech, Haskovo, Sliven, Ruse, Varna, With the financial support of America for Bulgaria Foundation, Burgas, and Dobrich. the English Teaching Assistantship Program was expanded and proved extremely useful for students and hosts alike. The In AY 2010- 2011 there were 15 Bulgarian grantees in the fol- ETAs were placed in the following schools: Plovdiv Foreign Lan- lowing categories and fields: six scholars in chemistry, fine art, guage School, Plovdiv; St. Kliment Ohridski Foreign Language plant pathology, geography, ethnology and literary theory; six High School, Blagoevgrad; Romain Rolland Foreign Language graduate students in social psychology, sociology, political sci- High School, Stara Zagora; Foreign Language High School, ence, communications, law and business administration; two Pleven; Ivan Vazov Foreign Language High School, Smolyan; non-degree doctoral researchers in literary theory and finance, Nikola Vapzarov Foreign Language High School, Shumen; First one Hubert Humphrey fellow in law. English Language High School, Sofia;Exarch Yossif Foreign Lan- guage High School, Lovech; Professor Assen Zlatarov Foreign The scholars were awarded 5-month grants to work in presti- Language High School, Haskovo; Geo Milev Foreign Language gious US universities and research centers: Stanford University, High School in Dobrich. University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, Agricultural Research Ser- vice USDA, Ohio State University, Harvard University, and Uni- The Fulbright Senior Specialist Program made it possible to versity of Pennsylvania. All of them have returned to Bulgaria. host five US experts at New Bulgarian University, the South- Their final reports express great satisfaction with the Fulbright West University in Blagoevgrad, Sofia University, Plovdiv Uni- experience. Of the eight graduate and non-graduate students, versity, and the Medical Academy in Sofia. Their projects com- four returned to Bulgaria after completing their programs. The bined lecturing with faculty consulting and participation in others are still studying in the US. Their periodic reports indi- conferences. cate that they are doing well and most probably will complete their degree programs successfully. The recipient of the Hu- In April 2011, the Commission hosted an enrichment seminar bert Humphrey Fellowship completed his research in the field for US graduate students from Central and Eastern Europe, and of law successfully and returned home hoping to be able to Eurasia. The Seminar entitled Social and Cultural Integration in contribute to the successful completion of the Bulgarian legal 21st Century Europe was supported by ECA and IIE and gathered reform. 35 US Fulbright students working on projects in Albania, Ar- menia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, The publicity campaign for the AY 2011-2012 competition Macedonia, Moldova, Slovenia, Romania, and Turkey. They had yielded a total of 48 applications: 32 for graduate study grants, the unique opportunity to meet each other and form a net- 13 in the senior scholar category, and three for Hubert Hum- work, to present their research and hear lectures by prominent phrey fellowships. Five scholars were finally selected in the fol- Bulgarian and American speakers. lowing fields: philosophy, animal breeding, biogeochemistry, dental medicine, and environmental science. Four of them have The new group of US grantees attended the annual two-week already started their projects at prestigious US institutions: UC Fulbright International Summer Institute held in the famous at Riverside, Rice University, University of Florida, Gainesville, mountain resort of Bansko in August 2011. Fulbright scholars, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. One scholar students, and ETAs were offered a wide variety of interdisci- will begin his programs in March, 2012 at the Catholic Univer- plinary courses, workshops, and two introductory courses in sity of America in Washington, D.C. Bulgarian language and Bulgarian culture. In the student category six students were approved and are The AY 11-12 competition resulted in the selection of 29 US currently enrolled in master’s programs in electronic com- grantees, most of who are already working in Bulgaria. In the merce, graphic design, business administration, law, and com- senior scholar category, there are five lecturers in creative parative literature. Our graduate students are strong and highly writing, business administration, applied linguistics, law and motivated and it is hardly surprising that they were admitted choreography. There are four students in ethnomusicology, to top universities with financial support: New York University- filmmaking, art history and music. Thanks to the continuing Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Savannah College of Art support of America for Bulgaria Foundation the English Teach- & Design-Graduate School, Emory University - Goizueta Busi- ing Assistantship Program has been doubled and includes 20 ness School, Boston University-School of Law, and University 02 N68, January-March 2012 Bulgarian-American Commission for Educational Exchange Newsletter of Texas at Austin-Graduate School, and the University of Okla- scholar from the National Academy of Art, Sofia, together with homa at Norman. One six-month non-degree study grant was his students at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford, created a awarded to a doctoral student at the University of Rochester. collaborative mural painting entitled Human and Science. The The joint scholarship with Thanks to Scandinavia Institute was mural was exhibited at the central lobby of the university ad- awarded for a fifth consecutive year. The grantee was enrolled ministrative building.. in a LLM program at Boston University. Non-Grant Activities Two research scholarships for the study of civil society were awarded for AY 2011-12. A photographer from National Geo- During 2011 the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission continued graphic – Bulgaria was invited to document the traditions and to carry out a variety of non-grant activities: educational ad- culture of the Crow Tribe at Crow Agency (Baaxuwuaashe), vising, language training, computer and paper-based testing, Montana. The second grantee is an expert in media studies FISI etc. The total number of users of services offered by the and recently started his research on the freedom of speech in Fulbright Commission is 78,363. A good indicator of the rising the new media at the Center for International Media Assistance popularity of the Fulbright program and the Fulbright Com- in Washington, D.C. The recipient of the AY 2011-12 Hubert mission is the dramatic increase of website visitors: 18 288 in Humphrey fellowship is currently working at the University of AY 2009-10 and 58 938 in AY 2010-11. Maryland, College Park. Worth mention is the Commission’s regular participation in na- tional and international educational exhibitions and fairs. Grantees’ Accomplishments