VCU Professors Receive Fulbright Awards

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Four Fulbright Scholarships and a Fulbright grant have been awarded to Virginia Commonwealth University faculty members.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

"These faculty are deserving of such prominent recognition for their excellence,” said Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., FACSM, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at VCU. “I congratulate them and proudly share their excellence with the world."

Kevin Beanland, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to continue his research on infinite dimensional Banach space theory. Beanland will spend February through June at the National Technical University of Athens, where he will work with a team of mathematicians headed by Professor Spiros Argyros.

“I was thrilled to learn that I’d received the Fulbright,” Beanland said. “In pure mathematics, as opposed to applied math, we don’t need fancy equipment - only a pencil and paper and thoughtful collaborators. The Fulbright is making it possible for me to work with brilliant mathematicians on the other side of the world. It’s a terrific opportunity for me and my family.”

Paul Bukaveckas, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biology and in VCU Life Sciences Center for Environmental Studies, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend the fall semester of 2010 in residence at the Coastal Research and Planning Institute of Klaipeda University in Lithuania. Bukaveckas will participate in the development and teaching of a trans-EU graduate course in Estuarine Food Web Modeling and initiate comparative field studies of nutrient cycling in near-shore areas of the Baltic Sea and Chesapeake Bay.

“My prior Fulbright in Lithuania came shortly after their independence from the former Soviet Union. It was an interesting time to be there,” said Bukaveckas. “Now, over a decade later, I expect that things will have changed quite a bit. Klaipeda University has improved its research infrastructure and hosts graduate students from all over Europe who have an interest in Coastal Conservation.”

Wendy Kliewer, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychology, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend January through June in Durban, South Africa, at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN). She will work with UKZN faculty and students on a study of caregiver perceptions of the challenges facing adolescents and messages caregivers convey to their adolescent children regarding coping with violence, alcohol and drug use and sexual risk-taking behavior.

“I am very excited about this opportunity to live and work in Durban, South Africa, with colleagues from the University of KwaZulu-Natal,” Kliewer said. “This opportunity to extend the NIH-funded research I have conducted at VCU on violence, parenting and drug use to South Africa is a dream come true for me.”

Marie E. Anzalone, ScD., assistant professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to spend June through December 2011 as a visiting lecturer and researcher at University College Cork in Ireland where she’ll help to bring a shift from a research to a clinical doctorate program and introduce on-line methods of instruction for students. She’ll also work with occupational therapists on implementing and evaluating family centered interventions in Ireland’s developing early intervention system.

“I am excited and thankful for the opportunity to experience a different culture and system of health care delivery. As an occupational therapist in the U.S., I was very active in implementing the federal mandate for family centered care in the early 90s,” Anzalone said. “The opportunity to share those experiences and to learn from the Irish therapists during their implementation of a national system will become a capstone to my career.”

Timothy Bajkiewicz, Ph.D., associate professor, School of Mass Communications, received a Senior Specialists Grant in Communications and Journalism. He will be a visiting faculty member and lecturer on convergence journalism and new media delivery models from May 9, 2010 to June 2, 2010, at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten in Austria.

"This is a really exciting time for media and communications here in the U.S. and internationally, Bajkiewicz said. “Fulbright provides a unique opportunity to interact with students and scholars from another culture. It's a great two-way street. I'm looking forward to sharing what I know and in return learning how Austrians think about media."

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has provided nearly 300,000 students, teachers and scholars worldwide with the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about others’ political, economic, educational and cultural institutions. The Program operates in 155 countries.