CU representatives receive holders of Fulbright scholarships

středa, 13. srpen 2014

CU Rector Tomáš Zima has received American Fulbright scholars currently studying and teaching at Charles University. At the meeting, which took place in the Carolinum on Monday 14 April, the scholars discussed their research interests and their experiences with Czech students.

Personal receptions of Fulbright scholars by the Rector and Vice-Rector are a Charles University tradition. Apart from representatives of the Fulbright Commission, headed by its director, RNDr. Hana Ripková, Ph. D., representatives of the University also met guest lecturer Professor Linney Wix, Assistant Professor Barbara H. Vann, Assistant Professor Jessica H. Wilson and postgraduate student B. Payson Croy.

Linney Wix, who is based at the University of New Mexico, is spending the whole of the 2013/2014 academic year at the CU Faculty of Education where, apart from teaching, she is also working on a study of art therapy.

This semester the CU Faculty of Social Sciences is serving as a temporary base for sociologist Barbara H. Vann from Loyola University Maryland. Courses focusing on American Studies are also organised at the same faculty and the CU Faculty of Arts by Assistant Professor Jessica H. Wilson (John Brown University).

Amongst the scholars meeting the Rector on Monday was postgraduate student B. Payson Croy from Northwestern University, who will remain in the Czech Republic until September. During her time here she is working on her study focusing on the social and cultural experiences of the German minority living in the Czech Republic since the end of the Second World War.

During the reception, the director of the Fulbright Commission, RNDr. Hana Ripková, Ph. D., noted that, within the Czech Republic, the greatest number of applications for a Fulbright grant within the Czech Republic was received from Charles University. Conversely, Americans wishing to utilise their Fulbright grants to travel to the Czech Republic were most interested in Charles University. “This is because Charles University is the best,” smiled CU Rector, Professor Zima.

The Fulbright Commission was created in 1991 on the basis of an agreement between the governments of the Czech Republic and the United States of America with the aim of promoting education, scientific and cultural exchanges based on government grant programmes and advisory and information services. The commission is jointly financed by both governments.

Autor: Helena Zdráhalová
Foto: red.