EUGENE,
Ore. -- (July 7, 2009) -- Seven UO faculty members have received Fulbright
Scholar awards to teach and conduct research abroad during the 2009-10 academic
year. Fulbright award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or
professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their
fields. The seven UO recipients are Dennis Galvan, Renee Irvin, John Miller, Doris
Payne, William Rossi, Marc Schlossberg and Magid Shirzadegan.

Dennis Galvan, professor of international
studies and political science, will depart this fall for a research grant in
Senegal, West Africa. In his Fulbright
year, Galvan is developing a network of scholars from across the West African
region to explore hybrid institutions for managing conflict between ethnic
groups. Over the last 20 years Galvan has done field work in and around Toucar,
a small village in rural Senegal. His interest is in politics and economic
development as seen, felt and understood from the bottom up. By doing research that's very close to the
lives and experiences of ordinary people, Galvan is able to show how, in places
like Toucar, people neither fully embrace nor completely reject new, foreign
ways of organizing free markets, setting up democracy or building nations.

"Instead they borrow a bit from their old
traditions and mix in what they consider the best of modern models to make
syncretic blends or hybrids," says Galvan. "The resulting versions of markets,
democracy and the nation might look pretty strange to Western eyes, but make a
lot of sense to local people and, critically, hold their trust."

For Renee Irvin, professor of planning,
public policy and management, director of the nonprofit graduate certificate
program, and coordinator of finance and operations for the school of
architecture and allied arts, the lectureship award presents a wonderful
opportunity to study personal income and wealth policy from an international
perspective. Irvin will teach for one semester at Zhongshan University (also
known as Sun Yat-Sen University) in Guangzhou, a heavily developed province in
the South, close to the industrial powerhouse regions of Shenzhen and Hong
Kong.

"I
will also be able to observe China's nonprofit/nongovernmental sector growth up
close, which may lead to future comparative studies of U.S./Chinese civil
society and social entrepreneurship," she said.

John Miller, professor of couples and
family therapy in the College of Education, will also travel to China. The
objective of his project is to develop and study solution-focused therapy service
to be piloted at the Institute of Developmental Psychology at Beijing Normal University. While most
Chinese therapies are based on Western models, few studies have explored how to
adapt the practice of therapy to fit the Chinese culture. The results of this
project will help inform the development of culturally congruent therapies and
aid in the effort to overcome common barriers to service around the world.

"It
is a great honor for me to have a chance to conduct this research in China as a
Fulbright scholar," said Miller. "The award will provide a rare opportunity to
spend a significant amount of time in China at a moment in
history when there are many changes and advances occurring. My hope
is that this will foster a line of research and scholarship that will continue
for many years into the future."

Doris Payne, professor of linguistics, will
participate in the African Regional Research Program in Tanzania. She will work
on linguistic analysis of Il-Parakuyo Maa (Masai), which is spoken in
south-central Tanzania. The focus of the research is on verb and clause
structure of the language, how many varieties are spoken in Kenya and the
implications for developing a dictionary, grammar and other language materials
for Maa speakers. The last research of the language was conducted around 1850
and a goal of the project is to evaluate how the language has changed.

This
is the second Fulbright Scholar award for William
Rossi, professor of English. His first award was in 2002-03 when he
received a lectureship in Heidelberg, Germany. His second award, this
time in Freiburg, Germany, is a senior lecture/research award to "transplant
Oregon Green Studies in Germany." As a specialist in American literature and
environmental humanities with particular interests in the writings of Henry
David Thoreau, and a member of the English Department's Environmental
Literature faculty group, Rossi will teach courses in ecocriticism while
collaborating with American Studies faculty at the University of
Freiburg. Rossi's project calls for transplanting Oregon approaches to Germany
with the expectation that those approaches will be hybridized in return.

"Like
many U.S. American Studies scholars, much of my work as a scholar and teacher
of American transcendentalism and environmental studies has been pursued within
an exclusively U.S. framework," said Rossi.

Marc Schlossberg, professor in the department
of planning, public policy and management, will depart for the United Kingdom in
August where he has accepted a Fulbright award with the University of
Sheffield. His research project, "Sustainable City Design, Active
Transportation and Citizen Engagement," will examine how urban form influences
walking and biking. Specifically, he will look at neighborhood design,
children's travel routes to school, and citizen's role and engagement in neighborhood
mapping. Schlossberg will also teach two courses.

"I
expect this Fulbright award to open many doors, initiate a new avenue of
applied research for me personally, and add breadth and depth to the new
Sustainable Cities Initiative at the University of Oregon," said
Schlossberg.

Magid Shirzadegan, director of international
student and scholar services, participated in an international education
administrators award in Korea last month.

"Participation
in the Fulbright in Korea opened my eyes to a very rich culture. In spite
of the small size of the Korean peninsula and constant threat by its
powerful neighbors, it has been thriving economically and technologically. I
believe one of the main explanations for this success story lies in the
strength and resilience of Korean people," said Shirzadegan.

Shirzadegan
and other participants visited more than 10 institutions of higher education in
Seoul, Taegu, Daejeon and Pusan. "Most major universities in Korea
teach hundreds of courses in English attracting thousands of students
from all over the world, primarily from East and South-East Asia," he
said. "The experience and knowledge I gained from the Fulbright would not only
benefit me and my own work, but it could also be useful to the larger community
of faculty and administrators at the UO."

The
Fulbright Scholar Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs, is America's flagship international
educational exchange program. Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright
Program has sponsored approximately 273,500 American and foreign scholars.
Recipients are selected based on academic or professional achievement as well
as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

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