Fullerton Fulbright Duo

From Titan Magazine (Fall 2003)

Donald Castro, above, adviser to President Milton A. Gordon and professor of history, and Michael Steiner, chair and professor of American studies, below, will study and teach abroad as Fulbright scholars this year. The benefits they bring home—understanding, experience, insight and depth—are part of the ‘globalization’ process so vital to Cal State Fullerton’s continued growth and development. (See Titan Magazine, Summer 2003) images by Phil Channing

Cal State Fullerton's faculty members, administrators and students have participated widely as Fulbright scholars, in the United States government’s flagship program for the promotion of “mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries of the world.”

The Fulbright program’s roots go back to 1945, when it was proposed to Congress by then-freshman Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.

Michael Steiner, chair and professor of American studies, will participate in the Fulbright Program at the Maria Curie Sklodowska University’s Lublin Institute of English in Poland. Beginning in January, Steiner will be in Poland for six months as a Distinguished Lecturer in American studies.

Steiner will teaching courses titled “American Regionalism,” “American Culture and Nature” and the “Built Environment.” While abroad, he will research nationalism as an invented tradition in Poland, Hungary and the United States in the 19th century.

“I’m extremely enthusiastic about the need to study American culture within a global context,” Steiner said. “In the best of all possible worlds, we would arrange for every American studies major and faculty member to have the experience of living in another culture and seeing the United States from the outside looking in.”

When he was a Fulbright Scholar in Hungary in 1998, Steiner found that “stepping outside the hot chaos of America is a powerful catalyst and a necessary ingredient for the globalization of our discipline.”

Donald Castro, adviser to President Milton A. Gordon and professor of history, will work at Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and as a lecturer at select universities beginning in November, developing best practices for higher education.

Castro will give talks on higher education at National University in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as well as to the South East Asian Higher Education Association.

He will spend three months in Vietnam lecturing and conducting research on higher education. “I’m interested in learning more about higher education reform in Vietnam,” he noted, adding that his interest stems from the Cal State Fullerton’s exchange agreements with Vietnam and his personal connection with interns, students and faculty members.

Fulbright grants are made to both U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception, more than 250,000 participants—chosen for their leadership potential—have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions.

Of these participants, 42,200 have been overseas academics and professionals who have conducted research or taught in U.S. universities as Fulbright visiting scholars, and more than 40,100 U.S. faculty and
professionals who have engaged in similar activities abroad.

Both U.S. and visiting Fulbright scholars lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields, ranging from journalism and urban planning to music, philosophy, business administration and zoology. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals to 140 countries each year.

» List of Cal State Fullerton Fulbright Awardees

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