Three UF professors can now make a world of difference after receiving Fulbright Scholar grants to teach or conduct research abroad this year.
Ido Oren, an associate professor of political science; Paul Robinson, an assistant professor of architecture; and Sheryl Kroen, an associate professor of history, will be teaching around the world.
Kroen will be lecturing in Italy, while Robinson will teach and conduct research in Slovenia and northern Italy.
Oren, whose specialty is in foreign relations, will travel to Beijing, China, in mid-February and stay for four months to instruct students in U.S. foreign policy and foreign relations theory.
He said he will be teaching two graduate-level courses but plans to be just as much a student as his pupils.
“I’ll be teaching, but I’ll be able to learn a lot about China and about how Chinese students perceive the world,” he said.
UF Provost Joseph Glover said the program provides a new research opportunity for faculty and a chance to represent UF around the world.
“They serve as ambassadors of goodwill for the country and [UF] to the universities they go and teach at,” he said.
The Fulbright Program is a federally funded international exchange program that allows students and faculty to study, teach and conduct research abroad.
According to the program’s Web site, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program gives grants to about 1,100 American scholars and professionals per year.
