Short Visits Make Long Friendships

Short Visits Make Long Friendships

Flexible and Impactful: short-term grants to U.S. scholars and professionals benefit Greek higher education institutions and other organizations with an educational scope, such as cultural organizations, museums, research and medical centers, civil society organizations, state, local and municipal government.

Fulbright Greece provides support for several unique programs that aim to build capacity and promote long-lasting linkages between institutions in the U.S. and host countries by sharing their expertise and gaining international experience working on collaborative projects with their peers.

During 2022, Fulbright Greece provided awards to six U.S. scholars supporting a wide range of diverse projects:

Agricultural Education Strategic Planning to Support Agri-Food Sector in Greece 2050

Host Institution: American Farm School of Thessaloniki President Jeffrey Lansdale, in collaboration with Perrotis College and the Hellenic Open University

David Acker, Associate Dean, Global Engagement; Director, Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods; and Raymond and Mary Baker Chair in Global Agriculture; Professor of Agricultural Education, Iowa State University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ames, Iowa

Dr. David Acker completed the first of two visits to Greece in November 2022.  A project was launched to reimagine the agri-food system in Greece in 2050, including what adaptations higher education institutions would need to make in their research and education programs. Climate change, demographic changes, market forces, and other factors will influence the agri-food sector of the future. Higher education can be a leader by anticipating these changes and adapting through strategic planning. A follow-up visit is planned for June 2023 to engage a broader audience by sharing the results of the project through seminars to which representatives of the private sector and other higher education institutions will be invited. In addition to the main project, Dr. Acker was able to participate in sessions on best practices in student recruitment, experiential learning methods, faculty governance, and current research questions. The Fulbright Specialist visit was particularly meaningful for the scholar as he mentions “I started my academic career with a Fulbright grant in Greece in the 1980s.”

Educational Workshop for Greek Wine Industry Professionals

Host Organization: Wine & Spirits Professional Center (WSPC), Athens; WSPC President Konstantinos Lazarakis

Natalia Velikova, 
Professor - Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management, Department of Hospitality and Retail Management and Associate Director, Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Dr. Natalia Velikova delivered a two-day workshop on wine tourism for Greek wine industry professionals. The project was sponsored by Fulbright Greece through the Intercountry Lecturing Award Program and the Wine & Spirits Professional Center (WSPC). The collaboration was initially discussed with Konstantinos Lazarakis a few months earlier, when Dr. Velikova brought a group of Texas students for a study abroad program concerning wine tourism in Greece. They immediately saw the potential for collaboration that would be beneficial and impactful for the industry. Dr. Velikova and WSPC designed a 12-hour curriculum custom-tailored to the Greek industry’s strengths and needs. The objective of the workshop was to develop better strategies to effectively promote Greek wines worldwide and spur the growth of wine tourism in the country. Thirty professionals attended the workshop, among whom were wine producers, marketing executives, cellar door employees, and other industry professionals who wanted to broaden their knowledge and learn from global best practices.  Dr. Velikova was a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Bulgaria when she travelled to Greece in October 2022.

Deaf Education: Teaching Deaf & Hard of Hearing Individuals

Host Institution: University of Ioannina, Special Education, Department of Primary Education, Assistant Professor Eleni Morfidi and Associate Professor Spyridon-Georgios Soulis

Jennifer WardEducator for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
San Diego County Office of Education, East County SELPA, California

In October 2022, Dr. Ward conducted seminars and lectured, focusing on Special Education and Deaf Education. Students were engaged in these topics as they wanted to learn how they could provide their students with an inclusive, welcoming environment once they become teachers. In Athens, Dr. Ward visited the Secondary School for the Deaf in Athens and will continue to offer virtual seminars and professional development opportunities to teachers and students. University of Ioannina faculty and Dr. Ward have plans for future collaborative research projects related to language, disability, and refugee and immigrant issues. 

Educational Technology: eXtended Reality (XR) and Interaction Methods

Host Institution: The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Informatics & Telecommunications, Assistant Professor Maria Roussou

Brenda Lopez Silva, Associate Professor
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Department of Art and Technology Studies, Illinois

Brenda Lopez Silva shared her past research in human–computer interaction and the process that led her to the development of the XR monarch butterflies project. Faculty and students discussed the theoretical implications and the technological challenges imposed by these technologies. Brenda Lopez Silva was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Portugal when she travelled to Greece in June 2022 on an Intercountry Lecturing Award.

Jazz Music Performance

Host Institution: Ionian University, Jazz Studies, Department of Music, Corfu; Professor Dimos Dimitriadis; Dimitris Angelakis, Vibraphonist, Composer, and Educator

Anthony Lawrence Miceli, Vibraphonist and Educator
Member of the Jazz faculty at the University of the Arts and at Temple University, both in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Anthony Miceli teaches jazz improvisation, jazz ensemble, theory-harmony, jazz vibraphone and other related courses to jazz music to both undergraduate and graduate students. He also conducts master classes at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at universities and conservatories around the world.  Mr. Miceli was invited as a Fulbright Specialist for a two-week program in May 2022, hosted by Ionian University’s Music Department, Jazz Studies, which had as its primary objectives to a) familiarize undergraduate and graduate students with the Great American Songbook and ways to express themselves through the classic and modern repertoire of American jazz music, b) provide career advice and networking opportunities, and c) introduce jazz performance techniques to classical percussionists. 

Teaching with Primary Sources

Host Organization: Fulbright Foundation Greece, Train the Trainers Meeting and Workshop for Educators

Scott M. Waring, Social Science Education
University of Central Florida, School of Teacher Education, Orlando, Florida

Dr. Scott Waring participated in the annual Fulbright Train the Trainers Meeting and Workshop for Educators as an invited Intercountry Lecturer to Greece. His presentation on Teaching with Primary Sources was an interactive, hands-on session that presented pedagogical methods associated with the creation, teaching, and evaluation of history-specific, content-informed, and effective pedagogical practices that integrate primary sources into instruction. Participants learned how educators can incorporate frameworks for teaching with primary sources into instruction, such as the SOURCES Framework for Teaching with Primary Sources, through an authentic and engaging investigation of primary and secondary sources and see how they may be able to assist their students in the creation of evidence-based narratives in response to an essential question. Dr. Waring was on a U.S. Fulbright program in the Chez Republic when he travelled to Greece in May 2022.

Coming up

One of the projects lined up is with the HIGGS (Higher Incubator Giving Growth & Sustainability) initiative, which aims to reinforce Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) operating in Greece through educational and supportive programs and activities. Dr. Chuixiang Yi, currently on a Fulbright grant in Austria, will contribute on climate change, extreme weather, and social-ecosystem resilience. The GSD Accelerator, The Green and Sustainable Development Accelerator, is targeted at NPOs that are primarily working around environmental and sustainable development issues (either exclusively or with specific activities/projects). The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted for COP27 “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator. Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.” Dr. Chuixiang Yi’s talk will cover topics like why warming is the underlying source of climate disasters. What are the tipping points and instability?  How resilient are our urban spaces and forest areas to extreme climates?

Are you interested in inviting a U.S. scholar to your institution?

Short-Term Programs for U.S. Scholars and Greek Host Institutions
The Intercountry Lecturing and Fulbright Specialist Programs are two versatile, short-term programs that allow for brief visits and engagement with Greek academic institutions and organizations with an educational scope. 

The Fulbright Intercountry Lecturing Awards provide U.S. Fulbright scholars, while in Europe, with opportunities to enrich their professional and cultural experience through shorts visits for lecturing/collaboration outside their country of scholarship.

The Fulbright Specialist Program awards grants for a period of two to six weeks. Fulbright Specialist activities are designed to provide U.S. scholars and professionals in all disciplines with opportunities to collaborate with their professional counterparts at Greek institutions of higher education on curriculum and faculty development, institutional assessment and planning, as well as a variety of other activities.

More on these programs can be found here

David Acker

Fulbright Specialist Dr. David Acker (on the right), Agricultural Education, Strategic Planning to Support Agri-Food Sector in Greece 2050, American Farm School, Thessaloniki

Velikova

Intercountry Lecturing Awards, Dr. Natalia Velikova, Business and Wine Marketing, Hospitality and Retail Management, Educational workshop for Greek Wine Industry Professionals, Wine & Spirits Professional Center (WSPC) Athens

Ward

Fulbright Specialist Dr. Jennifer Ward, Educator for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Deaf Education: Teaching Deaf & Hard of Hearing Individuals, University of Ioannina, Department of Education

Lopez

Intercountry Lecturing Awards, Dr. Brenda Lopez Silva (on the right - here with host Dr. Maria Roussou), Educational Technology, 'eXtended Reality (XR) and Discussion of Interaction Methods', The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Informatics & Telecommunications

Miceli II

Fulbright Specialist Dr. Anthony Miceli, Jazz Music Performance, Ionian University, Department of Music Studies

Scott Waring

Intercountry Lecturing Awards, Dr. Scott Waring, Social Science Education, 'Teaching with Primary Sources', Fulbright Foundation, Train the Trainers Meeting and Workshop

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