Published May 26, 2020
The University of Louisiana Monroe announces Jeffrey Anderson, Ph.D., has received
an esteemed Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to teach American History in Slovakia
in fall 2020 and spring 2021.
Anderson, Professor of History in the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences, was
selected by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship
Board.
As part of a project entitled “New Perspectives and Novel Subjects in American History,”
Anderson will offer courses at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice on topics
familiar to his students at ULM: a survey of U.S. history; the American South; African-American
history; Voodoo, Hoodoo, and Conjure; and the transatlantic African diaspora.
“I look forward to presenting some new perspectives on American history that students
there may not have encountered,” said Anderson. “African-American history, for example,
is probably not something you can learn a lot about in that Eastern European setting
because it doesn’t have the immediate relevance there that is does in the United States.
And I suspect that thinking about the Atlantic as a means of transporting culture,
information, and technology rather than as a barrier will be for many undergraduates
a new way of looking at history.”
Anderson chose to apply to do research in Slovakia in part because of that country’s
interest in historical studies and the humanities in general, and in part because
of the enthusiasm expressed to him by Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in particular,
which was eager to support his project and to host its first Fulbright Scholar. In
addition to conducting courses, Anderson will present guest lectures on U.S. foreign
affairs in the 20th Century and American perspectives on the Cold War.
“The university’s students have an interest in the international relations aspect
of American history,” explained Anderson, “so that ties in with what I do here at
ULM in my Contemporary History class.”
The Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, Project Developer Meghan Risinger,
worked with Anderson on the application.
“OSPR was very excited to assist Dr. Anderson on this application and know that it
was his talents and discipline that made this possible,” Risinger said.
Anderson is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and/or
provide expertise abroad for the 2020-2021 academic year through the Fulbright U.S.
Scholar Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic
and professional achievement, as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership
in their respective fields. Fulbright alumni constitute a distinguished fraternity
that includes 59 Nobel Prize laureates, 84 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 37 heads of
state.
Several ULM faculty members have previously received Fulbright Scholar awards, including
Chris Blackburn, Ph.D., Professor of History, and Catherine Wilson, Ph.D., Associate
Professor of Communication.
John Pratte, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences, underscores
the significance of the ULM history professor’s award.
“This is a tremendous honor that recognizes Dr. Anderson’s expertise in teaching and
research,” Pratt said. “He is one of the foremost experts in the field, and the students
in Slovakia are receiving an amazing opportunity to be exposed to a subject that is
rarely taught in Europe. We look forward to his sharing his expertise with them, but
also to what new experiences he will bring back to his classroom and research here
at ULM.”
For Anderson, the mission to foster knowledge between cultures and to introduce people
to new cultural contexts is deeply appealing.
“Slovakia is almost entirely outside of my experience,” Anderson said. “I have not
been to many places in eastern Europe at all, other than Hungary. But that’s one of
the goals of the Fulbright program, to send Americans to places where they haven’t
been and where the people in those countries have not had a lot of interactions with
Americans. So it’s meant to be this sharing of experience, and from that standpoint
it’s exciting – it has that appeal of being unknown and an opportunity to broaden
my horizons.”
There is also the excitement of broadening others’ horizons through his experience
in the program. Anderson looks forward to bringing back to ULM a sense of the rewards
of international travel and intercultural dialogue. People need urging, he reflects,
before they venture into the unfamiliar and the unknown.
“I hope I will get opportunities to speak about the experience of being on a Fulbright
and to encourage people to understand that stepping outside of what you’re used to
can be very, very rewarding – not a scary experience but an experience that makes
you better and makes your life better,” said Anderson.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational
exchange program and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of
the United States and the people of other countries. Since its establishment in 1946
under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas,
the Fulbright Program has given more than 390,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists,
and professionals of all backgrounds and fields the opportunity to study, teach and
conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international
concerns.
