The Fulbright Program was established as a post-World War II exchange program to promote mutual understanding between Americans and others around the world. Two recent graduates and two faculty members are representing UM in Fulbright programs this year.
William Sharman (BA 07), an international studies graduate from Greensboro, N.C., lived in Germany during that country’s reunification and remembers hammering on the Berlin Wall. He studied in Giessen, Germany, during spring and summer 2006 and now has returned to Mönchengladbach, Germany, as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program to teach high-school English and to continue his studies of German, political science and history.
Mary Catherine Boehmer (BA 07), a linguistics graduate from Biloxi, has been sent to Irkutsk, Siberia, for 10 months. She is also teaching English as part of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program, continuing to learn Russian and researching the sociological effects of the Soviet language policy. This is Boehmer’s second trip to Russia. She studied at Moscow International University in fall 2006.
In addition to these recent graduates, two professors are participating in the Fulbright Scholars Program.
Joshua Howard, associate professor of history, is spending a year at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing to research Chinese composer Nie Er, who was active in Shanghai’s burgeoning film industry and leftist art circles during the 1930s. Er is best known for composing the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China.
David Galef, professor of English, will spend four months in Tokyo teaching 20th-century science fiction and the modern American short story at Sophia University and Japan Women’s University.