UNITED STATES-ISRAEL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
קרן חינוך ארצות הברית-ישראל
Fulbright American Studies Summer Institutes
2003
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FULBRIGHT AMERICAN STUDIES INSITUTES
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. Information and Instructions 1-3
2. Managing Diversity: The American Experience 4
3. American Political Development: Ideas and Institutions 5
4. Religion in the United States 6-7
5. Contemporary American Literature 8-10
6. U.S. Foreign Policy: Foundations and Formulation 11-13
7. The Civilization of the United States – An Introduction 14
8. The U.S. Constitution: Origins, Evolution and Contemporary Issues 15
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INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
Fulbright American Studies Institutes are six-week academic programs for multinational groups of university faculty from outside the United States. Institutes are held at university campuses throughout the U.S. and focus on a particular theme or topic in American Studies. 18-30 foreign educators participate in each Institute. It should be noted that application to these Institutes is highly competitive.
The purpose of the Institutes is to strengthen curricula and improve the quality of teaching about the United States in academic institutions overseas. Each program includes two components: an intensive, four week academic seminar and a study tour of up to two weeks designed to reinforce the academic content of the seminar.
Program requirements and restrictions:
Attendance: Participants are expected to attend the entire program. They are also expected to attend all lectures and non-optional organized activities and to complete assigned readings. Family members and/or friends cannot accompany participants on any part of the program.
Methodology & Personal Research: Teaching methodology will not be addressed formally in the Institutes. Applicants should be aware that the Institutes are extremely intensive and that there will be very little time for personal pursuits unrelated to the program. While the equivalent of one day a week will be set aside for curricular research and independent study, the Institute should not be viewed as a research program.
Health Conditions: It is important for U.S. host universities to know in advance about any medical conditions which might require special assistance (wheelchair access, limitations on walking, etc) or chronic conditions.
Eligibility and selection criteria:
¨ Israeli citizenship (dual American-Israeli citizens or permanent residents are not eligible to apply).
¨ A Ph.D. degree.
¨ Previous Fulbright scholar grantees are eligible to apply only if three years will have elapsed between the ending date of one scholar award and the beginning date of the new scholar award.
¨ University teaching experience.
¨ English language fluency.
¨ Lecturers of all ranks from accredited institutions of higher learning are eligible to apply. First consideration is however, given to younger and mid-career faculty and to persons who are likely to be comfortable with campus life and a very active six-week program.
The ideal candidate will be an individual whose home institution in seeking:
¨ to introduce U.S. studies into its curriculum;
¨ to develop new courses in the subject of the Institute;
¨ to enhance and update existing courses on the United States.
¨ While the individual nominee’s scholarly and professional credentials are an important consideration in determining the suitability of potential nominees, how participation in the Institute will enhance course offerings in U.S. studies at the nominee’s home institution is equally important.
¨ Limited recent firsthand experience in the U.S. is also a factor in determining suitability in addition to a special interest in the program subject areas as demonstrated through past-scholarship accomplishment and professional duties.
Grant benefits:
¨ Limited health insurance coverage of $50,000 with $25 deductible.
¨ J-1 Exchange Visitor visa processed.
¨ Round trip international travel and allowance.
¨ Domestic travel and ground transportation.
¨ Book, cultural, mailing and incidental allowances, admissions, housing and subsistence.
Application requirements:
For further information, applicants may contact the:
United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF)
Telephone: 03-5172392; e-mail: fax: 03-5162016
Applicants who are interested in applying, should submit their curriculum vitae to the above address, and clearly indicate to which program they are applying. Curriculum vitae should include the following information:
Personal Information:
¨ Full Name, clearly indicating Family Name
¨ Home Address, Telephone and E-mail
¨ Date and Place of Birth
¨ Gender
¨ Medical, Physical, Dietary or other Personal Considerations
Professional Information:
¨ Present Position(s) and Title(s)
¨ Current Institutional Affiliation and Complete Address
¨ Work Experience, Including Previous Positions and Titles
¨ Education, Academic and Professional Training, including degrees earned and fields of specialization
¨ Active Professional Memberships
¨ Short List of Relevant Publications
¨ Previous Travel and Study or Research Experience in the United States, including dates and indication of whether such travel was supported by U.S. Government Funds.
¨ Statement justifying applicant’s participation in the Institute:
¨ Current or projected extent of the U.S. Studies content of the course(s) being taught or developed by the candidate;
¨ Likely relevance of the program to the professional duties of the candidate;
¨ The potential impact of the candidate's participation in the program on the development of the study of the U.S. at their institution or school system (in terms of enhanced teaching and curricula).
The deadline date for submission of applications is February 3rd, 2003. Applicants will be notified regarding selection or non-selection in April.
Applicants are encouraged to visit web site http://exchanges.state.gov/education/amstudy/ fasi/htm
FULBRIGHT AMERICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE: Managing Diversity: The American Experience
Host: To be determined
Dates: late June - early August (approximate dates)
The "Fulbright American Studies Institute on Managing Diversity: The American Experience" will provide 18 experienced foreign university faculty and scholars with a deeper understanding of the American experience with immigration and race and ethnic relations. The institute will impart an appreciation for how the U.S. has responded to both the challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing national-origin, ethnic and religious diversity of its population. While program might focus on the experience of selected immigrant/ethnic groups, it should include attention to the development of laws and policies governing immigration and citizenship and the impact of immigration on American society, politics and culture more broadly. Other topics/issues that might be addressed include: identity formation in immigrant/ethnic communities; the politics of bilingualism; social, economic, and cultural adaptation and political incorporation of immigrants; coalitions and conflicts among ethnic/racial groups; the role of ethnic lobbies in foreign and domestic policies; and contemporary debates surrounding issues of citizenship and membership in the U.S.
FULBRIGHT AMERICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE : American Political Development: Ideas and Institutions
Host: To be determined
Dates: late June - early August (approximate dates)
The "Fulbright American Studies Institute on American Political Development: Ideas and Institutions" should provide 18 experienced foreign university faculty and scholars with a deeper understanding of how the interplay between ideas and developments in the spheres of polity, society and economy together have shaped the evolution of American political institutions. Political institutions whose evolution might be examined include (but are not necessarily limited to) the presidency, Congress, the two-party system, the civil service system, interest groups, or the welfare/regulatory state. The institute curriculum might include a focus on the role of labor and/or race and/or gender in American political development. It might involve attention to the evolution of a particular idea, value or principle (e.g., representation, equality, democracy) and its interpretation by institutional and other actors over time. Regardless of the particular perspective adopted or approach taken, the program should aim to provide the institute participants with a clearer understanding of how policy is formulated and the character of public policy debates in the contemporary United States.
FULBRIGHT AMERICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE: Religion in the United States
Host: University of California, Santa Barbara
Dates: June 23 - August 5, 2003(approximate dates)
Designed for Specialists in: History, Religious Studies, American Studies
This institute is intended to provide foreign university faculty with an opportunity to increase their understanding of American civilization through an examination of the American religious experience. Employing a multi-disciplinary approach, the program should explore both the historical and the contemporary relationship between church and state in the United States; examine the ways in which religious thought and practice has influenced and been influenced by the development of American democracy; examine the intersections of religion and politics in the United States in such areas as elections, public policy, and foreign policy; and explore the sociology and demography of religion in the United States today, including a survey of the varieties of contemporary religious belief.
The major topics of the Institute are:
Religious history - not just church history, but the diversity of religious thought (the European traditions transplanted to the U.S., more recent non-European traditions, plus religious and spiritual movements indigenous to the country) as well as the connections among religion, society, and politics from the early days of the nation's founding down to the present.
Demography and sociology - Major religious and spiritual trends will be reviewed: the decline of the mainline Protestant establishment; the growth of Christian evangelical, fundamentalist, and Pentecostal faiths; demographic and cultural developments for American Catholics since Vatican Council II; the turn to Orthodox Judaism; the rapid growth of "new immigrant" religions, particularly Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus; new religious movements; and increase in religiously non-affiliated.
Separation of church and state - how this heritage has given rise to voluntary religious and civic organizations; how it generates a "civil religion," a set of symbols, beliefs, and practices (e.g., presidential inaugurations, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day) unifying Americans around core national identities and loyalties bound up with, yet somewhat independent of, the faiths expressed in churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. Differences between "civil religion" and "public religion" will be explored.
Religion and politics - both domestic and global. On the domestic front, the program shall look at the "culture war" debate that has raged in the U.S. over the past decade. Is the country polarized into warring factions of religious conservatives, on one side, and liberal religionists and secularists, on the other side, or is this too simplistic a paradigm considering the many issues that now divide Americans? Attention will be given to the rise of the broader ecumenical religious councils (which include Muslims, Buddhists, and other so-called "new immigrant" religions) in large metropolitan areas that have replaced older, largely denominationally based Christian clergy associations.
Globally, the group shall look at events such as those of September 11, 2001 and how they have strained relations between American Muslims and other Americans. The emerging transnational context in which we live will be examined. Topics include: How do events and developments in other parts of the world influence interfaith religions in this country? How and to what extent is religious life in this country becoming more globalized? What is the impact of American televangelists in other parts of the world, and to what extent do in-coming migrants to the U.S. bring with them images of American religion they picked up from televangelists?
Study Tour: Following a curriculum workshop led by the Academic Director, the group shall leave Santa Barbara on the study tour going first to Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis is a mid-size city in "heartland" United States that offers a vivid contrast to Southern California. A lecture on religious and urban life comparing Indianapolis and other cities will set the context. The choice of Indianapolis rests in part because it has a vibrant research center (The Polis Center) on the campus of Indiana University at Purdue University. This center is at the cutting edge in using technology for portraying the public face of American religion and, in particular, how religious groups help to define, sustain, and transform urban community in early 21st century as well as how the urban environment influences religious communities and interfaith relations. An added feature will be a visit to the Lilly Endowment, Inc., a leading funding source for the study of religion in this country. Here the participants will discuss how granting agencies play a role in shaping the academic study as well as the public's understanding of religion.
From Indianapolis the group flies to Atlanta, Georgia for exposure to the American South. Atlanta represents the progressive South, a place where participants can experience the transition from a racially segregated past to a more pluralist order. Participants will hear a lecture from a professor at Emory University on the southern religious heritage and the continuing influence of popular southern piety -- as expressed in high rates of churchgoing and a visible religious and public life dominated by Southern Baptists, Methodists, and independent evangelical churches. Here considerable attention will be paid to the racial divide in the nation's religious life and the unique role the black church has played, and continues to play as an organizing social center.
The study tour will end in Washington, D.C. with an opportunity to meet representatives from the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Religion and Ethics Newsweekly (PBS) television program, each in its own way important in generating public discussion about religion in contemporary U.S. A program review and evaluation with the Department of State Study of the U.S. Branch program officers will also take place in Washington.
FULBRIGHT AMERICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE: Contemporary American Literature
Host: Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL)
Dates: July 1 - August 13, 2003 (approximate dates)
Designed for Specialists in: Literature, American Studies
Introduction
The primary Institute theme is "Redefining American Spaces: The City, the Land and the Body." The goal is to transmit knowledge about contemporary American literature, and the cultures and landscapes from which it emerges. These explorations of geographical and cultural spaces in combination with an extensive study of the diverse ways that they are reflected in literature will give the participants a sophisticated understanding of the complexity of contemporary American literature.
This subject institute will offer a multi-dimensional and academically rigorous examination of contemporary American literature, including a significant amount of literary theory and criticism. The program content (including texts, readings and seminar sessions) will be very demanding, and will only be appropriate for participants who have significant prior knowledge of American Literature and of literary theory, criticism and practice. Participants will also need very strong English language ability.