Spring 1999

Four faculty honored as Fulbrights

News that a college or university has had one or even two faculty members receive Fulbright Scholar Awards in a single year is an honor. To have four professors within a month selected by the Fulbright Scholar Program to teach or study internationally is a distinction few colleges can claim.

Rose-Hulman can boast of that distinction because professors in the departments of civil engineering, humanities and social sciences, and mathematics have received Fulbright honors.

Chosen as new Fulbright Scholars were Scott Clark, associate professor of anthropology; LeRoy Franklin, professor of mathematics and statistics; and Peter Parshall, professor of film and literature. Sharon Jones, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, was selected for a Fulbright Seminar Award.

"This is an impressive achievement for your faculty," stated Christine Morfit, deputy director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, the organization that cooperates with the U.S. government to administer the Fulbright program.

"It's quite unusual considering the number of faculty at Rose-Hulman," Morfit said. Rose-Hulman has 120 full-time teachers.

Only 1.7 percent of the Fulbright grants are awarded to faculty at specialized institutions like Rose-Hulman, according to Morfit.

For 53 years, the Fulbright Scholar Program has offered funds through grants for faculty to lecture and conduct research around the world. The program's goal is to increase mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries.

This is not the first time Rose-Hulman faculty have received Fulbright awards. At least seven others in recent years have earned the prestigious honor.

A common theme expressed by Rose-Hulman's Fulbright recipients is that their overseas experiences will improve their ability to provide students with an international perspective.

How Japanese and American engineering ethics differ will be the focus of Professor Scott Clark's research during his nine-month Fulbright experience in Japan.

"I'll work with engineering design teams to learn how ethical issues are identified and study the processes for decisions and resolutions," said Clark.

"There's very little information available to compare ethical practices of engineers in Japan with those in America. My work will be basic research. I'll gather new information during my visits to three large Japanese corporations and during contacts with smaller businesses," he explained.

Clark will be affiliated with the Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) Center for Applied Ethics in Engineering and Science.

Mathematics Professor LeRoy Franklin says teaching at the University of Iceland will provide him the opportunity to "think outside the box."

"Interacting with colleagues and students from a different culture will make me think about things differently.

"The experience will be a healthy breath of fresh air professionally. I'll reflect on my teaching and how I can improve," he said.

Franklin will teach during the spring semester in the university's Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. He will probably teach engineering statistics or quality control and experimental design.

Jones will meet with academic and industrial officials in six German cities to discuss environmental protection and alternate forms of energy. She is one of 15 American faculty selected for the intensive, three-week program in June.

German engineers include environmental concerns as a very important element in the design process, according to Jones.

"Germany is a leader in the reuse of materials because they have limited land available for waste disposal," she explained. "They also have taken an aggressive approach to reducing emissions. German engineers design for the environment and with the idea of reusing materials," Jones said.

"What I bring back to the classroom will be very important. Germany is setting the example of how do to things right in regard to environmental engineering," she explained.

Parshall will teach up to four courses about film in American culture next fall in the Department of American Studies at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany.

"How cinema influences the impressions Germans have of Americans and our culture is a question I want to get answered," Parshall remarked.

"It'll be very interesting to find out what Germans see in American films that we don't," he said.

"They will perceive things in Hollywood films differently than we do. Those differences will help me teach my students to look more carefully at the messages contained in films."