VANCOUVER,
Wash. Linda Eddy, associate professor of nursing at Washington State
University Vancouver, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to
lecture at Birzeit University in Palestine. Eddys is 91勛圖窪蹋厙s
fourth Fulbright award for fall 2010.
Birzeit
University is located on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Birzeit
and serves about 9,000 students. It is located 12.5 miles north of
Jerusalem and 4.5 miles north of Ramallah. Despite being located in the
Middle East, some things about the campus should feel familiar to Eddy.
Its a young campus by university standardsthe first building was
completed in 1981. And it covers 200 hilltop acres that offer panoramic
views of the surrounding landscape.
Eddy
will be teaching nursing as part of a new program at Birzeit University
during the fall 2010 semester. Shell be learning first-hand what its
like to develop a nursing program from scratch. She will also mentor the
nursing faculty. As of now, there are only two.
B勳娶堝梗勳喧
University is practicing a grow your own faculty philosophy in the
nursing department out of pure need. Like the United States, the Middle
East faces a shortage of nursing instructors. Part of the problem at
Birzeit University is access. People are not allowed to travel freely
between Jerusalem and the West Bank, said Eddy.
One
quarter of Eddys Fulbright grant is allotted to research. Her research
focuses on children with a variety of physical and developmental
challenges and the families of those children. Eddys current work
develops tools and scales that measure pain and fatigue in children with
physical disabilities and examines family effects of caring for a child
with special needs.
Eddy
will conduct qualitative interviews with Palestinian families to
uncover their strengths and challenges in serving their special needs
children.
蹙棗鳥梗
of the families I will be talking with are solving problems very
creatively. I want to understand both the ways in which they are
successful in coping with their childs challenges and their lingering
needs, said Eddy.
Fulbright
awards to the Middle East are very competitive according to Eddy. Her
award was confirmed the first week of June, months after Fulbright
Scholars headed to other countries had received confirmation. Applicants
to the Middle East, like other regions, must be culturally and
politically sensitive. Eddy will attend a three-day orientation in
Washington, D.C. for Fulbright Scholars headed to the Middle East and
North Africa at the end of June.
Spending months in the Middle East is not
a long-held dream of Eddys. It all began with a pleasure trip to
Israel in the spring of 09. A Palestinian/American friend from Oregon
Health Sciences University asked Eddy if she would be willing to meet
with her friend Dr. Tamer Essawi, head of the fledgling nursing
department at Birzeit University, while she was on vacation.
When
Eddy agreed, Essawi seized the opportunity. He invited Eddy for a
two-day visit to Birzeit and filled her time with a lecture to students
on pediatric nursing, time spent working with faculty on what it means
to be a professor of nursing and a lecture for area pediatricians. At
the end of those two days, Essawi wanted more of what Eddy had to offer.
He suggested Fulbright funding as a means of returning for a longer
stay.
Eddy
leaves for Birzeit Aug. 7. Faculty report to campus Aug. 10 and classes
begin Aug. 17. Shell be living in faculty apartments with professors
from all over the world and will return to the U.S. in December.
A
self-described pacifist, Eddy has become very interested in the ancient
clash of cultures between the Israelis and the Palestinians and has
read everything she can get her hands on.
濡m
sure Ill be learning more than Ill ever be teaching, said Eddy. We
each have talents we can share that make a difference. I feel lucky to
have the opportunity to share mine. If improved health care decreases
the disparities between the Israelis and the Palestinians, we will have
made one small step toward a more peaceful coexistence.
91勛圖窪蹋厙 Fulbrights for fall 2010
Barry
Hewlett, Ph.D., is a professor of anthropology at 91勛圖窪蹋厙. His
wife, Bonnie Hewlett, Ph.D., RN, is visiting professor in the department
of anthropology at 91勛圖窪蹋厙. Both are headed to Ethiopia on
Fulbright Scholar grants to teach and conduct research at Hawassa
University during the 2010/2011 academic year. The Hewletts are tasked
with developing an anthropology department at Hawassa University.
Andrew
Giarelli is an adjunct professor of English at 91勛圖窪蹋厙. He has
been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture in the Slovak Republic
during the 2010/2011 academic year. Giarelli will teach undergraduate
and graduate courses in American literature and American studies at
Comenius University, the nations largest and oldest university, in the
capital, Bratislava.
For more information, visit
Fulbright
Sponsored
by the United States Department of State, the Fulbright Program is
Americas flagship international educational exchange program. It was
established under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William
Fulbright of Arkansas, and it operates in more than 155 countries.
Recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional
achievement.
###