UD Professor Receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award
May 23, 2016
DUBUQUE, Iowa – Dr. Sean Benson, professor of English at the University of Dubuque, received a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Barbados. During the 2016-17 academic year, Benson will teach English Renaissance literature at the University of the West Indies near Bridgetown, Barbados.
“It’s a good fit for me professionally,” Benson said, adding. “I hope to understand another educational system and culture that is quite different from our own.”
Benson is one of over 1,200 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and provide expertise abroad for the 2016-2017 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Fulbright recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.
“This award is a confirmation of Dr. Benson’s fine work as both a scholar and a teacher,” said Mark Ward, vice president for academic affairs at UD. “The entire faculty celebrates with him and looks forward to the perspectives and experiences that he will bring back to the UD classroom.”
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, and it is designed to build relations between the people of the U.S. and the people of other countries that are needed to solve global challenges. The Fulbright Program is primarily funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. It operates in over 160 countries worldwide.
Benson will travel to Barbados with his wife, Jennifer Benson, teaching specialist faculty at UD, and their two children, Derek, 17, and Gabi, 12.
“Jen and I want our kids to better understand the world, and I am confident that teaching in Barbados will make me a better teacher for my UD students when I return,” Benson said.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Fulbright Program’s establishment under legislation introduced by late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. Since then, the Program has given more than 360,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.