EUGENE–Seven University of Oregon students–Kyle T. Evered, Sarah Gilman, Thomas Kealy Jr., Tim C. Rohrer, Roberto J. Serralles, Hogan M. Sherrow and Justin B. Smith–have received Fulbright scholarships for the 1998—99 school year. They join the ranks of 135 other UO students who have received the prestigious awards for study abroad in the past 27 years.

The Fulbright Scholarship is an academic and financially attractive award that pays all expenses of recipients for the duration of the grant, usually one academic school year. Fulbright scholars also receive a small stipend; the amount depends on the host country and its respective cost of living.

Recipients are selected for their academic and professional qualifications, as well as for their ability and willingness to share ideas and experiences with people of diverse cultures. Scholarships are awarded through an open competition administered by the U.S. Information Agency.

The Fulbright grant program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by former U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.

"Many of the European countries were in debt to the Unites States following World War II, and Senator Fulbright from Arkansas proposed that instead of paying those loans, our students could go and study in Europe as part of a major scholarship program," said Tom Mills, director of the UO Office of International Education and Exchange.

By involving U.S. students, teachers and scholars as well as foreign residents, the educational and cultural exchange program is designed "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." It is sponsored not only by the U.S. government, but also by more than 100 governments and universities around the world, Mills said.

• Kyle T. Evered of Eugene, a Graduate Teaching Fellow and doctoral degree student in geography since fall 1996, is now at the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He will research local, national and global efforts to protect wetlands in Turkey and the cultural, political and economic challenges encountered in these regions. While at Middle Eastern Technical University, Evered will study under faculty in architecture and planning in order to understand how environmental considerations are incorporated into development plans in Turkey. In particular, he will learn how the state attempts to reconcile the needs of wetland ecosystem protection with pressing social imperatives to develop the locations and economies of adjacent urban centers.

Evered began his studies at the University of Oregon a year ago because of regional interests of the geography faculty and the high levels of expertise they collectively have in political geography, environmental studies, and cultural and ethnic affairs.

"Last summer, I taught my first college-level course. It was an upper division course in political geography. I already reflect upon the experience as one which was formative in my own intellectual development," Evered wrote on his application.

Evered’s eventual goal s to return to the Department of Geography at the University of Oregon to finish a Ph.D. dissertation proposal informed by his experiences in Turkey.

• Thomas Kealy Jr. of Eugene, a 1995 UO graduate with a master’s degree in English, is studying the archives of natural history found in Madrid, Spain. Kealy is currently working with Raphael Huertas, a department chair in the High Council of Scientific Research in Madrid. In preparation for the challenges and opportunities this study will provide, and to receive further feedback from his peers, Kealy will make a presentation about this project at the Modern Language Association’s international conference in Toronto. He and Professor George Levine will make the presentation on a panel titled "The Cultural Work of Science." Levine also will teach a university course this winter on the development of literary modernity in Spain.

"In my studies of early modern natural history, I have become convinced that understanding the ways naturalists represented the world can reveal some of the most important aspects of, and changes within, a culture," Kealy wrote on his application.

After his research in Madrid, Kealy’s dream is to become a professor of English and comparative literature at the university level and to bring his students a sense of the early modern culture in all of its diverse philosophies of human life and expanding representations of the natural world.

• Hogan M. Sherrow of Rogue River, a master’s degree candidate in anthropology, is conducting his research in the Gunung Halimun National Park in the Cisangku village of Indonesia.

His study will focus on the socio-ecology of the Javan gibbon. Sherrow will work closely with Jatna Supriatna of Conservation International and the University of Indonesia for six months. During that time, he will collect vocal behavior data on gibbon social groups. The frequency and intensity of the gibbons’ song duets will be recorded and compared with previous studies of other gibbon species that inhabit less disturbed forest regions.

The data collected will be used to assess resource availability and habitat disturbance. The results of the study will be included in a recovery plan for the highly endangered Javan gibbon.

Upon his return from Indonesia, Sherrow plans to work toward the completion of his master’s degree at the University of Oregon, then pursue a Ph.D. in primatology. Sherrow also hopes to teach and actively research primate behavior, ecology and conservation.

"I am still dedicated to the goal I set for myself when I was eight years old. I will devote my life to the study of non-human primates," Sherrow wrote on his application.

• Tim C. Rohrer of Boulder, Colo., has been a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the philosophy department since 1994. For the past five years, Rohrer has been studying metaphor and metaphoric reasoning with Professor Mark Johnson. While his original interest was in the role of metaphors in political reasoning, his dissertation topic is the role of metaphor and metaphoric reasoning in generating philosophical and scientific theories.

Rohrer is spending a year in Aarhus, Denmark, doing collaborative work on semiotics and metaphor with Professor Per Aage Brandt and his doctoral students. They will investigate how language and sign systems have a bodily basis in motor and visual schemas.

"My fascination with the cognitive science of metaphor first began while I was a sophomore in the creative writing program at the University of Colorado. So far it seemed to save my life from a life of fiction," Rohrer wrote on his application.

Upon his return to the United States, Rohrer plans to write a book drawing on his research in Denmark and teach and conduct research at the college or university level.

• Justin B. Smith of Cherry Hill, N.J., has been a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures since 1996. Smith plans to graduate with a master’s degree in June 1998. He says teaching German classes at the University of Oregon helped him develop a love for helping students learn a foreign language.

Smith is in Germany on a teaching assistantship. Until beginning a Ph.D. program in German, Smith plans to teach English to German students and help them learn about American literature and culture. To teach English to German students, Smith is combining his second-language teaching experience, his German language ability, his intimacy with problems native German-speakers face when learning English, and his knowledge of the English language and American poetry and literature.

"My travels have sharpened my sensitivity to different cultures. I have learned that living successfully in a foreign country means being informed about that country’s culture, history, language and geography," Smith wrote on his application.

Upon his return to the United States, Smith plans to begin a Ph.D. program in German and intends to become a professor in German.

• Sarah Gilman of Green Bay, Wis., a master’s degree candidate in international studies, is examining the role that women’s organizations in Tunisia play in effectively facilitating the empowerment of women and giving women a greater voice in emergent civil society in Tunisia. Her research will look at the interplay between officially recognized formal women’s organizations, regional and international women’s organizations, as well as Tunisian informal women’s associations.

After writing her master’s thesis, interning for a women’s non-governmental organization (NGO) and completing her community planning course work, Gilman will receive her master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Oregon. She then plans to work for women’s international or domestic NGOs before returning to school for her doctorate.

"One of my most ambitious goals in life is to establish a harmony of purpose in all that I do by simply following my passions and convictions. My family, friends, community involvement, research, teaching and social advocacy are all interwoven," Gilman wrote on her application.

• Roberto J. Serralles of Ponce, Puerto Rico, has been a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the geography department since 1996. Serralles is in Spain researching the Spanish national government’s energy policy initiatives, in order to ascertain the extent to which environmental protection and renewable electric energy promotion are undertaken.

During the first part of his stay, Serralles will analyze official policy documents available through sources such as the National Library in Madrid to identify policy features which would affect both the economic competitiveness of renewable electric energy and the stated policy goals of carbon dioxide emissions abatement.

During the second part of his study, Serralles will analyze the economic viability of the two most advanced renewable electric energy projects in Spain: the 17-megawatt wind farm project outside Pamplona and the 1.5-megawatt experimental solar thermal plant and international research center at Almeria in eastern Andalucia. Serralles plans to visit these sites in order to obtain the latest data on their technological performance and on their infrastructure and costs.

Upon his return to the United States, Serralles plans to finish his Ph.D. dissertation and receive his doctorate by December 1999. Serralles stated on his application that he is "motivated by the need to find solutions to the problems that beseech our planet." Serralles then plans to pursue a career as an instructor at the university or college level.

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