The Fulbright program is the U.S. government\u2019s flagship international educational exchange program for accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals to study, teach, or pursue important research and professional projects around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program makes more than 800 awards annually in more than 135 countries to teach, conduct research, and carry out professional projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur faculty are curious, engaged, deeply thoughtful, and eager to explore and contribute across all kinds of boundaries, whether disciplinary, cultural, or geopolitical,\u201d said Malcolm Hill, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added, \u201cThe receipt of these Fulbrights is also a key indicator of the consequential and creative scholarship our faculty engage in. We also deeply appreciate how Fulbright-supported experiences help our faculty become ever more effective teachers, colleagues, and scholars upon their return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00c1slaug \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Despite its chilly name, the island nation of Iceland did not always claim its Arctic-ness, at least in a geopolitical sense, explains Professor of Politics \u00c1slaug \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the early 2000s, disruptive events changed the country\u2019s perspective. First came the 2006 closure of the U.S. Air Force Base in Keflav\u00edk. Then came the global financial crisis in 2008, and the growing realization of the outsized impact of climate change on the Arctic and its waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that, \u201cthe government began to define its interests and priorities in the area,\u201d explains \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir, who will use a Fulbright\u2013National Science Foundation Arctic Research Grant to return to her home country to study the shifts in the country\u2019s Arctic policy between 2006 and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those policy shifts, she says, have been by internal forces \u2014 \u201cnew governments bringing in new voices and changing fiscal realities\u201d \u2014 and external ones, such as climate change. Her research project will be the first to analyze the evolution of Iceland\u2019s Arctic policy over the 15-year period and to determine the impact of that evolution, both domestically and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born and raised in Iceland, \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir started her career as a journalist before turning to academia. In her 25 years as a scholar, she\u2019s become an expert in how and why nations cooperate, instances where valuable fisheries straddle international boundaries or when countries have overlapping maritime boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Located almost entirely outside the 66-degree latitude that defines the Arctic Circle, Iceland is, geographically speaking, \u201ca peripheral Arctic state,\u201d explains \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But as they say, location, location, location. Sitting in the North Atlantic ecosystem, and by virtue of being the second-largest fisheries nation in Europe (after Norway), Iceland \u201cplays a significant role economically and environmentally in the area,\u201d explains \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With the thawing of the Arctic, nations inside and outside the Arctic Circle, including China, are now developing and announcing formal Arctic policies. Such documents are public, \u201cbut we still do not have a good understanding of how these documents translate into politics and economics,\u201d says \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The classroom should be a two-way street, says Anita Charles, senior lecturer and director of secondary teacher education at Bates, where every interaction between teacher and student is \u201ctransformational for both, and grounded in social and emotional well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A visitor to Charles\u2019 Bates classroom would see the traffic flow both ways, a collaborative and creative space where \u201cboth students and instructor are engaging in critical inquiry, in building relationships, and in reflective practices,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles will use her Fulbright fellowship, her second in six years, to bring her teaching expertise to Fergusson University in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University. She will teach courses related to special education, social-emotional development, literacy, and\/or comparative education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles\u2019 award is the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award, sponsored by the U.S. State Department\u2019s United States\u2013India Educational Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\u00c1slaug](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2017\/04\/web-151210_Aslaug_Asgeirsdottir104.jpg\")
Anita Charles<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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