While over the past few years several Castleton students have reaped the benefits of a Fulbright Scholarship, a University professor is now sharing in the rewards of the program. Professor and Chair of the Castleton Education department, Monica McEnerny, took her teaching skills to Almaty, Kazakhstan this summer after being awarded a Fulbright Specialist Grant to teach Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics courses abroad.
Having served as a representative on the Fulbright Scholarship Committee at Castleton for the past several years, she has seen first hand the success that has come from participating in the program.
“In my work, I have seen many students apply for Fulbright scholarships, and in the past few years students have received funds and teaching positions in Europe and South America from the program,” said McEnerny.
The competitive Fulbright Scholar Program promotes linkages between U.S. scholars and their counterparts at host institutions overseas. Over the years the grant has been awarded to faculty and professionals approved to join the Specialist Roster in select disciplines to engage in short-term collaborative projects at eligible institutions in over 140 countries worldwide.
McEnerny learned of the opportunity through her brother, who teaches at KIMEP University in Kazakhstan. Her two courses took place over a three-week period in July.
“KIMEP has a strong language program and English is its primary language of instruction,” said McEnerny, “Overall, teaching and learning in Kazakhstan is quite similar to teach and learning in the United States.”
During her courses, students created blogs and worked with personalized learning modules geared towards allowing students to study what most was relevant to them. Since finishing up her abroad teachings, students from the overseas University have video conferenced into Castleton's Educational Inquiries course and connected with other student teachers on campus, promoting conversation across the world relevant to teaching and learning.
“In my heart of hearts, I would be incredibly happy to see the students I taught in Kazakhstan, who were all practicing teachers in local schools in Almaty, come to Castleton and enroll in a graduate program,” said McEnerny. “I think they would find Vermont just beautiful.”