International Faculty Grants Awarded

In support of international research, teaching and collaboration by faculty, the International Center awards International Faculty Grants (maximum of $1,000 each) to full-time faculty members. Grant applications are due by July 1 of each year and must be spent by June 30 of the following year.

Faculty are encouraged to apply for an International Grant for a project that demonstrates:

• Work that improves the international understanding of the campus community

• Work that can be shown to have immediate impact on students' experiences in the classroom

• Travel for research, seminar or presentation at conferences, particularly when this can be shown to foster the international goals of the University and the International Center

• Development of a study abroad course or study abroad component for currently existing courses

For 2012-13, seven faculty members received grants to conduct a variety of international activities.

– Irina Naoumova, Barney School of Business, to support the Barney School’s International Business Plan Competition, which will be held in Spring 2013. The funding will support the growth of the competition into a signature University of Hartford event that involves cooperation with universities from around the world.

– Devdas Shetty, College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), to support travel to India to build the University of Hartford’s partnerships with the PSG College of Science and Technology in Coimbatore at the undergraduate level and Nitte University in Bangalore at the graduate level.

– Sarah Senk, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), to support travel to the “Postcolonial Traumas Conference” in the United Kingdom to present a paper examining the works of the poet M. NourbeSe Philip. The outcomes of the trip will become part of the international focus that Senk provides to her students in the classroom.

– Richard Freund, A&S, to support travel to China to explore the development of a study abroad program that examines “Archeology and the History of Jews in China,” as well as to provide a lecture to the Shanghai Normal University and present the University of Hartford to potential international students from Shanghai University and SNU.

– Michael Robinson, Hillyer College, to support travel to Uganda to complete research on his book manuscript about Africa; expand the area content of the three courses HSB 165, HSB 235 and AUC190; and foster guest lectures through the professional links established at the Makerere Institute of Social Research.

– Glen Adsit, The Hartt School, to support travel to Beijing, China, to conduct an international composition workshop and establish concrete connections with the Central Conservatory of Music for a student exchange program and potential of faculty exchanges in the future. This activity would benefit University of Hartford students directly by enabling them to participate in a conservatory study abroad program in China as well as benefit the internationalization of the campus by bringing Chinese students to study here.

– Carol Padberg, Hartford Art School, to support travel to Hong Kong to attend the Globalization Symposium and present on the Sustainable Studio course she led in Ghana in January 2012, incorporate the concepts of Chinese art education into the classroom, and explore possibilities for a study abroad program in China focusing on art.

We invite the University community to learn more about the international activities of these and past grant recipients on the International Center website.