Knox Among Top Colleges for Fulbright Scholar Awards in 2009-10

Knox College is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation for Fulbright Scholar grants awarded to faculty during 2009-2010. The lists of national leaders in student and faculty Fulbright grants were published in the October 23 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

This year, two Knox faculty were awarded grants under the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program, which supports faculty research and teaching outside the United States. Karen Kampwirth, professor of political science and chair of the Latin American Studies program, is teaching and conducting research on feminism and politics at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jeremy Day-O'Connell, assistant professor of music, is conducting musicology and linguistics research at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

"Fulbright grants acknowledge professors who have developed strong international expertise and whose teaching and scholarship will benefit from international experience," said Lawrence B. Breitborde, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. "Knox's two current Fulbright recipients represent these strengths. At the same time, both are committed to teaching undergraduates. Professors Kampwirth and Day-O'Connell have both won Knox's top award for outstanding work in the classroom -- the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching."

Since the Fulbright program was created in the 1950s, eight Knox College faculty, 27 students and four alumni have received Fulbright grants for teaching and research outside the United States. In 2008 Knox was noted as a national leader in the number of students who received Fulbright fellowships that year to support international study and teaching.

About the Scholars:

Kampwirth is teaching a course in Central American feminism and anti-feminism at the University of Buenos Aires. In addition to her course, she also is helping organize a graduate conference for the university and conducting preliminary research for future study.

She has lived and studied extensively in Central and northern South America: Venezuela, El Salvador, southern Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Day-O'Connell is studying the musical aspects of spoken language at the University of Edinburgh, where he is conducting lab and field work recording native speakers of various languages.

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government's flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) assists in the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals.

Each year, American scholars and professionals travel to approximately 125 countries, where they lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. Fulbright awards include lecturing, research, and combination lecturing-research awards. Each award is country-specific, and usually discipline-specific.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 286,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.