U.S. Department of Education

Office of Postsecondary Education

International and Foreign Language Education Office

Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program

CFDA 84.021A

GPA Short-term and Long-term 

Grant Awards List and Project Abstracts

Fiscal Year 2020
Group Projects Abroad Program

FY 2020 Grant Awards List

Grantee Institution State Host Country Funding 

Amount

Page 

Number

SHORT-TERM PROJECTS

American Institute for Resource and Human Development GA Ghana $88,815 4

Bennett College NC Morocco $83,600 6

Cabrini University PA Zambia $79,926 8

Chaminade University of Honolulu HI The Philippines $100,000 10

Clemson University SC India $99,676 11

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University MN

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina $81,008 12

Metropolitan StateUniversity of Denver CO Morocco $80,859 13

New England Educational Leadership Institute MA China $97,625 14

Rhode Island College RI Guatemala $60,518 16

University of Arizona AZ Uzbekistan, Tajikistan $100,000 17

University of California, Berkeley CA China $94,072 18

University of Central Florida FL Argentina $95,348 19

University of Georgia GA Tanzania $94,460 20

University of Pittsburgh PA Kenya, Uganda $99,380 21

Virginia Polytechnic University VA Tanzania $89,595 22

Virginia Polytechnic University VA Zambia $99,232 22

Voorhees College SC Barbados $99,860 24

Winona State University MN Ecuador $80,048 25

Xavier University OH Colombia $77,360 26

LONG-TERM PROJECTS

American Councils for International Education DC Russia, Kazakhstan $238,500 29

American Institute of Indian Studies IN India $243,240 31

American Research Institute in Turkey DC Turkey $181,960 33

Howard University DC Nigeria $192,788 34

University of Arizona AZ Jordan $250,000 35

University of Pennsylvania PA South Africa $249,584 36
SHORT-TERM PROJECTS
American Institute for Resource and Human 

Development 

Bridging Africa in the Classroom through the Interaction of Environment, Culture and Society in 

Ghana: A Short-Term Curriculum Development Seminar for American Educators

As has become evident in the course of this narrative; the project is directly related to the goals of the 

Center for International and African Studies Outreach (CIASO) of the American Institute for Resource and

Human Development (AIRHD) and the various school districts represented by our participants in the 

summer institutes. The goals are to improve teacher competencies in global education and to help 

teachers teach about Africa. It seems clear that direct training in Akan Twi language instruction and the 

acquisition of field experience and materials in Ghana as set out in this project will be ultimately the

most effective and complete way of training teachersto teach about the country and, thus, promote the 

success of African studies in our schools. The project will indeed be a crucial activity in advancing the

continued growth and success of the sponsoring institutions’mission in African studies in general, and

WestAfrica in particular, in the school districts that our participants represent. It is only through direct 

personal experience that participants will be able to value the diversity and richness of Africa, be 

sensitive to the reality of urban and modern Africa, confront and rid themselves of both conscious and 

subconscious biases, and be sensitized to haphazard and erroneous stereotypes of other people and 

cultures. Overseas experience will bridge the knowledge gap needed to integrate Africa into the 

curriculum. With first-hand knowledge and experience, participants will be more disposed and equipped 

not only to cover what little African content might be available in existing textbooks, but to go beyond 

and develop original and accurate units on Africa. The project is design to achieve the following 

objectives: (1) to work individually and in teams to develop grade appropriate curriculum units on 

African area studies to be incorporated in social studies and humanities lesson plans in K-12 classrooms 

of school districts in which our participants teach; (2) to help participants develop an empathetic 

understanding of the people and places through the experience of living in that place and working with 

people; (3) to prepare the participantsto teach their students about Africa from well researched, 

objective and sensitive curricula, so as to create an informed, healthy interest in Africa; (4) to provide K12 social studies and humanity teachers who would not normally do so to take the opportunity to study 

in Ghana, West Africa by participating in a five-week intensive study abroad program that prepare them 

to become lead teachers about Africa in programs of in- service teacher training, when and where 

possible in conjunction with CIASO; (5) to improve the quality of teaching aboutAfricanArea Studies

through development and acquisition of relevant teaching materials (artifacts, photographs, publications, 

performance materials. personal interviews and experiences) that only an in- country experience can 

provide and to develop a cadre of concerned educators/ “teacher consultants” who will be staff

development presenters for their schools, districts, as well as for regional, state and national 

conferences: (6) to acquire Akan Twi language instruction in the environment where it is spoken and to 

give participating teachers the first-hand experience and knowledge of Ghanaian history, geography, 

religion, politics, economy, diversity, culture, environment, and people; (7) to facilitate cooperation and 

promote closer communication between the American educators and their Ghanaian counterparts

which will lead to mutual exchange of instructional materials, sharing of information, and teaching ideas 

in the future. These objectives will be achieved by the following means: 1) a four-day pre-departure
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orientation at the AIRHD site; 2) a five-week overseas’ study, travel and research; and 3) a post seminar 

or follow-up activity to take place over twelve weeks’ period after returning from Ghana. The main 

activity in this project will be an integrated and comprehensive five-week program of instruction, field 

study, and cultural activities in Ghana to enable the GPA group to develop curriculum materials for use 

in their respective classrooms. The group will be based at the University of Ghana in Accra, the capital 

city, with organized trips to Cape Coast, Kumasi, Tamale, and other places that illustrate the 

multicultural diversity of Ghana. Criteria for the selection of participants will include: 1) written support 

from the school system; 2) level of interest in Africa and willingnessto integrate Africa into teaching; 3)

potential to initiate and lead in introducing and developing curriculum on Africa in local school 

systems/community, and in the regional and national educational setting through dissemination of the 

units and presentation at professional conferences; and 4) previous use of African curriculum in the 

classroom. The application package will include an essay on reasons for participating in this project, 

experience in integrating Africa into a curriculum, a letter of support from a school administrator, and a 

preliminary plan for the development and implementation of an instructional unit on their return. 

Preference will be given to applicants who have not been to Africa before. Participants will be 

nominated by their school systems, selected with a commitment to include minority groups and women.
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Bennett College 

Women and Democracy in Morocco: A Global Perspective on Civic Engagement, 

Leadership, and Women’s Empowerment

Project Type: Short-Term Seminar 

Institution Name: Bennett College 

Host Country: Morocco

Amount of Time in Country: 4 weeks 

Number of Participants: 13 including (6) public school K-12 Early/Middle College teachers and 

administrators; (5) Bennett College faculty and administrators; (1) Project Director; (1) Project Co-Director

Required education level for project participants: Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees

Project Directors: Project Director, Dr. Anne C. Hayes; Project Co-Director, Mrs. Penny Speas; In-Country 

Program Coordinator, Mr. Sofyan Essarraoui

The purpose of Bennett College’s proposed 4-week Group Project Abroad (GPA) is to advance the 

understanding of Women and Democracy in Morocco. Bennett’s participant team will be comprised of a 

thirteen (13) member faculty and administrator group from Bennett College and the Early/Middle 

College (K-12). Given Bennett’s mission and history as a women’s HBCU committed to civic engagement 

and social justice, this proposed Group Project Abroad (GPA) would elevate and internationalize 

Bennett’s faculty and administrators’ knowledge of women, civic engagement, and democracy. The 

measurable project goals are:

1. Participants will demonstrate an understanding of Moroccan women's civic engagement and 

leadership roles in the promotion of democracy. This includes researching the historical, 

cultural, and religious contexts in which women and women’s organizations exist in Morocco.

2. Participants will increase individual intercultural competence and understanding.

3. Participants will increase the relevancy of a less common taught language (LCTL), Arabic.

4. Participants will increase the relevancy of and exposure to Moroccan culture.

This three-phase project includes: a) a 24-hour Pre-Departure Orientation, 8 hours of which will take 

place in the 4 months leading up to the In-Country experience and 16 hours of In-Person Orientation; b) 

a 4-week overseas seminar in Morocco; and c) a 5-month follow-up phase focused on project 

completion, community sharing, and long-term project implementation. During the In-Country phase, 

participants will engage in interactive activities including:

• Instruction in basic Arabic to improve language and communication

• Special guided tours of significant Moroccan historic sites to develop an understanding for 

cultural context and landscape, visits to urban and rural areas within Morocco

• Meetings with leaders of women’s NGOs including l’Union Feminine Marocaine and 

l’Organisation Democratique des Femmes du Maroc to understand how Moroccan women’s 

civic engagement and meetings with rural women’s cooperatives 

• Meetings with University faculty and students

• Intentional time for reflection and journal writing and facilitated discussions
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During the Follow-Up Phase, participants will complete one of the following activities that will integrate 

themes of Moroccan women, civic engagement, activism, and democracy: 1) Developing a new course 

or curriculum design; 2) Redesigning an existing course or curriculum; 3) Designing a faculty-led study 

abroad program to Morocco; 4) Developing a creative exhibition on the GPA’s theme; examples include: 

a) Making a documentary video; b) Creating a photography exhibit; or c) Creating a series of drawings, 

paintings or mixed media; 5) Developing a co-curricular student leadership or student engagement 

project. Participants will formally present their projects at the Bennett College Moroccan Women and 

Democracy Symposium on September 29, 2021.

The project addresses the Absolute Priority (focus on Africa as a geographic location, Morocco), 

Competitive Preference Priority 1 (Minority Serving Institution, Bennett is an HBCU), Priority 3 

(Substantive Training in a Less Commonly Taught Language, Arabic), and Priority 4 (Inclusion of K-12 

educators).
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Cabrini University

Bridges to Zambia 

Project Director: Dr. Susan Pierson

GPA Project Type: Short-Term Seminar

Participants: 12 student participants: undergraduate juniors and seniors and graduate students

Subject: Cabrini University (Cabrini) proposes the continuation of “Bridges to Zambia,” a four-week 

group project abroad designed to increase the cultural competency of U.S. students and studenteducators by focusing on the history, culture, language, and society of Zambia.

Cabrini University (Cabrini) proposes the continuation of “Bridges to Zambia,” a four- week group 

project abroad designed to increase the cultural competency of U.S. students and student-educators by 

focusing on the history, culture, language and society of Zambia through the lens of social justice and 

education. Bridges to Zambia will promote language and area studies at Cabrini not only for project 

participants but also for students and faculty at Cabrini and students and teachers in PreK-12 schools 

and businesses in which participants will have careers. Project partners include Project Zambia (PZ), 

whose work focuses on “education, feeding programmes, improved access to first aid/healthcare, clean 

water and safe sanitation, income- generation and empowering communities through the training of 

local people” Vision of Hope (VoH), a local outreach arm of PZ, which is a Lusaka-based Zambian nongovernmental organization (NGO), and St. Lawrence School which educates children in Grades Pre First 

through Ninth, including many who reside in the Misisi Compound, a slum in Lusaka.

Zambia, a nation of over 16.5 million people, is a former British colony classified as a lower-middleincome country. Zambia is an exemplar of the challenges of a once-colonized nation that has been 

destabilized and seeks to flourish by investing in its future. Its capital, Lusaka (the home base of Cabrini’s 

Bridges to Zambia), has a long and important history. It has been a base for those attempting to free the 

region from colonial rule and has seen many nationalist movements as the country struggled to achieve 

stability. Experiencing the country’s history, social structure, institutions, language, and culture, in 

Lusaka and additional sites in the country, will encourage students to examine the events and 

institutions that have shaped Zambia’s culture.

Participants will be eight pre- and in-service teachers who are a mix of undergraduate and graduate 

students, and four students in international business. A number of teachers will be in the Cabrini English 

as a Second Language (ESL) program. Bridges to Zambia participants will be immersed in Zambian 

cultural elements such as art, food, local language, and religion; economics; the educational system; and 

history. Their immersion, experienced through the lenses of various disciplines in the social sciences and 

humanities, will contribute to students’ higher- level thinking and understanding of the 

interconnectedness of education and economics. Bridges to Zambia is unique because it brings together 

both in-service and pre-service teachers, some of whom are graduate students in an ESL program, with 

students in international business, for the purpose of strengthening area studies at Cabrini and beyond 

by introducing students, including those currently teaching in PreK-12 classrooms, to a developing 

nation.
9 

The three project goals set are: (1) Increase cultural competency of participants and deepen their crosscultural understanding through experiential learning and meaningful interaction with Zambians.; (2) to 

Increase knowledge of an understudied part of the world through an in-depth examination of Zambian 

history, culture, and society and introduction to local language.; and (3) Promote global knowledge and 

the integration of area studies into the social studies and humanities curriculum at all levels through 

dissemination of new knowledge about Zambia to Pre K-12 educators, the Cabrini campus community, 

and PreK-12 students.

Bridges to Zambia addresses Competitive Preference Priority 4.
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Chaminade University of Honolulu

Cebuano Language and Culture Program

Chaminade University of Honolulu’s Short-Term Seminar Project, the Cebuano Language and Culture 

Program (CLCP) will take place in the Visayan islands of Cebu and Negros Oriental in the Philippines. The 

project is a collaboration with the area’s two institutions of higher learning, Silliman University in 

Dumaguete City, in Negros Oriental, and the Cebuano Studies Center at the University of San Carlos, in 

Cebu City.

The objectives of the project are 1) to successfully recruit for, implement, and evaluate a 6-week 

immersion program taking ten (10) of Hawai‘i ’s K-12 teachers or graduate education students to the 

Cebuano speaking region of the Philippines; 2) to introduce or increase the participants’ Cebuano 

language skills; 3) to increase the participants’ cultural competency skills; 4) to produce at least one K-12 

lesson plan per participant for learning the Cebuano language and culture; and 5) to have participants 

disseminate their lesson plans and other information related to learning the Cebuano language and 

culture to a wider audience. 

Immersion into the culture and language will be within the framework of the natural resource 

management practices in the Tañon Strait, the body of water separating the islands of Cebu and Negros.

As part of the 4-million square mile Coral Triangle, an area recognized for its remarkable marine 

biodiversity, the Strait has been a protected seascape since 1998. Through a variety of activities 

(lectures, seminars, hands-on activities, and field trips), the project will help build language skills in the 

10 participants through deep engagement with the Cebuano community’s activities in three key 

thematic areas important to the locale and culture: 1) Fishing and Coral Reefs, 2) Mangrove Protection, 

and 3) Indigenous Herbal Gardens. Language learning will also be developed through the use of 

storytelling, visual Arts, and performance as pedagogical tools. The program is dedicated to the idea that 

creative thinking and hands-on, tactile, and kinesthetic experiences can help deepen students’ foreign 

language acquisition skills.

As a project that aims to build culture-based teaching capacity, in addition to the immersion component, 

the project will incorporate content from two Chaminade graduate level online education courses, 1) 

Culture and Creative Pedagogies, and 2) Curriculum Development and Planning. Before, during, and 

after the overseas segment of the project, participants will be completing assignments online from these 

two courses, and after successfully meeting all the requirements, can elect to receive six graduate 

course credits from Chaminade University.

As Chaminade University is Federally recognized Native Hawaiian-serving institution, this project aligns 

with Competitive Priority #1. The project’s focus on learning Cebuano, a Federally recognized Less 

Commonly Taught Language, aligns it with Competitive Priority #3.

The inclusion of K-12 Educators and the K-12 curriculum development activities align the CLCP with 

Competitive Priority #4. And, as the project is focused on, and will take place in, the Philippines, which is 

located in Southeast Asia, the CLCP meets the Fulbright-Hays GPA Absolute Program Priority.
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Clemson University

Global Challenges, India, and the Curriculum in South Carolina

Project Type: Short-term Seminar

Host Country: India

Amount of Time in Country: 4 weeks

Number of Participants: 13 including (1) project director, (1) project associate director and curriculum 

specialist, (5) postsecondary faculty members, and (6) K-12 public educators 

Project Directors: Dr. Kyle Anderson (Project Director), Dr. Sarah Winslow (Project Associate Director) 

Competitive Preference Priority Areas Addressed: 1 (new applicant), 3 (substantive training and 

thematic focus on Less Commonly Taught Languages), 4 (inclusion of K-12 educators)

Clemson University’s Office of Global Engagement and Calhoun Honors College (CHC), in collaboration 

with the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM), propose a 4-week 

short-term seminar project for the purpose of expanding Clemson’s global service learning platform, 

enhancing global engagement opportunities for CHC and GSSM students, infusing cross-cultural 

awareness and global challenges into the CHC and GSSM curricula more broadly, and increasing the 

cultural competency of K-12 and postsecondary educators and students throughout the state of South 

Carolina. The proposed project grew out of strategic planning efforts at both Clemson University and 

GSSM that made global engagement an institutional priority; a charge to the CHC to develop an 

innovative Honors General Education curriculum and enhanced engagement opportunities; and recent 

efforts at Clemson to build a global engagement platform in India.

The project objectives are: (1) to educate public university and K-12 instructors in South Carolina on the 

languages, histories, cultures, and ecologies of India; (2) to increase the number of course modules 

and/or courses focused on India (and South Asia) at Clemson University and the South Carolina 

Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics; (3) to form new partnerships in India for Clemson 

University and the South Carolina’s Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics study abroad and 

community-based global service-learning programs; (4) to support curricular development through the 

increase of experiential learning and service- learning programs in India for students at Clemson 

University and the South Carolina’s Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics; (5) to strengthen 

Clemson University’s India Schwehr Global Service-Learning regional platform (Ahmedabad, India).

During the overseas phase, participants will engage in interactive activities such as Hindi language 

instruction from a native speaker; visits to key cultural, historical, and ecological sites; and meetings 

with educational institutions and organizations to form partnerships for study abroad, internships,

research placements, and global service-learning opportunities.
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College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University 

Connecting Across Languages and Cultures in Bosnia and Herzegovina: An Immersive Curriculum 

Development Experience for Educators

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University (CSB/SJU), two nationally ranked Catholic, 

residential, liberal arts colleges in Minnesota with a cooperative educational partnership, respectfully 

submit an application to the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program for a Short-Term Curriculum 

Development Project. Dr. Theresa Johnson, Marie and Robert Jackson Associate Professor of Education, 

will serve as the Project Director who will prepare, lead, and support a group of six 8-12 grade social 

studies and language teachers from central Minnesota schools, three preservice social studies or 

language teachers enrolled at CSB/SJU, and three other faculty members (12 total). Her contact 

information is:

Chair, Education Department, HAB 125C Saint John's University | 2850 Abbey Plaza | 

Collegeville, Minnesota 56321 | Phone: 320-363-5155 | T4JOHNSON@CSBSJU.EDU

The project addresses competitive priorities 1, 3, and 4 and is designed to assist educators in 

strengthening area studies and language skills. As a new applicant, CSB/SJU proposes to complete this 

work in collaboration with Nešto Više, its partner in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). The overarching goal of 

the four-week study abroad project is to develop a collaboration among preservice teachers, licensed 

teachers, and college faculty in order to create 8-16 curriculum projects that explore the intersection of 

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s languages, politics, history, educational systems, and culture. Capitalizing 

upon a longstanding relationship with agencies and institutions in BiH that have led to study abroad and 

BiH students at CSB/SJU in previous years, this project will strengthen the relationship.

The specific objectives proposed to accomplish this goal are to:

• Explore the intersection of languages, politics, history, educational systems, and culture 

through an immersive experience in BiH. 

• Compare and contrast the teaching of languages and area studies as taught in BiH with the 

ways they are taught in U.S. high schools and colleges. 

• Create 8-16 curriculum projects that address the intersection of languages, politics, history, 

educational systems, and culture.

• Create mutually beneficial partnerships that enhance the professional learning and teaching of 

preservice teachers, licensed 8-12 educators, and university faculty.

• Disseminate information about or materials from the group project abroad through more than 

one outreach activity within six months of returning (GPA GPRA Measure 2).

With support from project leadership, participants will be required to develop and implement their own 

curricular units. They will incorporate what they learn in existing or new courses dealing with the 

intersection of languages, politics, history, educational systems, and culture in the context of the BiH 

experience, as well as share their experience in a peer-reviewed venue. Dissemination efforts will 

feature at a minimum: presentations at professional organizations, workshops open to area teachers 

and the larger community held on both campuses, special events for social studies teachers and 

preservice teachers in the Education Department, and communication about the project on a dedicated 

website location and via a blog.
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Metropolitan State University of Denver 

Women, Art and Development in Contemporary Morocco: 

A Short-Term Fulbright-Hays Seminar for Denver Educators

Number of Participants: 12 + 2 Co- Directors (1 to be covered by institutional funds)

Project Co-directors: Prof. Leila Armstrong (armstrle@msudenver.edu) and Dr. Akbarali Thobhani 

(thobhana@msudenver.edu)

Metropolitan StateUniversity of Denver (MSU Denver), in partnership with theDenver Center for

International Studies(DCIS) - a Denver public school - proposesto conduct a four-week short- term

seminar in Morocco during summer 2021 for a team of 12 participants to include faculty and pre-service 

teachers from MSU Denver and classroom teachers from DCIS. The seminar will be co-directed by a 

professor of Art History and the Executive Director of International Studies at MSU Denver with past 

academic experiences in Morocco. This area studies-focused seminar is designed to improve instruction

in global studies at K-16 levels and to better integrate area studies into the general curriculum. The 

academic focus of the program includes the study of general history of Morocco, traditional arts,

involvement of women in development and entrepreneurship, and their role in culture, religion, politics 

and economics. The seminar will result in enhanced expertise of participating faculty members and preservice students and, therefore, enhance the quality of instruction about Morocco and area studies in 

Denver and Colorado.

Specific objectives of the project are to: (1) Strengthen faculty members’ and student teachers’ expertise 

and competence about contemporary Morocco; (2) Enhance the quality of instruction about Morocco 

and Islamic civilizations; (3) Expand teachers’ knowledge about the traditional andmodern arts in 

Morocco; (4) Explore the dynamics ofthe changing role of women in Moroccan society; (5) Acquire

relevant teaching materials (artifacts, publications, personal experiences) that only an on-site experience

can provide; and (6) Disseminate Morocco-focused curriculum material to other educators through 

workshops, participation in professional meetings and publications.

The application addresses competitive preference priorities 1 and 4.

The seminar objectives will be accomplished through an intensive program consisting of:

A. Pre-Departure Orientation. Participants will complete background readings on Morocco and 

attend a three-full-day orientation program.

B. Four-week On-site Experience. This will consist of lectures, excursions, readings, language 

sessions, interactions with Moroccan people from varied backgrounds, development of 

instructional modules, and acquisition of teaching materials. 

C. Follow-up and Dissemination. This phase will consist of: completion of instructional 

modules for enhancing courses; incorporation of Morocco-focused materials in 

participants’ courses/plans; post-travel monthly meetings during Fall 2021 where each 

participant will share his/her module(s) with the team; dissemination of modulesto other 

schools and teachers as appropriate; and presentation of the Morocco experience at 

professional meetings and workshops to disseminate material on Morocco to the wider 

academic communities.
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New England Educational Leadership Institute 

Mandarin Instructional Leadership Training Program

Summer Institute for Teachers of Chinese

The New England Educational Leadership Institute (NEELI) is applying for the Fulbright- Hays Group 

Project Abroad Program, under the Short-Term Project Seminar category. The project offers 15 K-12 

Chinese language teachers the opportunity to study Chinese language and culture at Gengdan Institute 

of Beijing University of Technology for four weeks. Participants will take seminar courses related to 

various aspects of Chinese linguistics; instructional pedagogy of teaching Chinese; history and geography 

related particularly to the ancient Silk Road in preparation for an immersion trip to the Silk Road; and 

other cultural appreciation courses such as poetry, painting, theater and folk crafts. There are three 

components of this summer institute: 1) a four-week Summer Institute that consists of two weeks of 

intensive study at Gengdan Institute of Beijing University of Technology, a one-week travel-study 

program exploring the Silk Road, and a one-week visit to historical and cultural sites, which includes a 

two-day Teacher Forum held at Dandelion School in Beijing: 2) Curriculum Development: a two-month 

time period on developing and completing a thematic unit by participants and actually implement it in 

their respective schools; and 3) Presentation and Sharing of Curriculum: participants will share 

completed thematic units, between the year 2021 and 2022, at the Chinese Language Association of 

Secondary-Elementary Schools ( CLASS) and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages ( 

ACTFL) joint convention, or at local regional conferences. 

This proposed project has three objectives: 

1) successful completion of a four-week Summer Institute as designed, which includes: a) acquiring indepth Chinese linguistic knowledge to develop greater accuracy and proficiency Chinese; b) completing 

an immersion experience to the Silk Road and other historical and cultural sites in Beijing, where they 

will also interact with native Chinese teachers via a two-day Teacher Forum at Dandelion School; c) 

curating print and non-print authentic instructional materials. 2) design a thematically based curriculum 

and successfully implement it in the classroom. To accomplish this goal, participants will: a) research and 

select a topic offered by the Summer Institute, b) follow a thematic unit template to design an outline 

and use it to write lesson plans c) work with their assigned coach to revise and finalize their curriculum, 

and d) implement the curriculum in their respective schools. 3) presentation of the designed curriculum 

at the convention, and the ability to train other teachers to implement it. To accomplish this, 

participants will: a) upload their completed curriculum on the NEELI and CLASS websites, b) submit a 

proposal to present at the CLASS/ACTFL joint Convention, and c) share their experiences and expertise 

with other teachers in the field. The Project Director, Dr. Yu- Lan Lin will be overseeing the operations of 

the project. She has twice led the Fulbright-Hays Group Project to China, in 2002 and 2004.

This project will be qualified under the following priorities:

1) Absolute Priority Under 34CFR 75.105 (c) (3): This project will be conducted in East Asia-China;

2) Competitive Preference Priority 1: NEELI is applying for this grant for the first time as new 

applicant; 
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3) Competitive Preference Priority 3: This project will train 15 Chinese language teachers to 

develop thematically based curriculum to be implemented in schools; 

4) Competitive Preference Priority 4: This project will train 15 K-12 Mandarin 

teachers/administrators from elementary and secondary schools.
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Rhode Island College 

Guatemala for Educators

Project Type 1: Short-Term Seminar Project

Project Director: Dr. Erin L. Papa, Assistant Professor of Educational Studies and World Languages 

Education, epapa@ric.edu, (401) 456-8601, Rhode Island College, Department of Educational Studies, 

600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI 02908

GPA Project Type: GPA Short-Term Seminar Project

Educational Level and Number of Participants: 13 participants total (7 practicing K-12

educators/graduate students; 6 pre-service K-12 educators - undergraduate/graduate students) 

Priorities Addressed:

• Absolute Priority: Specific geographic regions of the world: Western Hemisphere 

(Central America)

• Competitive Preference Priority 1: Applications from GPA short-term Projectsfrom 

Selected Institutions and Organizations: New applicants (3 points)

• Competitive Preference Priority 3: Substantive Training and Thematic Focus on Less 

Commonly Taught Languages (2 points): K'iche' (Mayan language indigenous to Guatemala)

• Competitive Preference Priority 4: Inclusion of K-12 Educators (2 points)

This Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Short-Term Seminar Project to Guatemala will serve 13 

students led by the Project Director, Dr. Erin L. Papa. Participants will include both current K-12 

educators (employed full-time; part-time students) and pre-service educators (full- time undergraduate 

and graduate students). The program will involve a 4-week in-country portion in Summer 2021 

combining Spanish and K'iche' (Mayan language indigenous to Guatemala) language and cultural study, 

comparative analysis of the Guatemalan and U.S. educational systems, and reciprocal exchange with 

Guatemalan educators. Participants will enroll in WLED 350/550: Topics in World Languages Education 

(4 cr.) at Rhode Island College for this faculty-led study abroad program. Funding from the grant would 

cover international travel and in-country expenses (the only allowable grant expenses); students would 

be responsible for the tuition and fees for the four summer credits. With the continued growth in 

enrollment of Guatemalan youth in Rhode Island's K-12 educational system, particularly K'iche'- 

speaking Mayan Guatemalans, this program will be of particular benefit to educators working or 

preparing to work in RIC's partner districts, Providence and Central Falls, that currently serve the largest 

numbers of Guatemalan youth.
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University of Arizona

Persianate Cultures in Central Asia: Coexistence and Integration

Fulbright-Hays GPA Curriculum Development Project (Type 2)

Project Director: Lisa Adeli, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, adeli@email.arizona.edu

Scholar-Escort: Austin O’Malley, austinomalley@email.arizona.edu

Participants: 12 K-12 and community college educators and 1 Assistant Scholar-Escort

The University of Arizona (UA) Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) is proposing a 28- day Group 

Project Abroad (GPA) curriculum development program to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in June 2021. 

“Persianate Cultures in Central Asia: Coexistence and Integration” will focus on the history, culture, and 

language of Persian-speaking areas of Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan – with the travelseminar restricted to the latter two countries, which the program will emphasize. The program will 

include 12 educators – 8 K-12 teachers/curriculum specialists and 4 community college instructors or 

teacher-educators. The GPA will be co-led by Project Director Dr. Lisa Adeli (CMES Director of 

Educational Outreach with a PhD in History and long experience as a high school teacher) and ScholarEscort Dr. Austin O’Malley (a scholar of Persian literature and medieval history in the UA School of 

Middle Eastern and North African Studies), assisted by Nazafarin Lotfi (native Persian-speaker, artist, 

and community college educator). The goals of the program are threefold: the expansion of participants’ 

knowledge about Central Asia, the greater Persianate world, and the Persian language to improve their 

teaching, the creation of curricular materials that can be directly implemented in school and community 

college classrooms, and the widespread national dissemination of these materials.

Unlike many programs on the Persian-speaking world which focus mainly on Iran’s relations with the 

West, the Central Asia program will focus on the history, culture, and language(s) of Persianate peoples 

through two entirely different lenses. One view extends from Central Asia westward, looking at 

Persianate cultures from Central Asia to the “heartland” of Iran; the other (primary) focus is an internal, 

Central Asian one, centering on the interaction of Persian-speakers (Tajiks) with Turkic cultures 

(particularly the Uzbeks). Themes of cultural diffusion, multi- ethnic/multi-lingual societies, and 

population groups separated by national borders will resonate with educators throughout the US.

Lectures, travel, visits to museums and cultural sites, language practice, classes in cooking/ traditional 

arts, and attendance at musical performances will provide teachers with a more intimate, nuanced 

understanding of the cultures. US educators will also interact with their Uzbek and Tajik teaching 

counterparts to explore ways of creating connections among their students.

The ultimate goal of the program will be for participants, including the project directors, to create 

practical, sharable curricular materials across a number of disciplines and grade levels. Their creation 

and wide dissemination and the resulting presentations on them will ensure an important national 

impact on K-14 education.

Competitive Preference Priorities: The project will address Priority #1 (Hispanic Serving Institution), 

Priority #3 (substantive language training in Persian), and Priority #4 (more than 50% of participants 

comprised of K-12 educators).
18

University of California, Berkeley 

Cross-cultural Perspectives along the Silk Road

Principal Investigator: Dr. Sanjyot Mehendale, Chair, Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, 1995 University 

Avenue, Ste. 510D, Berkeley, CA 94704, Email: sanjyotm@berkeley.edu

Participants: 12 K-12 educators (Area Studies)

Competitive Priorities: IV Inclusion of K-12 Educators

The success of students in the United States depends on their ability to access and use tools for living 

and working in an increasingly globalized environment, including the ability to interact knowledgeably 

with China and other countries in Asia. These tools include language and culture training as well as the 

ability to understand the historical, economic, and cultural connections that the U.S. has had, and 

continues to have, with China and other parts of the world. Teachers in all subject areas need direct 

experience with China in particular to inspire more authentic teaching about China, to deepen their 

knowledge base, and to enable them to meaningfully incorporate diverse world perspectives into their 

lesson plans.

Under the unifying theme of Cross-cultural Perspectives along the Silk Road, this summer institute will 

explore the relationships between communities in several diverse regions of China, as well as the 

tangible and intangible ways in which physical and cultural landscapes influenced the development of 

the complex web of Silk Road routes linking East Asia with regions across Eurasia. The proposed 

framework will allow for a multiplicity of viewpoints, multidisciplinary engagement, and a focus on 

China’s cross-cultural and transnational relations with the west.

The Summer Institute will begin with a pre-travel orientation of lectures by university faculty, 

introductory language lessons in Mandarin and curriculum development strategies. The program is 

designed to introduce content from an American perspective and then mirror the content from the local 

perspective with lectures and site visits during the travel portion. This method allows scaffolding of 

concepts that help participants develop their lesson plans in a knowledgeable, collaborative way. 

Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs) are formed throughout the trip to encourage interaction and 

learning between participants. The four-week field study will visit the Chinese cities and historical 

trading centers of Xi’an, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Before returning home, 

teachers will teach the developed lesson plans and provide demonstrations/presentations to other

teachers.

An experienced team will lead this Summer Institute and serve as core faculty. Dr. Sanjyot Mehendale 

from the Department of Near Eastern Studies and Chair of the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies will 

serve as the Principal Investigator. As an art historian and archeologist specializing in first Millennium CE 

trade and cultural exchanges across Eurasia, her expertise on Silk Road studies will provide an invaluable 

lens for understanding the diverse content covered throughout the program. She will provide continuity 

of content from pre-travel introduction to study of the Silk Road routes as the group visits each location.
19

University of Central Florida 

A Woman’s Place: Language and Culture Alive in Argentina

Pontífica Universidad Católica Argentina Dr. Maria C. Santana | Santana@ucf.edu | (407) 823-2269

The University of Central Florida (UCF) proposes a four-week curriculum development project with (8) K12 faculty/administrators and (4) university faculty in Argentina focusing on language, culture, history 

and politics as a critical means to understand the roles and realities of women in Argentina as keepers of 

family history and transformation within society. Women are, for the most part, responsible for the 

advancement, retention and achievements of the members of a family in the context of Argentina. 

Studying women and their roles in society will allow K-12 teachers and university faculty to understand 

more fully the dynamics of family structure and power within the Latino community. In Florida, as in the 

rest of the United States, the Latino population growth is a significant element to consider while 

developing teaching activities and curricular innovations. Argentina is the selected nation for two key 

reasons: its high literacy rate and its rich history as a nation of immigrants—two conditions it shares 

with the United States. Using the central theme of women’s roles as a lens to study history, literature, 

economics, politics, and culture is a strategic vehicle to promote and improve language and cultural 

proficiency and enrich the overall experience of the participants. In keeping with this approach, our 

participants will select artifacts and build teaching materials to utilize in their classroom instruction and 

curricular development projects.

This Fulbright Hays GPA proposes 11 classes of 2 hours each (22 hours) dedicated exclusively to 

instruction in Spanish language in addition to Language Conversation Hours twice weekly. The GPA 

includes 11 different thematic seminars centered on Women in Business, Human Rights, Literature, and 

Education in Argentina. Included are 34 visits to relevant museums, libraries, folklore performances, 

monuments, and government and university institutions, among others. As a backbone for this project’s 

inherent diversity, each week’s objectives and themes focus on 16 outstanding women from diverse 

backgrounds and experiences who exemplify the struggles and successes of women in Argentina.

In the planning of this GPA initiative, we understood the pedagogical importance of living and breathing 

a culture. The cultural visits, focus groups, seminars, and research topics are designed to ensure a 

thorough immersion in culture and language. Through this program participants will return to their 

institutions with meaningful artifacts, original multimedia resources they create, an e-portfolio, 

reflective essays and curriculum projects to disseminate and share with schools and other institutions. 

Our accompanying Fulbright Hays GPA web link will serve as an enduring showcase of the participants’ 

accomplishments, education- related activities and other curriculum resources.
20

University of Georgia

Language and Cultural Immersion for K-12 Technology and Engineering Curriculum 

Development Project for Tanzania

Project Director: Dr. John M. Mativo

Contact Information: 213 River’s Crossing, 850 College Station Rd. Athens, GA 30602; jmativo@uga.edu; 

706-583-8107 (Office)

Type of GPA Project: Short-Term – Curriculum Development

Participants: 12 participants plus one director (13 total). Participants are K-12 in- service teachers, preservice teachers (undergraduate and graduate students), and administrators

Competitive Preference: The proposal addresses Absolute priority, priority 3, and priority 4

The University of Georgia is applying for a short-term curriculum development 2021 Fulbright- Hays 

Group Project Abroad Program. This project will engage 12 participants from one or more of the 

following areas of education: K-12 teachers, K-12 pre-service teachers (undergraduate and graduate 

students) and educational administrators. The participants will hold at least a bachelors’ degree or be 

current undergraduate students. The absolute priority project will take place in the United States of 

America (USA) and in Tanzania. The proposed project will allow participants to travel to Tanzania for the 

purpose of collecting teaching materials for the development of rich program projects that can be 

shared with other teachers of K-12.

The project will build upon the successful program implemented during 2019 to participants using 

robotics curriculum and indigenous technical knowledge in addition to language and area studies.

The proposed project meets Competitive Preference Priority 3, which awards projects that offer 

Substantive Training and Thematic Focus on Priority Languages. This project qualifies for this priority in 

that it will offer intensive Swahili language training; at least 50% of the time allocated for the preimmersion, immersion, and post-immersion periods of the project. The rest of the 50%, although 

labeled indigenous knowledge and robotics, emphasizes Kiswahili. A particularly innovative aspect of 

this program will be the development of unique Kiswahili words used to express language associated 

with robotics and general systems.

Finally, the project meets Competitive Preference Priority 4 because at least 50% of the participants will 

be K–12 Educators.
21

University of Pittsburgh 

Cultures of Innovation: Intersection of Social Studies and STEAM in East Africa

Name and Contact Information for Project Director: Dr. Maureen Porter, School of Education, Institute 

for International Studies in Education, University of Pittsburgh 4138 WWPH, Pittsburgh PA, 15226 - Tel: 

412-648-2058. E-mail: mporter@pitt.edu

GPA Project Type: Curriculum Development

The African Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh proposes to offer a five-week, curriculum

development projectin East Africa in summer 2021. The overarching goal is to provide participants an 

opportunity to travel to East Africa (Kenya & Uganda) to acquire first-hand knowledge, experience and 

resource materials for curriculum development that can be used to enrich African area studies teaching 

in the K-12 schools. The proposed project uses the place- based education design that provides the 

nexus for participants to investigate the intersections of Social Studies and Science, Technology, 

Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, 

and critical thinking. This innovative, grassroots approach to curriculum that is locally grounded, 

sustainable, and culturally responsive will provide an excellent way for participants to identify the

dynamic convergences of STEAM as it happens locally and globally. 

We will also invest over 20 hours to teaching Swahili, a predominant local language in the area. 

Participants will also be immersed in the language and culture by interacting with local partners. They 

will visit a range of institutions and sites of relevance showcasing our themes. These opportunities will 

provide a wide range of experiences to participants as they explore our connective educational 

landscape, develop area knowledge, practical skills and informed perspectives that they can use to 

develop innovative curricula and share with students and fellow educators when they return to their 

classrooms in the United States.

Based on the success of our 2017 GPA in Ethiopia, we will build a synergistic diverse team of 18 

participants comprised of K-12 teachers, pre-service graduate students from the school of education and 

community college educators. Selected participants will represent all levels of education and a mix of 

disciplines and career stages. Our intentional balance of participants from the social studies and STEAM 

fields will ensure success in identifying those intersections and creating relevant and useful lesson plans. 

The cross-disciplinary collaboration will thrive thanks to our savvy local facilitators, many of whom are 

expert educators and community advocates for inclusion, gender equity, and sustainable grassroots 

solutions.

The project design includes four components: (1) recruiting and selection of participants; (2) predeparture and orientation sessions in Pittsburgh; (3) 5-weeks of field study and curriculum development

in Uganda and Kenya ; (4) dissemination activities in Pittsburgh in the fall and spring terms.

The proposal addresses the Absolute program priority: our focus is on the specific geographic region of

Africa, competitive preference priority 3: we include substantive training and thematic focus on Less 

Commonly Taught Languages (Swahili), and the competitive preference priority 4: we develop and 

improve Africa area studies at both elementary and secondary schools by including K-12 educators who 

will make up 60% of the participants.
22

Virginia Polytechnic University

East Africa Summer Institute for Educators 

Project Director: Dr. Kris Wernstedt (krisw@vt.edu, +1-301-785-6725), Professor, School of Public and 

International Affairs, Virginia Tech

With the support of Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program (84.021A) and the 

Department of Education, Virginia Tech’s Division of Outreach and International Affairs seeks to 

establish a Short-Term Seminar Project (Type 1) for Virginia Tech faculty/ administrators/ graduate 

students and Virginia secondary school educators. The four-week program will be based in Tanzania 

with travel to Kenya and be led by Project Director, Dr. Kris Wernstedt (krisw@vt.edu, +1-301-785-

6725), professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. 

The project will include 12 participants (3 university faculty or administrators, 3 graduate students, and 

6 secondary school educators) plus the Project Director and Project Coordinator based in Tanzania. 

Building off of Virginia Tech’s existing strategic international partnerships in East Africa, the project will 

be centered on the spirit of cross-cultural exchange with faculty/administrators from the University of 

Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), and Ardhi University (ARU) in Tanzania, 

and Egerton University in Kenya. Participants will engage in the study of Kiswahili language and culture 

at the Institute of Kiswahili Studies at UDSM in addition to a seminar series that focuses on the history of 

East Africa, the foundations of cross-cultural teaching and learning as well as the best practices in 

curriculum design and study abroad program development. 

The project fulfills Program Priority A. with a specific geographic focus on Africa. The project meets 

Competitive Preference Priority 1, 3, and 4. The proposer is applying as a new applicant, there is a 

substantive focus on the study of the less commonly taught African language of Kiswahili, and half of the 

participants will be secondary school teachers in the Virginia public school system. Overall, the main 

objective is to build educators’ capacity when it comes to East Africa and Kiswahili as well as develop 

their intercultural competence in order to equip them to promote the integration of cultural, 

international, and/or African studies into the university and high school curriculum.
23

Virginia Polytechnic University 

Discovering Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development in Zambia while Enhancing Cultural 

Awareness and Diversity Competence

Applicant Institution: Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program, School of Education at Virginia 

Tech

Project Director: Dr. Bill Price, 201 Public Safety Building, Blacksburg, VA 24060, 540- 231-7390,

wprice@vt.edu

GPA Project Type: Short-Term Seminar

Number & Level of Participants: 14 participants: 2 college professors; 6 K-12 schoolteachers; 6 

Education graduate students

Absolute Priority: Region of the world: Zambia, Africa

Competitive Preference Priorities: (1) New applicant (CTE Program at Virginia Tech); (4) K- 12 

educators

Project Overview: This first-ever GPA Short-Term Seminar Group Project for Virginia Tech’s Career and 

Technical Education (CTE) program will immerse 12 Virginia CTE practicing educators and graduate 

students at Virginia Tech in the cultural, environmental, business/industry (formal and informal), 

educational (academic and vocational), and governmental sectors of Zambia. This immersion in Zambian 

life will allow participants to gain firsthand knowledge of how these sectors are interrelated and how 

they affect entrepreneurship education in Zambia. The main goal of the project is to promote 

integration of international studies and global skills into the curriculum of Career and Technical 

Education at the middle school, high school, and post-secondary levels of education in the U.S. The 

project is also intended to provide opportunities for participants to enhance their cultural awareness 

and diversity competence by becoming immersed in a culture other than their own. Zambia has 

approximately 73 indigenous languages and dialects. Out of this number, 7 local languages have been 

designated as national languages. These are: Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, Lozi, Kaonde, Luvale, and Lunda 

(Marten & Kula, 2007). Tonga will be the language to be studied by the participants. Although it is not 

one of the languages included on the list of priority languages, it will be studied because it is the 

indigenous language for the region of Zambia we will be visiting.

Expenses associated with this project will be paid for by a combination of funds from four sources. 

These sources include Fulbright-Hays Fellowship program ($95,794 is being requested), project 

participants ($800 each), in-kind contributions from Virginia Tech, and volunteer time from the project 

management team.
24

Voorhees College 

Barbadian/African American Connections

Project Director: Dr. Ronnie Hopkins rhopkins@voorhees.edu

Group Projects Study Abroad Program: Curriculum Development

Project Participants & Education Level: 4 PhDs; 7 Masters or Bachelors’ Level; 2 preservice teachers

Projected Start Time: July 1, 2020

Grant period: July 1, 2020 – December 15, 2021

Pre-departure Phase: January 23 – May 22, 2021

Overseas Phase: June 13 – July 12, 2021

Follow-up Phase: July 20 – December 15, 2021

Voorhees College requests funding for a Curriculum Development Project from the Fulbright- Hays 

Groups Project Abroad Program. The Barbadian/African American Connections project will involve a 14-

member Curriculum Development team that is a consortium of K-12 educators, preservice teachers, and 

higher education faculty. The project will focus on language and area studies to build knowledge, 

develop international relationships, and collect materials to be used in the construction of curriculum 

for K-12 classrooms and university courses.

The 14 project participants will include seven K-12 educators from high need LEAs, four college faculty 

members (representing collaboration between four universities—three Historically Black colleges and

universities [HBCUs] and one Predominantly White institution). The project director, Dr. Ronnie Hopkins, 

brings to the project expertise in African Diaspora Literacy (understanding African people wherever they 

are in the Diaspora) and has taught and presented in West African countries, Jamaica, and China. He and 

the co-organizer, Dr. Gloria Boutte, have led previous Fulbright Hays projects. The Host Country 

Convener, Dr. S. Joel Warrican at the University of West Indies, Cave Hill, has a background in 

raciolinguistics and Caribbean literacies and has experience coordinating international groups. Professor 

Warrican will be assisted by an assistant, lecturers, and education partners to facilitate the success of 

the project. Participants are required to have a rudimentary background and interest in African Diaspora

Literacy and culturally relevant pedagogy. They will commit to further study prior to, during, and 

following the overseas travelto Barbados and to the development of and dissemination of related

curricula.

The purpose of the trip is to gain firsthand knowledge, artifacts (material culture), documents, 

experience and other resources to be used in the development, implementation, and systemic 

dissemination of curricula for use in K-12 and university classrooms. Focusing specifically on area studies 

(history, politics, geography, economics, language, religion, cultural traditions of Barbados and 

connections to African American traditions and culture), this project will highlight academic content 

typically missing from, but critical to university and K-12 school curricula in South Carolina and in the 

U.S. in general.

This project addresses: Competitive Priority 1 (Minority-Serving Institutions) and Competitive Priority 4 

(Inclusion of K-12 Educators).
25

Winona State University 

Curricular Collaboration in Andean Studies in a Kichwa-Spanish Bilingual School

Project co-directors: Dr. Linda D’Amico and Dr. Mary Hudgens Henderson Department of Global 

Studies and World Languages , Minne 120, Winona, Minnesota 55987

Program: Fulbright-Hays Short-Term Curriculum Development Groups Project Abroad 

Participants: 12 total – Approximately half will be advanced undergraduate students specializing in 

education or an education-related field; Approximately half will be in-service P-12 teachers at schools in 

the United States.

The purpose of the Winona State University’s Fulbright-Hays short-term curriculum development 

project is to provide four weeks of direct experience in Kichwa language, Spanish language, Andean 

cultural area studies, and Ecuadorian Intercultural Bilingual Education pedagogy to pre-service and inservice K-12 teachers. GPA participants will develop curricula for use in their professional careers and 

eventual dissemination to colleagues and community members when they return to the United States. 

The project goals align with the Fulbright-Hays GPA through the explicit focus on a modern foreign 

language (Kichwa) and area studies (the intersection of Andean Indigenous cosmologies regarding 

Mother Earth with science education as well as Andean history and geography). Participants will 

collaborate with Ecuadorian counterparts to develop and implement curricula that will be piloted and 

taught in Ecuadorian classrooms and brought back to the U.S. for dissemination through professional 

conferences, meetings, digital platforms and participants’ own classrooms.

This project addresses Priority 1 (new applicant); Priority 3 (Less Commonly Taught Language: 

Kichwa); Priority 4 (inclusion of K-12 educators).
26

Xavier University

Building Sustainable Partnerships through Immersion and Virtual Exchange

Project Director: Diane Ceo-DiFrancesco, Ph.D. (ceo-difr@xavier.edu; 513-745-3423)

Project Type: Short-Term Seminar

Number of Participants: 12 (including at least eight public school K–12 Spanish language educators; up 

to four Xavier University undergraduate juniors, seniors, or graduate certification students who are preservice education candidates in the area of World Languages: Spanish)

The project, Building Sustainable Partnerships through Immersion and Virtual Exchange, seeks to 

integrate Xavier University’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan and the Academic Plan by offering an 

global immersion program to increase the linguistic and intercultural communicative competence of K12 Spanish language educators and per-service teachers, to provide an in-depth study of the culture and 

language of Colombia through the lens of diversity, inclusion and social justice and to promote the 

integration of virtual exchange into the K–12 schools, providing global learning for ALL students. Xavier 

University and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana are linked through virtual exchanges between English 

language learners at the Javeriana and Spanish language learners at Xavier. This established partnership 

will serve as a model for creating links between K-12 schools and teachers in the Cincinnati area and 

Cali. The three-phase project begins with synchronous virtual exchange learning experiences, pairing 

participants with Colombian educators for 5-6 sessions. Participants engage in pre-departure program 

with 20 hours of Spanish language instruction. The four-week in-country immersion features homestays, 

interactive language classes, cultural activities, excursions and collaboration with K-12 teachers in 

Colombia. Post-immersion sessions include structured reflection and coaching on virtual exchange 

implementation. Dissemination activities feature a workshop delivered to the Cincinnati World 

Language Teachers Collaborative, follow-up workshop proposals at state and regional conferences and a 

manual for K-12 teachers on virtual exchange including logistics and participant created tasks. This 

program emphasizes the establishment of sustainable partnerships between K-12 educators in Cali, 

Colombia and Cincinnati, OH, partnerships that are difficult to establish without in person meetings. 

Virtual exchanges at participants’ schools serve to build an interactive, global collaboration between 

pairs of teachers and schools.

The goals of the seminar are:

1) to provide intensive Spanish language training and interactive linguistic and cultural 

experiences. 

2) to develop intercultural communicative competence skills, attitudes, knowledge and 

perspectives in pre-service teachers and practicing teachers through multiple experiential 

opportunities.

3) to create sustainable partnerships between K-12 Colombian and U.S. teachers and schools 

with the goal of integrating virtual exchanges into the curriculum.

4) to examine social justice issues through the lens of the U.S. and Colombian culture to serve as 

the basis for incorporating virtual exchange activities and tasks for U.S. students of participants 

during the 2020-2021 academic year.
27

Competitive Preference Priority: The proposed project meets priority #4 due to its commitment to 

enrich the professional development of K-12 teachers. Xavier University meets Competitive Preference 

Priority 4 because it plans to ensure that at least 50 percent of program participants are K–12 teachers. 

At least eight of the twelve participants will be K–12 Spanish language educators.
28

LONG-TERM PROJECTS
29

American Councils for International Education

Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program Fellowships

Project Director: Dr. Dan E. Davidson, President Emeritus and Senior Academic Advisor, American 

Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS (American Councils), 1828 L Street, NW, Washington, 

DC 20036; T (202) 833-7522.

Expert understanding of Russia and the Russophone world is more critical for U.S. national security and 

its broader national interests today than at any time in the past 50 years. However, current data 

indicates that far too few U.S. students are studying abroad in Russia or the Russophone world to

develop the professional-level linguistic and cultural proficiency required to meet the many geo-political, 

military, and technological challenges emanating from Russia and its turbulent border regions. To foster 

new opportunities for U.S. students to achieve advanced proficiencies in Russian through intensive 

overseas study – and to help revitalize the study and teaching of these languages in the U.S. – American 

Councils is pleased to submit this proposal to the U.S. Department of Education for Fulbright-Hays 

Group Projects Abroad (FH GPA) Long- Term Advanced Overseas Intensive Language Training Projects 

funding for FY 2020. American Councils seeks FH GPA support for 30 fellowships for advanced language 

students seeking to participate in the summer or semester Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies 

Program (RLASP) in Moscow, Russia – the heart of the country’s political, economic, and cultural life; or 

Almaty, Kazakhstan – a rich Russophone environment offering students unique insights into one of 

Central Asia’s most important countries, as well as Russia’s ongoing efforts to extend and maintain its 

regional influence. Program features include: 

• Intensive language classes conducted by leading Russian and Kazakh faculty designed to 

strengthen reading, listening comprehension, and essential speaking skills; 

• Special content-focused seminars exploring Russian or Kazakh mass media, contemporary 

society, and modern politics;

• Weekly cultural excursions and extended travel to maximize exposure to key historical sights 

and provide additional opportunities to interact with peers and host-country nationals;

• Housing with Russian or Russian-speaking Kazakh host families and weekly meetings with 

conversation partners to maximize linguistic and cultural immersion; 

• Ongoing logistical support, guidance, and assistance from a full-time U.S. resident director with 

expert knowledge of the host-country language and culture; 

• Full academic credit for work completed overseas through Byrn Mawr College; 

• Pre-and post-program reading, listening, and speaking proficiency testing to measure linguistic 

gains; and

• Active alumni networks to support program graduates in professional networking and career 

searches, and engage them in outreach to potential future program participants.

American Councils will conduct a national outreach campaign to encourage advanced students of 

Russian across the U.S. to apply. An external selection committee comprising at least twoexperts in 

Russian language and culture, will review all applications. Participants will take part in a pre- departure 

orientation in Washington, DC, and complete pre-and post-program surveys tomeasure language gains.
30

American Councils has administered high-impact study abroad programs for over 7,500 U.S. students, 

scholars, and teachers since 1976.

The FH GPA fulfills Competitive Preference Priority 3 by providing substantive training and thematic 

focus on any modern foreign language except French, German, or Spanish (Russian). American Councils 

requests $238,500 from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, to fund 

30 fellowships: 10 awards for summer at $5,370 each, and 20 awards for semester at $9,240 each, 

during the project period (June 15, 2020 – June 15, 2022).
31

American Institute of Indian Studies

American Institute of Indian Studies: Advanced Language Programs in India 

Project Director: Professor Rebecca Manring, Dept of Religious Studies, Indiana University, 

Bloomington, IN 47405. Email: aiis@uchicago.edu

The objective of this proposal is to continue and further strengthen the American Institute of Indian 

Studies (AIIS) Advanced Language Programs in India (ALPI), which provide intensive advanced-level 

training in Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, and other modern languages of 

India. AIIS is a consortium of eighty-nine U.S. colleges and universities that have significant programs on 

South Asia. Through its junior and senior research fellowship programs, its many services to American 

scholars working in India and to US study abroad programs, its two research archives, and its language 

centers, the AIIS enjoys wide recognition as the pre-eminent institution promoting informed knowledge 

of South Asia in the US.

This application meets Competitive Preference Priority 3 established by the U.S. Department of 

Education as the AIIS ALPI programs provide superb advanced-level immersion training in ten out of the 

78 languages included on the Department of Education’s list of Less Commonly Taught Languages, and 

offer the only well-established programs for advanced immersion study in South Asian languages that 

are rarely taught in the U.S., including Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Scholars 

who have obtained language training with AIIS have been instrumental in expanding the scope of South 

Asian Studies in the US to encompass all areas of India. The GPA-funded fellowships would provide 

maintenance stipends, all program costs and round-trip travel to India to about 22 language fellows who 

have had a minimum of two prior years of study in the target language. These fellows would pay no 

tuition.

Building on six decades of experience and with partial support from previous GPA awards, AIIS has 

created a unique infrastructure of language training centers and has assembled a cohort of gifted 

instructors who are regularly trained in current Second Language Acquisition methodology and 

innovative approaches to language teaching. ALPI language fellowship recipients are selected through a 

national competition. Successful applicants plan on academic careers which require proficiency in Indian 

languages or area studies, or careers in government service, public health, private sector, and NGOs. 

AIIS has been exploring and implementing measures to develop a diverse pool of applicants, including 

from communities that have not typically considered careers requiring proficiency in the languages of 

India. Each ALPI language is taught through an intensive immersion approach, in a well-equipped center 

located in a city in which the target language predominates. Rigorous classroom instruction is 

supplemented by field trips, community and independent study projects, accommodations with native 

speaker families, and a wide range of cultural and social activities. Periodic evaluations by students and 

teachers, proficiency-based testing, and site visits by language pedagogy

specialists and program officers monitor students’ progress and enable the fine-tuning of instruction. 

The success of these methods is demonstrated by generations of AIIS-trained teachers and other area 

specialists, who represent a national pool of expertise that enhances our nation’s security as well as its 

economic, political, and cultural relations with India, and that promotes intercultural understanding 
32

within the U.S. The relatively low cost of living in India and careful management of finances by AIIS 

insures a highly cost-effective use of the requested GPA funds, which provide only a portion of the total 

expense of running the ALPI.
33

American Research Institute in Turkey

ARIT Summer Fellowships for Intensive Advanced Turkish at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

ProjectDirector: Dr. Sylvia W.Önder, Turkish and Anthropology, 210 Poulton Hall, Georgetown University, 

Washington DC 20057, onders@georgetown.edu, (202) 687-6175

Project Type 4: Long-Term Advanced Overseas Intensive Language Training

Number of Participants: 18 advanced undergraduate, graduate students, or faculty

Competitive Priority 3: This project meets the Competitive Preference Priority 3: Substantive Training 

and Thematic Focus on Priority Languages: Turkish.

Under this project, we seek to enable 18 university students and faculty to study advanced Turkish 

through an intensive summer language program utilizing the resources and facilities of Boğaziçi 

University (BU) in Istanbul, Turkey. This program was initiated by the American Research Institute in 

Turkey (ARIT) in 1982 and is designed to provide the equivalent of a full academic year course in 

advanced Turkish. Fellows, recruited nationwide, benefit from direct and constant exposure to the 

language and culture in its native setting, including multiple instructors in daily classroom hours of 

Grammar, Reading, Speaking, and Writing, along with laboratory exercises, work with native-speaker 

teaching assistants, and a full program of Turkish films and lectures. USED grant funds would be used to 

support the advanced level language training of eligible undergraduate and graduate students, as well as

faculty.

As a US and NATO ally connected to Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East, Turkey plays an important 

economic, political, and strategic role in the region. Institutions in the US have rarely been able to create

stable Turkish language programsthat consistently enable studentsto reach the advanced levels. The BU 

program has proven to be an effective way to train students toadvanced proficiency levels that can be 

used in academic and other professional careers while being maintained and improved independently. 

The ARIT Summer Fellowship supports Middle East, Central Asian, and European Language and Area 

Studies Centers in the United States inattaining their primary objectives, that is, to prepare American 

students for teaching and other public and private sector careers related to the region. The program 

aids scholars from fields such as Anthropology, Economics, History, International Relations, Islamic 

Studies, and Linguistics while forging ties between the American and Turkish academic communities. 

Turkish has long been a research language useful to scholars of Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Kurdish and 

other minority groups in the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey – as well as a link to the Turkic 

languages of Eurasia – and has more recently become an important research language for scholars of 

Arab Studies, Security Studies, Migrant and Refugee Studies, and other emerging regionaltopics.

Under the directorship of Dr. Sylvia Önder, 113 fellows from 51 institutions have been supported in the 

2013-2019 grant periods. The purpose of this application is to secure support for this fellowship 

program for the next year, summer 2020. The project would again be administered jointly by ARIT and 

the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages (AATT), with administrative and project 

director support from Georgetown University.
34

Howard University

Summer (2020-2022) Intensive Advanced Yorùbá Group Project in Nigeria

Project Director: Bayo Omolola, Ph.D, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Alaine Locke Hall, 

Room 350, Howard University 2441 Sixth Street, NW Washington, DC 20059, E-mail: 

bayo.omolola@howard.edu, Phone: 202-806-5075, Fax: 202-806-6760

Number & Educational level of Participants: 12 (College Junior or Senior; Grad. students)

This program is to empower the Center for African Studies of Howard University (HU) with a grant so 

that it can organize in Nigeria Fulbright-Hays’ Group Project Abroad for American college and university 

students. The program will take eight weeks every summer in the 2017 Cycle, and 12 American students 

drawn on merit from different higher institutions will benefit from our advanced language and culture 

instructions that will be derived through formal and informal approaches. The instructions are intended 

to make participating students become highly proficient in the Yoruba language and culture, use their 

skills and knowledge in their academic endeavors and on jobs such as national security, teaching, and 

international relations and development. The program meets both absolute priority and competitive 

preference priorities 1, 2, and 3.

Center for African Studies at HU will provide an administrative office from where the program director 

will be accepting applications nationally from undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of 

humanities, social sciences, foreign languages, and/or area studies. Such applicants will be those who 

have studied Yoruba up to intermediate levels in the U. S. colleges. Applicants will also be those who 

plan to apply their Yoruba language skills and knowledge in fields such as government, language 

translation, and international development, research and security. The center will collaborate with other 

institutions with Yoruba programs and/or courses and language professional associations in the U. S. in 

the promotion and recruitment of students for activities. Yoruba professors will serve on the committee 

that will be set up for program implementation. The program will be hosted by the Yoruba Language 

Center of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. It will emphasize the mastery of speaking and 

comprehension skills at advanced level as recommended by American Council on the Teaching of 

Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The program itself will be evaluated by a foreign language specialist, an 

external evaluator, instructors, and students. At the end of every year, Program Director will submit an 

electronic report on the program to the Department of Education and send a copy to the 

AASP/ALTA/AATTY Oversight Committee.
35

University of Arizona 

CASA Advanced Arabic Language & Culture Training at Qasid Institute, Jordan

Project Director: Dr. Sonia Shiri, CASA Director, School of Middle Eastern Studies & North African 

Studies, University of Arizona Email: soniashiri@email.arizona.edu Tel: 520-626-7667

The Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA), based at MENAS, is seeking funding to support15 academicyear fellowships that will provide study abroad opportunitiesto Advanced-level students of Arabic aiming 

to reach the Superior level of proficiency (Level 3 and beyond). CASA’s proven training methods and 

results-driven methodologies are crucial for meeting the nation’s strategic, economic and educational 

needs for advanced-level speakers of Arabic. CASA, a consortium of 30 American universities, was 

formed in 1967 and has since provided advanced-level training in Arabic to over 1,700 American 

students mostly attending the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt. Due to safety and security 

concerns, the program moved to the Qasid Arabic Institute in Amman, Jordan in 2012. CASA is 

administered by a Governing Council representing the 30 consortium members and a stateside director 

who is responsible for all operations. In Amman, a Co-Director coordinates the relationship between 

CASA and Qasid and an Executive Director manages the daily functioning of the program.

CASA fellows are selected from a pool of applicants that respond to a Nation-wide call. The selection 

committee, consisting of the stateside director and three representatives from the Consortium

members, evaluate candidates based on their scores on the language proficiency tests, their academic 

achievements, commitment to the field, and statement of purpose. All chosen fellows are American 

citizens or permanent residents of the US, and CASA adheres strictly to the principles of equal 

opportunity and affirmative action in its admissions.

CASA proposes a nine-month program beginning with a fall semester dedicated to training fellows in both 

Levantine Colloquial Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, with courses that focus on topics related to 

Jordanian culture and society. Courses are offered at the advanced proficiency level in each of the four 

skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking). In the spring semester, the instruction is completely 

content-based in areas such as history, economics, literature, politics, religion, and anthropology and

fellows influence the choice of courses to be offered, as well as the syllabi. There are also two

components ofthe program outside of classroom: weekly activities with language partners and internship 

or volunteer opportunities in the community.

CASA has provided a measure of excellence that other Arabic programs have tried to emulate, thus 

raising the standards of Arabic teaching nationwide. CASA has directly impacted Arabic language

education by encouraging Arabic programs throughout the country to stress the teaching of aural/oral 

skills, the development of testing tools for language proficiency in all modalities. 

Three factors drive CASA’s success: 1) the outstanding quality of the CASA faculty, 2) the excellence of 

the highly motivated CASA fellows, drawn from the Nation's very finest advanced graduate and 

undergraduate Arabic students who continually push the boundaries of language learning and 3) a 

commitment to a vibrant, comprehensive curriculum with well-defined learning outcomes, proven 

instruction methods, integrated course materials, and continuous evaluation.
36

University of Pennsylvania 

Advanced Intensive Zulu in South Africa

Number of Participants: 15 participants (undergraduates, graduates, and faculty) 

Project Director: Audrey N. Mbeje, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Department of Linguistics, 

3401-C Walnut Street Office # 344, C Wing Philadelphia, PA 19104, Tel.: (215) 898-4299, Email: 

mbeje@sas.upenn.edu

The University of Pennsylvania proposes to forward the mission of the Fulbright-Hays GPA Program by 

providing an opportunity for intensive/immersive Zulu language study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to 

increase the number of US graduates with intermediate- advanced level competency in the language. In 

the upcoming 2021-2022 grant period, Penn will recruit and train up to 30 students through the summer 

intensive program to be held in KwaZulu- Natal in affiliation with the University of Zululand. By 

equipping these students with Zulu language and cultural competency, Penn will continue to contribute 

to the development and improvement of the study of modern languages and Africa Area Studies in the 

US. Building on Penn’s extensive resources on Africa and African languages as well the University of 

Zululand’s leadership in Zulu language and culture and Indigenous Knowledge Systems, the project will 

offer a rich experiential learning opportunities for first-hand experience of the history and culture of the 

Zulu people within the larger context of South Africa. The goals of this project are to:

1. Increase linguistic proficiency of participants to ILR 2+, a goal almost impossible to accomplish 

in a non-immersive and culturally distant US classroom environment. To thisend, students will be 

engaged in substantial, thematic face-to-face Zulu language and culture instruction for twentyfour hours per week: twenty hours of language instruction and four hours of lecture seminars on 

aspects of history and culture of the Zulus.

2. Expand participants’ understanding and knowledge of the history and culture of the Zulu 

people. Complementing classroom instruction are trips to historical/cultural sites as well as lecture 

seminars covering topics on project themes a) displacement, movement andsegregation; b) 

channels of liberation–religion and education; c) chieftaincy and indigenous legal systems.

3. Engage participants in lifelong learning by providing them means to engage in Zulu 

communities in KwaZulu-Natal through homestays, outreach, and hands on workshops for cultural 

products and practices such as beading, weaving, Zulu music and dance. The curriculum’s thematic 

approach for content design as well as task-based/project-based pedagogical approach will ensure 

student-centered learning geared towards promoting both individual and collective thinking. The 

thematic design will infuse the 5Cs of the U.S. National Standards for Foreign Language Learning in 

the 21st Century, namely, Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities.

To ensure quality outcomes, we will employ rigorous evaluation systems to continuously improve 

implementation while maintaining and sustaining our fundamental objectives and goals. This project 

meets the FY2020 Absolute Priority as it focuses on Africa and the Competitive Preference Priority 3 as it 

will provide substantive training and thematic focus in the Zulu language and culture of the Zulu people 

of South Africa.