The University of Pittsburgh's Global Studies and African Studies Programs Receive Fulbright-Hays Awards

PITTSBURGH-The Global Studies and African Studies Programs within Pitt's University Center for International Studies recently received grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad (GPA) program. Details on how the grants will be used follows.

Global Studies Program

"Understanding Islam, Through the Egyptian Lens" will provide the opportunity for secondary school teachers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to travel to Egypt to develop curricula related to the study of Africa, Middle East, and Islamic studies. Participants will learn through lectures, meetings with educators and community groups, site visits, and historical tours about the influence of religion and the impact of the movement of people, colonization, and globalization from ancient to contemporary Egypt. The group will travel to Aswan, Luxor, Alexandria, and Cairo.

The grant will be administered by the Global Studies Program, which houses the secretariat of the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS), a group of 28 colleges, universities, and community organizations in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania. The program will include a pretravel workshop and a study tour in Egypt June 21-22. Curriculum created by group participants and relevant to Pennsylvania and Ohio secondary education standards will be presented during teacher workshops held throughout 2010 and posted on the Global Studies Program Web site (www.ucis.pitt.edu/global/).

The project will enhance Middle Eastern, African, and Islamic studies content in social studies and humanities curricula at the secondary level, establish institutional and peer contacts for continued dialogue and distance-education opportunities, and add to Arabic language and area studies instructional resources at the secondary level and at CERIS member institutions.

Global Studies will collaborate with the Program for Dialogue of Civilizations at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, the Fine Arts College at South Valley University, and the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University in providing guest lectures and meetings with faculty, students, and field experts. The group also will attend cultural performances and visit historic sites relevant to the course of study.

For more information on the Global Studies Program grant, contact Elaine Linn, assistant director of the Global Studies Program, at 412 648-2113, EEL58@pitt.edu.

African Studies Program

"Summer Curriculum Development Project in Ghana" is part of the African Studies Program agenda for outreach to K-12 schools in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas to promote African Studies in the curriculum.

Fourteen teachers and administrators from the South Hills school districts will be selected to participate. From June 30 to July 28, they will have the opportunity to acquire first-hand experience of Ghana, develop instructional units, and collect teaching resources for use in their schools' curricula.

Participants will be offered a rich and balanced program of lectures on a wide range of African topics and issues at the University of Ghana, participate in field trips and cultural activities, and receive guidance in the development of their curricular projects. The tour in Ghana will be preceded by three orientation sessions in Pittsburgh.

Upon return from Ghana, a series of workshops will be offered to complete curriculum modules and evaluation activities. Teachers will share their modules online through the African Studies Web site, and they will be encouraged to participate in presentations at professional workshops and conferences in the following years.

For more information about the African Studies Program grant, contact Macrina C. Lelei, associate director of the African Studies Program, at 412-648-2058 or macrina@pitt.edu.

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