UB Among Top U.S. Research Institutions in Production of Fulbright Scholars

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo has ranked among the top five research institutions in the United States in its production of Fulbright Scholars for the 2010-11 academic year.

According to the most recent list of university recipients published on the website of the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, which administers the Fulbright scholarships and fellowships for the U.S. Department of State, UB produced six Fulbright scholars for the current academic year. See http://www.cies.org/.

This accomplishment puts UB right behind George Washington University and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, each of which produced eight scholars, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, which produced seven, on this year's list.

UB is tied with Harvard University, Cleveland State University, the University of Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University and Washington University (St. Louis), each of which produced six scholars, and ahead of Stanford University, UCLA, the University of Delaware and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, which produced five each.

"We are delighted that UB ranks so highly in the annual competition for these prestigious faculty fellowships," said Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education at UB.

"This is a tribute to our internationally oriented faculty, who recognize the importance of global engagement and experience as part of today's higher education enterprise," he said.

"The Fulbright Program affords our faculty a range of superb opportunities -- from short-term to academic-year programs -- to internationalize their research and teaching. Having greatly benefited from the program myself, I encourage all my colleagues to consider how Fulbright might enhance their scholarship and teaching through a highly focused and professionally rewarding international experience," Dunnett said.

The 2011 budget allocation has not yet been passed, but in the 2009-10 academic year, the various Fulbright programs spent $253.8 million to send 1,564 students and 1,110 scholars and professionals abroad to undertake graduate study, conduct advanced research and to teach in universities and in elementary and secondary schools.

UB's 2020-11 Fulbright Scholars are:

• Sampson Lee Blair, PhD, of Williamsville, associate professor, Department of Sociology, who lectured and conducted research at Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) on the island of Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines, from June 2010 to November 2010.

• Daniel Hess, PhD, of Buffalo, associate professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, who is teaching and conducting research during the fall 2010 semester at Estonia's Tallinn University of Technology (TLU). TLU is the only university of technology in that country and one of the three most important institutions of higher learning in Estonia.

• Kee H. Chung, PhD, of Williamsville, Louis M. Jacobs Professor of Financial Planning and Control and chair, Department of Finance and Managerial Economics, School of Management, has received a Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship Award for the spring 2011 semester. The award will fund his academic activities at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, where he will teach and conduct research on the subject of market microstructure, as well as present public lectures and conduct other outreach activities.

• Robert T. Granfield, PhD, of Buffalo, professor and chair, Department of Sociology, is currently Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in International Humanitarian Law at the Human Rights Research and Education Center (HRREC), University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is conducting research during the fall 2010 semester into the evolving role of pro bono legal work in Canada as well as in a global context. HRREC is a premier center of intellectual activity in the area of human rights and is the oldest national university-based human rights institute in Canada.

• Alissa Anne Lange, PhD, of Williamsburg, Mass., is a senior research scientist in the Department of Learning and Instruction, Graduate School of Education. She is spending the fall 2010 semester lecturing and conducting research on the teaching and learning of early math skills at Francisco Jose de Caldas District University, Bogota, Colombia.

• Lilliam M. Malave Lopez, PhD, of Buffalo, associate professor, Department of Learning and Instruction, Graduate School of Education, is director of the department's bilingual and L2 (second language) education graduate certification program. She is spending the fall 2010 semester at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima, lecturing and conducting research into second language acquisition through the teaching of contact areas material to gifted and talented learners.

A complete list of U.S. recipients can be found at http://www.cies.org/schlr_directories.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.