U.S. Embassy Links Fulbright Scholar to Liberia

 

Forum
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted March 16, 2005

 

A Fulbright Scholar has arrived in Liberia for the first time in more than a decade on an outreach program that will center on higher education.

According to the U.S. Embassy release, Dr. Wenda Bauchspies arrived in Liberia March 8 from neighboring Guinea where she currently serves at the University of Kankan as lecturer and researcher. She will be in Liberia for more than two weeks as guest of the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA).

The OPA is taking advantage of Dr. Bauchspies’ presence in nearby Guinea to explore the possibility of extending to Liberia Fulbright oriented programs that could be used to add value to higher education in the country.

Liberia does not at this time qualify to participate in the Fulbright Program as it did in the past, the release noted.

While in Liberia, the Fulbright scholar will conduct seminars dealing with “Introduction to Qualitative Research” for faculty members of the University of Liberia and the African Methodist Episcopal University with the aim of providing experience and context for research work. She is also expected to meet with higher education authorities in Liberia and dialogue with a number of women organizations and groupings.

Dr. Bauchspies is a Faculty member in the Science, Technology, Society (STS) and Women’s Studies Programs at the Pennsylvanian State University in the United States. She also serves as Coordinator of the STS Graduate Studies at the same university.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Bauchspies focuses on issues of knowledge, power, difference, and gender. Her research work in Guinea addresses how gender shapes and is shaped by daily technologies of the 21st Century in a medium sized African Country. She is one of three co-authors of a forthcoming book, “Science, Technology and Society: A Sociological Approach,” published by Blackwell Publishing.

“It is anticipated that Dr. Bauchspies interactions in Liberia will set the stage for linkage and collaboration in the area of higher education in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone-the Mano River sub-region,” the release further noted.

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