It will be his fourth visit to the Republic of Lithuania, only this time Jerry Holsopple will go to the Baltic state in Northern Europe as a Fulbright Scholar.
Dr. Holsopple, professor of visual and communication arts at Eastern Mennonite University, will spend the 2009-2010 academic year as a Fulbright teacher at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. While there, he will also devise an implementation plan for a communication concentration for the school.
Holsopple has led EMU cross-cultural summer seminars to Lithuania in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
The EMU professor expects to “build on relationships” made in prior visits while teaching courses in digital imaging, photography, popular culture and communication and related areas. He will also study Lithuanian religious images – “crosses and other symbols are seen everywhere,” he said – and wants to learn to paint icons in the Russian Orthodox tradition.
“Lithuania, and the other Baltic states, is a fabulous place to do photography, especially with old and new architecture intersecting with that of the Soviet era,” Holsopple said. “I envision writing a book on the cultural analysis of photography, helping persons better use this medium in learning more about another culture and people.”
Holsopple, who joined the EMU faculty in 2000, completed a BS degree in Bible and camping, recreation and youth ministries from EMU, received an MDiv degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., and earned a PhD from European Graduate School.
The Fulbright program, America’s flagship international educational program, is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.
Since its inception, some 286,500 people – 108,160 Americans have studied, taught or done research abroad while 178,340 students, scholars and teachers from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.
Fulbright award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields.
Fulbright award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields.
It is the second year in a row for an EMU faculty member to be selected for the Fulbright honor. Mark Metzler Sawin, associate professor of history at EMU, spent the 2008-09 year teaching courses on “constructing identity: teaching and the cultural work of history and literature” at the university in the capital city of Zagreb, Yugoslavia.
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