Dr. Michael Maher, professor and head of the communication department at UL Çàɬֱ²¥, has won a Fulbright Award to teach in Germany during the coming academic year.
Maher will serve as visiting professor at the University of Regensburg, a Bavarian university that offers degrees in both media studies and American studies. Fulbright Awards are nationally competitive; they fund travel and basic living expenses for American scholars to teach and do research abroad. While in Germany Maher will offer courses in media and democracy, environmental reporting, and seminars in communication theory.
Founded in the second century as a Roman outpost, Regensburg was recently named a UNESCO World Heritage site for the extraordinary state of preservation of its medieval old town. It is the home town of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Fulbright program was started just after World War II as a means for promoting international understanding. Since its inception more than 44,000 U. S. scholars have gone abroad with Fulbright funding. Congress appropriates funds annually through the State Department to support the Fulbright program. The most recent appropriation was $184.6 million; foreign governments contributed more than $50 million to the program as well.
Maher said he hopes to regain his conversance with the German language, and to observe how higher education is conducted abroad. "I would like to thank the UL Çàɬֱ²¥ administration for sabbatical support during my year abroad," Maher said. Dr. William Davie will serve as interim department head while Maher is in Germany.