2012 Reves Faculty Fellows announced
The Reves Center for International Studies’ Faculty Fellows program funds a number of faculty proposals each year that involve either student-faculty collaborations on international research, or involve research, teaching, and learning through international service-learning courses, community-based research, and civic engagement.
The Reves Center is pleased to announce its 2012 Faculty Fellows: Scott Ickes, John Swaddle, Francis Tanglao-Aguas, David Aday, and Paula Pickering.
“I am really excited about the range of programs, disciplines, and world regions represented by this year’s group of Reves Faculty Fellows,” said Stephen E. Hanson, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of the Reves Center. “These are projects that are really going to make a difference in the world, and I can’t wait to see them come to fruition.”
The Reves Center funds a number of Faculty Fellows each year, and each fall calls for proposals from full-time William & Mary faculty in all schools. Proposals must make clear the international, global, and/or trans-national focus/context of the project, and also the relevance to the four aspects of engaged scholarship: discovery, integration, application, and teaching. With rare exceptions, the project must include an overseas research component.
The next call for Reves Center Faculty Fellows proposals will occur in Fall, 2013.
This year, the Reves Center awarded Faculty Fellows grants to three new projects, and two continuing projects.
New Projects
Scott Ickes, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Ickes will develop the East and Southern African Nutrition Initiative (ESANI), in partnership between The College of William & Mary, the Medical College of Malawi, and Makerere University School of Public Health to conduct research and develop an education program in the area of child nutrition and global health. The partnership is expected to create regular opportunities for W&M students to conduct independent and collaborative research in Malawi and Uganda, and to expand William & Mary’s engagement in research and teaching in the Eastern and Southern Africa region.
John Swaddle, Professor of Biology
Under the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program, Swaddle will work with a consortium of researchers from Tulane University, Cornell University, and Australia’s Charles Darwin University. The program will provide international experience for six W&M undergraduate students to study the biological and cultural diversity of Australia’s tropical savannah and coast in an eight-week program involving behavioral ecology field research on birds, site visits to leading Australian scientific research institutions, field trips to notable biotic regions in the area, and cultural enrichment programs concerning contemporary socio-environmental issues in northern Australia.
Francis Tanglao-Aguas, Associate Professor of World and Multicultural Theatre
Tanglao-Aguas will develop the first U.S. production of the Sitayana (Sita’s Journey), an original dance theatre epic inspired by the story of Sita, Rama’s wife, of Hinduism’s most revered poem Ramayana (Rama’s Journey). This production will dramatize the struggles of Sita as she strategizes her path to freedom from her abductor Ravana. This female perspective of the classic tale will showcase the unique voice of Muslim South East Asians who continue to revere the Ramayana despite their conversion from Hinduism to Islam. In addition to observing Hindu based performances of the epic in Bali, Indonesia, Tanglao-Aguas’ creative team will do research and field work in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, where Muslims continue to propagate the epic through dance drama.
Continuing Projects
David Aday, Professor of Sociology
For seven years Aday has investigated the capacity of undergraduate students to participate in scholarly efforts to understand the structural consequences of international marginalization, undertake field research to describe local and regional infrastructure, and engage issues of theory and practice to enact sustainable programs to improve health and health care. These explorations have resulted in an effort to build and test a model of community efficacy and intentional social change that he will further throughout 2012 with students conducting fieldwork on healthcare in marginalized communities in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
Paula Pickering, Weingartner Associate Professor of Government
The Bosnia Project is a long-running collaboration between the College and non-governmental organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as the oldest student-run international service trip at the College. Pickering’s proposal allows W&M students to work with the NGO Creativus to teach English and video production skills to children and teenagers in partnership with University of Sarajevo students. Through writing, producing, and acting in short videos featuring strictly English dialogue the Bosnian students’ written and oral language, teamwork, and cross-cultural communication skills grow significantly. At the same time, W&M students practice lesson planning and working with children.
