Want $29,000?
Now all Fairfield students need is a great cause, dedicated people and a whole lot of effort.
Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) announced that Fairfield University is the recipient of a grant totaling $29,011 as part of the Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program.
Past recipients have included University of Georgia, Harvard University and University of Notre Dame.
Fairfield was chosen for the grant after completing a rigorous application process.
“Fairfield University was awarded this grant on a competitive basis,” Dave Natonski, press secretary of Congressman Shays, told The Mirror.
“They [Fairfield] filed a grant application with the Department of Education, which decided the program,” he said.
Natonski said the University was chosen by the Department of Education based on the quality of the application that it submitted.
During the application process, Fairfield representatives and its partnering institutions “spent about six months planning a theme for the proposal, including one intensive week on Fairfield’s campus,” said Dina Franceschi, an economics professor who is coordinating the program.
Franceschi, the lead writer of the grant, spearheaded a similar grant in 2002, which totaled $200,000.
While in graduate school, Franceschi visited Brazil several times, including a six-month stint in 1998 when she collected data and performed field work.
“They [Fairfield] were able to demonstrate how they are uniquely qualified to undertake the challenge of reducing poverty on a global scale,” said Natonski.
Susan Fitzgerald, associate dean of University College and director of international education, said a series of meetings and phone calls with partners from different organizations went into the writing and implementing of the grant.
“Some of the partner Brazilian institutions as well as our U.S. partner university came to campus to write the grant,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald said academics, housing and site directors were among the topics discussed during the writing process.
Now that the grant has been approved, there are numerous and unexplored opportunities for Fairfield students.
“I think this Brazilian exchange adds a wonderful opportunity for our students to study in Brazil, [a country with] one of the strongest economies in South America,” said Fitzgerald.
Franceschi said almost all of the grant money will be spent to create a greater cooperation between schools in both countries. Students, faculty and administrators will be able to take several trips per year to Brazil.
In a press release, Shays called the consortium an “exceptional learning experience.”
University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx agreed with Shays saying, “Fairfield is proud to be a leading partner in this important program.”
He also said poverty and issues of social and economic inequality are among the most serious issues in our world today.
The consortium will feature U.S. schools sending 16 students per year for four years to partnering institutions in Brazil. The students will be trained in Portuguese and exposed to a unique curriculum with the theme of poverty.
According to Franceschi, the grant funds provide a stipend to each student in the program.
“The stipend is meant to defray some of the housing costs,” said Franceshi. “We want to promote a greater understanding of culture, research and educational opportunities among the institutions.”
Natonski said Shays “believes the federal government needs to provide innovative leadership in our educational system,” and that the program fulfills that goal.
“I am grateful for this funding, which will allow Fairfield University to partner with Brazil to tackle the challenge of poverty on a global scale,” said Shays in the press release.
“My sophomore year, I had Franceschi, and a woman from Brazil come in to discuss certain global issues,” said international studies major Lydia Mulyk ’08. “Getting their aspects on global issues, you could see their different methods of teaching, different methods of analyzing and different approaches to the issues at hand.”
Click to read more about the Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program
Leave a Reply