Fulbright Reality Czech

Dawn Norris is a sociologist. She received her PhD and Master’s degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she teaches courses on how work/occupations, mental illness, and age link to the broader society. In Spring 2023, Dawn spent five months in Prague as a Fulbright Scholar. She taught  "Sociology of Work in the Czech Republic and in the United States" at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. Together with her Czech students, Dawn examined how national history, structure and culture impact trends and experiences on the job market. In addition, she conducted research on the meaning of work and unemployment to people living in and around Prague. Departure: Fear and Excitement I didn’t tell anyone that I was scared. For months, all I had talked about was Prague, Prague, Prague. I was excited, but also terrified. Almost six months in the Czech Republic as a Fulbrighter? What an opportu

Cassandra Gutterman-Johns is a creative writer and stage manager. In the 2022/2023 academic year, Cassandra served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) at Gymnazium Strakonice, South Bohemia. With a BA in Creative Writing and Theater and minors in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies and Comparative American Studies, Cassandra was placed at a school that applied for an ETA in order to introduce students to a new culture, to discuss current themes, such as gender and multiculturalism, and to promote students' English conversation and debate skills. Cassandra enthusiastically built on her students’ tradition and interest in theater, and she helped lead an after-school drama club, where her students experimented with rhetorical techniques, practiced public speaking, and sharpened their English language skills in a creative way. She also led two conversation clubs at her school, participated in a community choir, and volunteered in English classes for young children. In he

Mandy Lee is an artist and architect. In 2022/2023, she spent nine months in the Czech Republic, exploring the evolution of making and conceptualization of Czech glass from 1948 until today. In September, Mandy came to the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Her local Fulbright mentor and guide Petr Stanický , a Fulbright alumnus himself, currently heads the Glass Department at Univerzita Tomáše Bati in Zlín, and he was an invaluable source of information, inspiration, as well as tips for further exploration of various glass traditions all over the country. Throughout her stay, Mandy traveled extensively to research and compare various glass making techniques in “Crystal Valley” in northern Bohemia, Karlovy Vary, Janštejn, Valašské Meziříčí, among many others. She created a body of work in response to her travels. When comparing the Czech and American glass scene, Mandy shares that: “Something that really stands out to me is the differen

Tara O’Connor Shelley is a criminologist. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University and her master's in Justice, Law and Society from the American University. She is a professor and director of the Institute on Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking in the School of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Public Administration at Tarleton State University located in Texas. In 2020, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Police Academy of the Czech Republic in Prague. She taught "Basics of Criminology and Crime Prevention" and provided a formal presentation to faculty, staff, and students on her research related to Chronic Stress in Policing.  Three years after her Fulbright, in June 2023, Tara returned back to the Czech Republic with colleague Dr. Rhonda Dobbs and  a group of 18 students from Tarleton State University. “I traveled to the Czech Republic as a study abroad student long ago and discovered the power of experiential le

Odeya Rosenband is a journalist. In the  past school year of 2022/2023, she spent ten months assisting English language teachers at Gymnázium Čajkovského in Olomouc. With a BA from Cornell University in Government, English and Near Eastern Studies, Odeya quickly became a popular English conversation teacher, a creative music educator and a sought-after companion for any cultural event in the regional university hub of the city of Olomouc. With family heritage in Czech lands and intimate familiarity of Klezmer music, Odeya was excited about the opportunity to explore Jewish community in her host town. This  personal part of her Fulbright mission turned out to be one of the highlights of her grant: "I didn’t fall in love overnight... I would sit around the table with people whom I had nothing else in common other than this one thing… and that was more than enough. We didn’t need to be the same age, speak the same language or be born in the same country to feel so deeply and intimate

Nina Fárová je socioložka a soustředí se na gender ve vzdělávání a technologiích. Jako postdoktorandka aktuálně působí v Sociologickém ústavu Akademie věd ČR, v oddělení Národní kontaktní centrum - gender a věda, a také jako odborná asistentka na Katedře sociologie Filozofické fakulty Univerzity Hradec Králové. V akademickém roce 2021/2022 vyjela s Fulbright-Masarykovým stipendiem do USA a sedm měsíců v legendární San Francisco Bay Area mapovala, jak chytré technologie proměňují uspořádání, úkoly, péči i vztahy v domácnostech. Zázemí pro její výkum jí poskytla San Francisco State University, konkrétně Department of Women and Gender Studies. Kalifornii a San Francisco, tedy světové centrum technologických gigantů a nejmodernějších startupů si pro svůj výzkum vybrala záměrně. Po více než roce zpět v České republice uvádí, že dlouhodobý pobyt v zahraničí ji zádadně posunul profesně i osobnostně, a navíc ráda přivykla vstřícné atmosféře a přátelskosti, kterou mají Američané tak nějak ve sv

Elinor Grage is an actress. This  past academic year, she has served as an English Teaching Assistant at a Catholic High School located in a gorgeous town of 7000 inhabitants called Odry. Her host school prepares mostly female students for future careers as kindergarten teachers, teaching assistants, social workers, nurses and massage therapists. True to her passion for acting, Elinor included acting experiences in her everyday English classroom, discovering that acting, teaching and learning a foreign language complement each other surprisingly well. After school, Elinor has met her students and colleagues in a tutoring club, in a crafts club and in a Czech class. Reflecting on her 10 months far away from her home, Elinor admits that there were times when she was homesick, but, at the same time, she felt overwhelmed with kindness. Her students invited her to their towns, teachers kept her busy with weekend trips, and she did some special activity with her Czech mentor at least twice a