Fulbright Reality Czech

Libby Hladik is an occupational therapist.  Her work blends clinical expertise with creativity and collaboration. With a background as a theatre director and producer, she brings a unique perspective to her research on well-being and community participation for people with developmental disabilities and their families. In the 2024/2025 academic year, Libby spent a year in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright Scholar, partnering with the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education at Masaryk University in Brno. She worked alongside Czech families to adapt an Accessibility Toolkit for Cultural Institutions, helping to make community spaces more inclusive. Joined by her Czech-born husband and their daughter, Libby reflects, “My Fulbright experience was truly special in how it connected such important parts of my personal and professional life.”  My Fulbright experience was a dream come true. It sounds a little funny and a bit verbose, but it was a combination of personal and profe...

Andrew Harlan is a composer, sound designer, and bassist. A Boston Conservatory graduate currently pursuing a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, Andrew has been mentored by leading figures in contemporary music including Marti Epstein, Myra Melford, and Ken Ueno. Andrew's original music was showcased in a multitude of festivals including the Valencia International Performance Academy, the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice, and the Wellesley Composers Conference. During the past academic year, Andrew spent nine months at the Music and Dance Faculty of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he composed music that combines improvisation and live electronics. Although Andrew's inspiration to spend a year in the Czech Republic was spontaneously inspired by a meeting with Czech composer Michal Rataj in California, today Andrew says: "My time as a Fulbrighter was a reminder to me that the most beautiful gift of being an artis...

Aidan Uvanni is an active-duty United States Coast Guard officer and currently a full-time master’s degree student of Water and Environmental Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He focuses on water management and rainfall-runoff modeling. Aidan is one of a few Fulbrighters who has stayed in the host country for over one year. In September 2022, he started his graduate program as a Fulbright U.S. student and chose to extend beyond his grant for this academic year. When not in school, Aidan enjoys indoor rock climbing and exploring the city by bike or on foot. He is an active volunteer at a local Czech middle school and practices English conversation with a group of Ukrainian teenagers. Prior to his Fulbright grant, Aidan served aboard USCGC Polar Star, deploying to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2022. After graduation, he will continue his service in the United States Coast Guard as an Executive Officer of a smaller icebreaker. This interview is the ...

Avery Morris is a violinist and a Doctoral Candidate of Musical Arts in violin performance at Stony Brook University. This year, she is spending nine months at the Music and Dance Faculty (HAMU) of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague as a Fulbright Student grantee researching Gideon Klein's lost works and the legacy of Czech Musical Modernism. Avery has a special passion for the music of this Czech composer Gideon Klein, who died at the age of 26 in Fürstengrube, a subcamp of Auschwitz after his internment in Terezín. Avery discovered Klein by chance during the pandemic, when looking for music to play together with her twin sister. She immediately got hooked, and started to explore Klein's music, as well as his destiny. Klein experimented with genres ranging from jazz and blues to serialism and microtonal music – a style later labeled by the Nazis as "degenerate music." Avery's curiosity grew more, so applying for a Fulbright Student grant to the Czech Republ...

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...

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...

Aidan Uvanni is an active-duty United States Coast Guard officer and currently a full-time master’s degree student. He is studying Water and Environmental Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. His research focuses on water management and examining sustainable treatment systems to address stormwater pollution. In his free time, he enjoys indoor rock climbing and exploring the city by bike or on foot. In addition, he volunteers with a local non-profit organization that assists socially excluded children and youth, and he practices English conversation with a group of middle schoolers from Ukraine.  Prior to his Fulbright grant, Aidan served onboard USCGC Polar Star, deploying to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2022.  Growing up, I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps; I thought of entering the medical field to become a doctor. But, if you read the first line of my Fulbright grant description, you know that I am studying water engineer...

Audrey Culpepper is an expert on Russian literature. Originally, she was supposed to study Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy and Soviet conceptions of the Other in Russia, but given the current geopolitical situation in Central and Eastern Europe, she is conducting her research project at the Slavonic Library  in Prague. In her research, Audrey focuses on the intersections of literature, visual art and science. She comes from the University of Tennessee, but her current host institution is located in Klementinum - the complex of the National Library, a medieval Jesuit college located in the heart of Prague. The Slavonic Library is one of the most important Slavistic research institutions in Europe. Established in 1924 as a Russian Library by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support Russian emigres, some of the gems that a visitor can study today include the correspondence of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy and Fryodor Dostoevsky. During the fall, Audrey took a special walk "from the north...