CWU secures second 2004 fulbright scholar grant

August 3, 2004

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/e-mail: loweryr@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Dr. Sura Rath, Central Washington University English professor and director of the William O. Douglas Honors College, has been selected for a Fulbright Scholar grant to present American literature lectures in India during fall quarter 2004.

Announced by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, award recipients are chosen based on academic or professional achievement and their demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields of study.

Rath will teach graduate and undergraduate seminars at his undergraduate alma mater, the 170-year-old Ravenshaw College. Supporting an enrollment of 4,000 students, the school's English curriculum, like that at most universities and colleges in India, is based on the British pattern, according to Rath.

"But, in recent years, English departments across India are introducing American literature options for English majors at the master's and doctoral level," he says. "Part of my task will be to help develop curricula and faculty support there."

While in India, Rath will also offer faculty seminars on American literature and literary theory at a dozen universities.

He is one of about 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 140 countries during the next academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program, established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright. The program helps build mutual understanding between U.S. citizens and those of other countries.

"I believe Fulbright lecturers and researchers serve a vital function of strengthening America's ties with people in other countries at the grassroots level," Rath adds.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors the Fulbright Program. During its 57 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or conducted research abroad, and thousands of their peers from other countries have engaged in similar activities within the U.S.

This year, another Central professor, Dr. Tim Melbourne, geological sciences, also received a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research in Costa Rica during the 2004-2005 academic year.

Originally from India, Rath matriculated to the U.S. in 1975 to conduct his doctoral studies in American literature, particularly the literature of the South, and critical theory. Along with his bachelor's degree, Rath has two master's degrees in English: one from Tulane University and the second from Utkal University, in India; along with his Ph.D. from Texas A&M

Rath was named DHC director last year, to oversee a program, founded in 1977, and named for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, a Yakima native. DHC encourages intellectual breadth, academic curiosity and the fusion of scholarship and everyday life.

"My goal is to establish a Fulbright Alumni Center at Central to encourage our graduates to travel abroad for advanced research and study," he points out.