Educational Exchange
Study of U.S. Institutes for Scholars
American Embassy Kuwait
“Study of U. S. Institutes for Scholars”
Six-Week U.S. Study Program for Kuwaiti Academics
Application Deadline: February 14, 2008
Please Click Here for Application
The American Embassy in Kuwait is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications from Kuwaiti academics from local universities to participate in the 2008 Study of U.S. Institutes for Scholars program series. The application deadline is Thursday, February 14, 2008. The programs will take place for six weeks beginning in June 2008 at various colleges and universities throughout the United States.
Study of United States Institutes is a series of intensive post-graduate level academic programs with integrated study tours. The purpose of the programs is to provide foreign university faculty and other scholars the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American society, culture and institutions. The ultimate goal is to strengthen foreign curricula and to improve the quality of teaching about the United States in academic institutions abroad.
The study portion of the programs is rigorous and demanding, and participants will be expected to handle substantial reading assignments in English and to be fully active participants in all seminar and panel discussions. It is imperative that all candidates demonstrate English language proficiency. Candidates should be mid-career, typically between the ages of 25-50, highly-motivated and experienced professionals from institutions of higher education. The ideal candidate will also be an experienced professional with little or no prior experience in the United States, whose home institution is seeking to introduce aspects of American studies into its curricula, to develop new courses in the subject of the institute, and to enhance and update existing courses on the United States. One candidate per country will be selected for each program series or “institute.”
Participants will have a private room with a shared bathroom during the residency portion (four weeks) of the program. During the study tour of up to two weeks participants will share a hotel room. Housing will typically be in college- or university-owned residences. Most meals will be provided at campus facilities. Participants might have access to a kitchen to cook some meals on their own.
Participants are expected to participate fully in the program. They are expected to attend all lectures and organized activities and complete assigned readings. Family members and/or friends may not accompany participants on any part of the program.
The program institutes for 2008 are as follows:
a) SUSI American Civilization will provide a worldwide multinational group of 18 foreign university faculty and scholars with a deeper understanding of U.S. society, culture, values and institutions.
b) SUSI on American Politics and Political Thought will provide a multinational group of 18 foreign University Faculty with a deeper understanding of U.S. political institutions and major currents in American political thought. The institute will provide the participants insight into how intellectual and political movements have influenced modern American political thought during the founding period (constitutional foundations).
c) SUSI on Contemporary American Literature will provide a multinational group of up to 18 foreign university faculty and scholars with a deeper understanding of U.S. society and culture, past and present, through an examination of contemporary American literature. Participants will study contemporary American writers and writing in a variety of genres and explore how the themes in these works reflect larger currents within contemporary American society and culture.
d) SUSI on U.S. Foreign Policy will provide a multinational group of 18 foreign university faculty and scholars with a deeper understanding of how U.S. foreign policy is formulated and implemented with an emphasis on the post-Cold War period.
e) SUSI on Journalism and Media will provide a multinational group of 18 journalism faculty and other related specialists with a deeper understanding of journalism and the media’s roles in U.S. society. It will examine major topics in journalism, including the concept of “free press” First Amendment rights, and the media’s relationship to the public interest. The legal and ethical questions posed by journalism will be incorporated into every aspect of the institute.
f) SUSI on Religious Pluralism in the United States. Teaching methodology and pedagogical method will not be addressed formally in this institute.