College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

International visitors

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures hosts scholars from countries of the former Soviet Union.
A chance to spend a year in the United States and see its educational system in action was an opportunity too good to pass up for three scholars from countries of the former Soviet Union.

"You cannot be a general expert in our areas without having (educational) experience throughout the world," said Olena Grytsay. "For me as a sociologist I was curious on how faculty teach in this country."

Grytsay, along with Guliayum Ashakeeva and Mariya Shymchyshyn, is participating in the Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP), a program managed and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State.

The trio will spend the fall and spring semesters on campus as visiting scholars in three other academic departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. They are hosted by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures during their campus stay.

The JFDP provides university instructors with an 11-month opportunity to experience teaching practices and curriculum development at universities throughout the United States. The program consists of nine months of academics and two months of internship.

Grytsay, who is from the Ukraine, is working with Jacquelyn Litt, associate professor of sociology and interim director of the Women's Studies Program. Also from the Ukraine, Shymchyshyn will be mentored by renda Daly, professor of English. A native of Kyrgyzstan, Ashakeeva is working with political science professors Ardith Maney and Eric McGlinchey.

"This program has done a very useful thing in sending us here," Shymchyshyn said. "As an English teacher it has been good to observe in an American classroom.

"I'm very curious on the teaching methodology you use in this country, what ways students study and how materials are introduced in a classroom."

During their stay on campus the three visiting scholars have been working closely with their faculty mentors at Iowa State to outline new courses in their field, gather new teaching materials and enlighten U.S. faculty and students on teaching practices in their countries.

The trio are each auditing courses in their field of study and are working on a variety of projects with their faculty mentors. Shymchyshyn is working with Daly in producing the NWSA Journal, the flagship publication of the National Women's Studies Association. Ashakeeva is assisting McGlinchey with a project on the role of Islam in Central Asia, which she hopes will eventually produce a manuscript.

They also spend numerous hours in the Parks Llibrary conducting research and attend as many guest speakers/lectures as they can fit into their schedule.

In January they will travel to Washington, D.C., for a JFDP meeting and then attend conferences in their fields of study later in the spring semester.