ONEONTA _ An international Fulbright Scholarship has been awarded to Karen Joest, an assistant professor in the Human Ecology Department at the State University College at Oneonta.

The award will allow Joest to study in South Africa this summer, said Carol Blazina, vice president of community relations for SUCO.

“I just found out two days ago,” Joest said Friday. “It’s very competitive and a very big honor.”

Joest, who joined the SUCO faculty in 2003, is a specialist in child and family studies with a doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a master’s degree from Chaminade University and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana State University, Blazina said.

The international education program, sponsored by the U.S. government, offers the Fulbright Scholarship, which is designed “to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,” Blazina said.

“Recipients are given the opportunity to study and teach in other countries, exchange ideas and develop joint solutions to address shared concerns,” she said. “Recipients are chosen based on academic merit and leadership potential.”

Joest said she wanted to go to South Africa because of there being a disadvantaged population and poverty, two issues that interest her. Joest does research on violence and poverty; she also teaches courses at SUCO on the issues of disadvantaged populations.

While in South Africa, she will meet with government officials, educational leaders and representatives of organizations who are working to improve the conditions there, she said.

After returning, she plans to do presentations on what she learned in South Africa. She said she wants to share information with other professors and the community.

“I hope to take away information from this experience and apply it to our own disadvantaged populations in the U.S.,” she said. “We can learn a lot from the people of South Africa.”

Joest said her friend Christine Fruhauf, an assistant professor at Colorado State University who was awarded the scholarship in a previous year, convinced her to apply last fall.

She will leave for South Africa on July 14 with a group of 10 other scholarship winners from all over the country for a monthlong trip, she said.

Joest said she is happy to represent the college on an international level.

“I had no idea I would be awarded the scholarship,” she said. “I’m very excited for the experience.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Scholarship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.