Abilene Christian University's Dr. Jason Morris, assistant professor of higher education and director of the master's program in higher education, is preparing to spend five months in Hungary. He is one of 800 U.S. faculty and professionals whose time teaching and researching will be funded by the prestigious Traditional Fulbright Scholarship Program during the 2009-10 school year.
Morris will spend the month of February conducting a lecture series on the comparison of higher education in Europe and the United States at the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary. Five lectures, ranging in topic from "Educational Access in the United States and Europe" to "The Impact of the Bologna Process on Hungarian and U.S. Higher Education" will engage Hungarian graduate level students studying higher education.
"I have always been interested in the comparative study of higher education in different countries," said Morris. "I looked at Hungary and saw the opportunity to learn about something entirely different."
The second portion of Morris' trip will be devoted to research. Working collaboratively with Hungarian faculty at the Life Long Research Center at the University of Pécs in Pécs, Hungary, Morris will examine the educational condition of Romani students in Hungary.
The Romani people are a minority which has historically lived on the margins of Western society. This research will study those Romani students who have excelled in the primary and secondary educational systems, reaching the post-secondary level, according to Morris. He hopes to use the information gathered to help more Romani students proceed with their education.
Morris has worked with the TRiO programs at ACU, which reaches out to under represented student groups in the United States, and understands the difficulties of traditionally overlooked groups in the pursuit of higher education.
In order to receive funding for this lecture series and research, Morris submitted an application including a detailed proposal of how he would use his time in Hungary to the traditional Fulbright Scholars Program. He was approved first by an American review board, in November 2007, and then by a Hungarian review board, who informed him of their approval in April 2008.
Morris, who had traveled to Hungary before as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in 2002-03, was eager to return and relate his experience to graduate students examining higher education and higher education research.
"I am really drawn to the mission of the Fulbright program of creating peace and friendship between countries through the exchange of people and ideas," said Morris. "I am humbled and honored to represent the U.S. and ACU during my time in Hungary."
The Fulbright Scholar Program was founded in 1946, and the Traditional Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
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