USA Fellows Year: U.S. Fellows 2023-2024

Paul Ward

Paul Ward is a recent graduate of Columbia University in New York City, with a bachelor’s degree in American history. Paul’s undergraduate studies focused on 18th-century revolutionary America, with an emphasis on constitutional law and nation building. He has also been studying Italian for the past two years and hopes to continue learning it during and after his Fulbright grant.

Paul began his teaching career with the New York City Urban Debate League in 2019 and has been interested in education ever since. As both a teacher and administrator, Paul helped the largest debate league in New York put on weekly tournaments that involved thousands of students from across the city. A debater since high school, Paul enjoys discussing world news and trends, and tries to implement these exercises into his lessons whenever he can.

In the area of education access, Paul participated as a teaching fellow with the nonprofit, Breakthrough Collaborative. At Breakthrough, he managed his own daily classroom and created a unique social studies curriculum for his class of middle school students in the Boston public school system. Paul’s curriculum challenged students to reflect on the American Dream and their role as citizens, and he is excited to personally reflect on these topics from a different perspective while abroad.

Outside of the classroom, Paul is interested in music and sports. He has played bass in jazz and rock bands for more than 10 years and is eager to bring this expertise abroad to teach others about the role of music in American culture. He is also an avid runner and completed his first half-marathon this April. In India, he looks forward to staying up late to watch his favorite baseball team, the New York Yankees, play live back home.

Paul’s grant period in India will be the first time he has ever lived abroad, and he cannot wait to meet lots of interesting people and to see the world from a new perspective.

Sumaita Hasan

Sumaita Hasan graduated summa cum laude as a valedictorian with honors from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, receiving a bachelor’s degree in media studies, English literature, and music. Her degree was supported by a four-year merit scholarship. Sumaita has had extensive experience in journalism, having served as editor-in-chief of the City University of New York’s platform, CUNYverse, in addition to being an editor for various publications.

Sumaita has also served as a volunteer vocal teacher for three years, as a volunteer English teacher for French and Bangladeshi women, and as a volunteer English mentor for a Ukrainian student. Her experience as a tutor for grade school, undergraduate, graduate, and for other professional students has reinforced her passion for teaching and writing. Sumaita is particularly interested in media literacy and cinema, and has dabbled in production, post-production, and website design. She strives to center South Asian and underrepresented voices in her work as a Bangladeshi second-generation American.

While in India, Sumaita hopes to create a journalism club that would produce a student-led publication, in addition to discussing the impact of all forms of media. She is also a trained vocalist and would love to organize a cappella group.

Courtney Fulcher

Courtney Fulcher graduated from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York in 2021 where she majored in comparative literature. She worked as a classroom and administrative assistant at The Red Balloon Early Learning Center, a community preschool in West Harlem. She previously studied abroad, in India, through the NSLI-Y Hindi Academic Year Program 2016–2017 and in the fall of 2019 through the University of Wisconsin where she conducted an independent research project on alternative early childhood education in Varanasi. While in Varanasi, she studied traditional Banarasi pit-loom weaving under Salim Sahib, a weaver in Sonarpura, a weaving center in the city. Courtney is also an on-air host at WKCR-FM, a non-commercial radio station in New York City. Among other shows, she regularly programs for Raag aur Taal, a weekly showcase of classical Hindustani music.

Prior to Fulbright, she worked at a publicity agency as an audio business coordinator, working with companies in both the entertainment and audio industries.

Colleen Choate

Colleen Choate graduated from Appalachian State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s in dance studies and a minor in Spanish. Deeply connected to the creative and expressive art communities on campus, she has performed in the fall and spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble for multiple years, organized and performed in public poetry readings, held concerts for her own choreographies, and served on The Peel Literature & Arts Review poetry committee. The focus of her scholarly work and thesis was the connection between language and the body as a somatic and expressive experience. As a choreographer and as a yoga instructor, she has realized that her greatest strength lies in facilitating experiences and in holding space for others to express themselves.

Colleen was introduced to Indian philosophy in a yoga class during her freshman year in college, and she has never looked back. She began reading such texts as the Bhagavad Gita and Devi Mahatmya. Her desire for deeper connection and authentic relationship with these teachings led her to India in 2019, where she toured its southern part, visiting temples, exploring places, and of course, eating amazing food.

In 2020, she decided to switch career paths and took a TEFL course to receive her teaching certification and began working with the English Language Program students at Virginia Commonwealth University. She quickly took to the role, especially in terms of building relationships with students, which led to her current role as the global learning coordinator in the Global Education Office at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In this role, she works daily with international students studying in the United States. This includes planning and implementing cultural events and social programs to support these students. These programs help them connect with one another, as well as with domestic students, and foster community, cultural competence, and personal growth. Colleen is excited about the opportunity that the Fulbright-Nehru grant offers to work with students every day, learn from them, and find rewarding ways to build relationships through education.

Ren Birnholz

Ren Birnholz (they/them/theirs) is an honors graduate of Northeastern University where they majored in cultural anthropology and theatre and minored in women, gender, and sexuality studies. During Ren’s time at Northeastern, they worked as a research assistant in two creative practice research labs focused on the intersections of performing arts, education, identity, and social justice. Ren’s fascination with this field led them to complete an ethnographic thesis entitled “Creating Community through Interrupted Dialogue on TransTok”, which explored how young content creators use social media to build community. They also explored how creative content is utilized to educate individuals outside of a community.

In addition to their academics, Ren spent their time as a campus leader and student advocate. Most notably, Ren led initiatives that expanded access to mental healthcare and reproductive healthcare for the entire student body. They also worked as a resident assistant for three years, mentoring first-year students as they entered the university landscape.

Ren discovered their passion for teaching at a young age. In secondary school, they worked as a theatre and dance camp counselor and as a religious schoolteacher at their local synagogue. As an undergraduate student, they completed two six-month internships: the first as a full-time elementary music teacher; and the second as the sexual misconduct and bias case manager for Boston Public Schools. Outside of a formal educational setting, Ren designs curriculum and leads workshops for reproductive justice and LGBTQ+ organizations.

After studying at Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana, in the summer of 2022, Ren is excited to be returning to India as an English teaching assistant through the Fulbright-Nehru grant. While Ren has explored the American education system in depth, through this program they will further their capability as an educator tied to experiences of cultural exchange.

Amariyah Ayee

Amariyah Ayee is a recent graduate of Duke University with a master’s degree in biomedical science. While at Duke, she volunteered with seniors in the Durham community and also served on the volunteer committee. She graduated from Claflin University as a valedictorian in 2022 with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. At Claflin, she enjoyed tutoring students as a supplemental instructor and also volunteered at the University Writing Center and Boys and Girls Club.

Amariyah has always desired to be a physician and serve individuals in underserved communities. She has been accepted to medical school on a full tuition scholarship, which she plans to pursue following her Fulbright experience. She is excited to serve as a cultural ambassador and share her love for learning with her students.

Martha Weiss

Prof. Martha Weiss is a professor of biology at Georgetown University where she directs the environmental biology major and co-directs the environmental studies program. She received a BA in geological sciences from Harvard University, a PhD in botany from the University of California, Berkeley, and postdoctoral training in insect behavior from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her research – deriving from a close observation of nature – centers around experimental exploration of questions in insect ecology and plant–animal interactions. Her topics of investigation have included floral color changes as cues for pollinators; learning and memory in butterflies; the retention of memory across metamorphosis; and the indirect ecological consequences of periodical cicada emergences. In her teaching, she prioritizes opportunities for active learning and engagement; she believes that while thoughtful pedagogy is an important foundation for instruction in any subject, it is particularly critical in STEM fields where traditional, memorization-based methods of teaching have been known to discourage participation. Outside of research and teaching, she enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, botanizing, foraging for edible plants, and working with fibers and textiles.

For her Fulbright-Nehru project, Prof. Weiss is investigating the behavior, movement, and sensory ecology of ant-mimicking arthropods in areas around Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram. In one of the prime examples of adaptation by natural selection, a diverse array of insects and spiders exhibit a remarkable resemblance to ants, mimicking them in both morphology and behavior, and thereby gaining protection from predators that actively avoid ants. She is also offering field-based workshops to students at Azim Premji University on plant–insect interactions; besides, she is participating in pedagogical workshops on “ungrading”, a relatively new assessment strategy that moves the focus away from testing and instead puts learning at the center of higher education.

John Portz

Prof. John Portz is a professor of political science at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. His research interests include education policy, federalism, and institutional leadership, and his teaching areas cover urban politics, intergovernmental relations, public policy, and public administration. In one major research project, he joined a team of scholars analyzing the development of civic capacity in support of public education in major U.S. cities. Based on this project, he co-authored City Schools and City Politics: Institutions and Leadership in Pittsburgh, Boston, and St. Louis (University Press of Kansas, 1999). Focusing on leadership, in another co-authored project he worked with a colleague to identify and explore six common practices of leader-managers in the public sector (Leader-Managers in the Public Sector: Managing for Results, M. E. Sharpe, 2010). More recently, he has focused on educational governance and accountability in K-12 education. Of particular interest are variations in how accountability is achieved, depending upon the institutional setting: administrative, market, professional, and political. Each setting offers a different accountability design. In addition, these designs vary across American federalism based upon different perspectives or lenses at the national, state, and local levels. This project led to a recent publication of his, Educational Accountability and American Federalism: Moving Beyond a Test-Based Approach (Routledge, 2023). In addition to his research activities, Prof. Portz has served at Northeastern University as chair of the Political Science Department and director of the University Honors Program. Outside of academia, he has served as an elected member of his home community’s school board and city council.

In his Fulbright-Nehru project, Prof. Portz is combining teaching, advising, and research. This includes giving guest lectures on special topics in American politics and policymaking, providing guest presentations in classes, and advising students on research projects. The political and policy dynamics of federalism in the U.S. and India is of particular interest. The research component of his project is an extension of his recent work on educational accountability, focusing on the dynamics of accountability at the elementary and secondary education levels (up to age 18) in India in comparison to the U.S.

Arpita Joardar

Dr. Arpita Joardar got her PhD in international business from the University of South Carolina. Currently, she is an associate professor of management and the director of the MBA program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She has presented her research in national as well as international conferences and received recognitions like the FIU/AIB Best Theory Paper Award and nomination for the Carolyn Dexter Award. Her research has been published in various high-quality peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of International Management, International Business Review, and International Journal of Cross Cultural Management.

Dr. Joardar’s research draws from and integrates theories from multiple disciplines such as organizational behavior, strategy, economics, psychology, and cultural anthropology to examine international business phenomena. More recently, Dr. Joardar has been engaged in researching best practices for teaching in business programs. She draws from her more than 15 years of teaching experience in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs using multiple teaching modalities for identifying the most effective pedagogical tools for business faculty.

India’s growing demands of entrepreneurs means that it is essential to develop business programs that provide quality training on critical skills to navigate the challenges of a dynamic global business environment. Dr. Joardar is using her Fulbright-Nehru grant to work with the business academic community in India to develop curriculum that is designed for future management professionals interested in global business. In this regard, she is presenting her research and engaging in exchange of ideas with both faculty and students there. Dr. Joardar is also exploring opportunities for future collaboration in India. Besides, she is teaching management topics with international focus for courses on Cross-cultural Management and International Business. She is also helping the faculty in curriculum development and discussing research opportunities for collaboration. Similarly, she is exploring the possibility of mutually beneficial exchange programs between her home institution in the U.S. and her host in India.

Devan Barker

Dr. Devan Barker is currently a professor of history at Brigham Young University (BYU)-Idaho where he teaches courses in world history and philosophy. Dr. Barker received a bachelor’s in Italian and a master’s in organizational behavior from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. His PhD was from the University of Wuerzburg in Germany where he studied intellectual history with an emphasis on the history of educational philosophy. Before pursuing his doctoral work, Dr. Barker was involved in starting and administering several private and charter schools, including a high school completion program in Mexico, a performing and fine arts school in Utah, Utah’s first charter school placed in a multimillion-dollar performing arts facility, and the national flagship school in the United States for Montessori education at the adolescent level. He has also worked in the corporate world for companies like Novell and PepsiCo.

Dr. Barker is a founding director of the Office of Instructional Development at BYU-Idaho where he oversaw faculty development and training programs for a decade while the school transitioned from a two-year college to a four-year university and tripled in size, adding over 700 new faculty. He continues his involvement in university pedagogy as a faculty fellow for the development office.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Barker has taught middle school, high school, undergraduate, and master’s students, has mentored several doctoral candidates, and has consulted with numerous other universities. He has presented workshops on a wide array of topics relevant to faculty development and has published articles and chapters on intellectual history as well as on university pedagogy.

The Fulbright-Nehru project involves partnering with an expert in the literature around university pedagogy and organizational change with a leading Indian university promoting educational reform. The goal is to support a university-wide culture shift from education-for-certification to knowledge production pursued as an end in the tradition of liberal arts institutions.