GW is participating in an international education exchange through the Fulbright Program, bringing foreign scholars to the University and sending GW professors abroad.

The University boasts two faculty members in the American Scholar Program for the 1998-’99 academic year. American Scholars lecture or conduct research in various academic and professional fields.

Scheherazade S. Rehman worked under a senior Fulbright research grant in Pakistan and London the last four months of 1998. An associate professor and director of the Joint International MBA-MA Degree Program at GW, she examined South and East Asian financial markets and set up financial systems to protect the countries from the brunt of internal and external financial crises.

“The moment you say you are a Fulbright scholar, it opens up a lot of doors,” Rehman said. “People are more willing to talk to you because it’s not politically based.”

The second American Scholar, James I. Deutsch, an adjunct professor in the American studies department, is teaching at the University of Veliko Turnovo in Bulgaria this academic year.

Deutsch, on his second Fulbright trip, is the only American professor in the institution’s English department. Deutsch teaches American film, literature and folklore at the 10,000-student university.

“There’s a lot of demand for American studies professors overseas . more than in this country,” said Deutsch, who is in the United States for winter break.

GW is hosting five Visiting Scholar Program professors, who have received grants to lecture or conduct post-doctoral research in the United States. The academics will work with GW liaisons.

Maria del Carmen Magaz de Vieiro, a professor from the University of Buenos Aires, is comparing the District’s monuments to those in the Argentinean capital.

She had unsuccessfully lobbied GW for two years to pursue her studies, but the Fulbright Program enables her to research from a carrel in Gelman Library from December to March.

“This is the first time this has ever happened and it is not routine,” said Suzy O’Quinn, who is Magaz’s GW liaison. “We tried to find a way for her to come through traditional channels and then (this) opportunity (came).”

Other visiting scholars include Saifiddin Juraev, who has been researching the role of media and public opinion in democracy since September.

Associate Professor Mikhail Suprun, from Pomor State University in Russia, is studying the World War II lend-lease policy and Russia through March.

Jos? Torreblanca, a researcher with the European University Institute in Italy, lectured on European Union-United States Economic Relations last spring. Associate Professor Olga Volkogonova is researching the image of Russian in the philosophy of Russian Emigre Thinkers this spring.

Scholars are selected based on academic or professional qualifications and potential. Funding comes primarily from the United States Information Agency. Office of Fellowships and Graduate Student Support records show that more than 50 GW professors have received Fulbright Awards since the 1980s.