德国耶拿大学主楼

富布赖特聚光灯

Distinguished Professor Sandy Petrulionis shares her experiences as a Fulbright scholar in 德国
作者:玛丽莎·卡尼

Sandy Petrulionis真的很喜欢德国. 她住在那里, 她去过那里, 她在那里做过讲座, 感谢富布赖特项目, 她两次有机会在那里的大学教书.

的 富布赖特项目 is the United States government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Fulbright awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that foster international learning and cooperation through education.

Petrulionis is a Distinguished Professor of English and American studies at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校. 在她的两次富布赖特奖中, the main draw was the chance to teach what she loves and knows most about to different sets of students in another country.

“的se opportunities let me share the passion that I have for 19th-century literary studies, 尤其是改革运动, and a few specific authors with a group of students who are interested from day one.”

In 2010, Petrulionis was a Fulbright senior lecturer at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, 德国, where she taught two classes: one graduate seminar in the American Studies program and one survey course on American literature. 学生大多是德国人, 但其他人来自包括乌克兰在内的国家, 中国, 西班牙, 和意大利.

德国耶拿大学主楼

德国耶拿大学主楼

图片来源:Vitold Muratov, CC BY-SA.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Higher education is a bit different in 德国—there are no general education requirements, so students enrolled in those courses were already in their majors and had a keen interest in the topics Petrulionis was covering.

“的re are so many things about what I teach that I regard as significantly interesting and unique, so to be able to transfer that information to a different audience is just really cool. 的y’re interested, they’re curious, and they ask analytical questions. 的ir awareness of other systems and governments leads them to appreciate things about American literature and history that some of us take for granted. 这真是令人鼓舞.”

One of her favorite memories from Friedrich Schiller University is the time she was schooled by one of her students. Class that particular day was about a pre-Civil War event in which a proslavery U.美国国会议员攻击了一位反对奴隶制的美国总统.S. 参议员用手杖差点要了他的命. After class a young man from 中国 approached Petrulionis and asked her if she knew that the accosted senator recuperated in Cresson, 宾西法尼亚, 离阿尔图纳大约20分钟路程. 的 student knew this because he had made a study of the senator and the incident at an earlier point in his education.

我惊呆了. It’s a story I know well and have taught 100 times; you think you know everything there is to say about it, and then there you are learning in a classroom in 德国 from a young guy from 中国. 这真是令人惊讶,这是我没想到会发生的经历.”

Petrulionis’s most recent Fulbright trip was this past summer when she spent six weeks as a Fulbright specialist at Martin Luther University in Halle, 德国.

马丁-路德Universität Halle-Wittenberg

马丁-路德Universität Halle-Wittenberg

来源:保罗·缪斯,CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Specialist recipients are selected based on academic and professional achievement, 在他们的领域中表现出领导能力, and the potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the United States and abroad.

在马丁·路德大学的时候, Petrulionis co-taught an undergraduate course in 19th-century American women's reform movements that she developed with a colleague from the university.

“我们的教学大纲上有一些最著名的作家和阅读材料, but we also came up with figures we were sure students had never heard of and readings they wouldn't be familiar with. 这有助于课堂上的交谈和比较.

Petrulionis outside of the Dresden Opera House this past summer in Halle, 德国.

Petrulionis outside of the Dresden Opera House this past summer in Halle, 德国.

图片来源:Sandy Petrulionis

Petrulionis also delivered the annual Muhlenberg Lecture at the Muhlenberg Center for American Studies and gave invited talks at German universities in Bayreuth, 爱尔福特, 和德累斯顿.

的 opportunity to interact with students and colleagues from universities and colleges across the globe is one of the many things Petrulionis appreciates about the Fulbright program. She’s also heartened that German institutions continue to emphasize the humanities, thus providing an outlet for classes that relate to the interests and passions she shares with her students on both sides of the Atlantic.

Petrulionis uses her experiences abroad to improve her teaching at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校. “我发现我回来时更有热情了. Teaching in another country keeps me on my toes and makes me more careful, 更周到, 无论是为了我的课程,研究还是个人.”

她希望将来能再次申请富布赖特奖学金, possibly in Ukraine when the country’s universities begin to rebuild from the devastation of the ongoing war with Russia. But for now, she’s satisfied with and proud of the two fellowships she was awarded.

“我认为这是我职业生涯中的一项成就. It’s gratifying and it’s validation that what I love doing is, and continues to be, important.”