Ewa K. Hauser, director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester, has received a Fulbright grant to teach in Mykolayiv, Ukraine for the spring 2007 semester.
Within the Department of Philology of the humanities division of Petro Mohyla Mykolayiv State Humanities University, Hauser will teach courses on American political films and ethnic relations, and offer a workshop on curricular development and the formation of a film studies program there.
"Ukraine, a new independent state in east-central Europe, has numerous historical and contemporary political ties to Poland, and has always fascinated me," says Hauser. "I am excited about the opportunity to be there at a time when Ukraine, with Poland's support, is on its way to joining the European Union." Hauser plans to use the "life stories" of the new and changing Europe in teaching and writing when she returns to Rochester.
Hauser has been a member of the University of Rochester faculty since 1992. She is the first director of the Skalny Center, which supports research and teaching about Poland and Central Europe, and hosts many public events for the Rochester community.
A graduate of Warsaw University and Yale University, Hauser earned her doctorate in anthropology from Johns Hopkins University. She is adjunct associate professor of political science at Rochester and teaches courses on Poland and its culture, nationalism, political films, and other aspects of Eastern European culture and politics. Last year, she was awarded Poland's Cavalier Cross of Merit for her achievements in promoting Polish culture in America.
She was selected as a senior Fulbright Fellow at the American Studies Center of Warsaw University for 2001-2002. In 2004, she received a two-year Fulbright Scholar Alumni Initiative Award to build a broader institutional arrangement between the University of Rochester and Warsaw University. Hauser also is senior editor of an academic series of books on studies in Central Europe.