Typically when the word “Fulbright” is mentioned in these parts, it’s referring to an area college faculty member or student getting a big government grant to go study someplace exotic.
But these days there’s just as much talk about people from exotic places using those same government grants to come to Mankato and study at Minnesota State University.
Between the Fulbright Program and the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program, 10 graduate students are studying this year at MSU on international government scholarships.
A few years ago, no Muskie scholars came here. This year there are six. The four Fulbright students here is also a bit of a resurgence. Until recent efforts by Stephen Stoynoff, an instructor in the English department, there weren’t many Fulbright graduate students here, either.
When graduate students come to a college or university from another part of the world, they bring more than just their culture. They also bring perspective specific to their area of study.
In the case of Siarhei Victorovich Sulimau of Belarus, he was able to bring information to enlighten fellow students and even faculty.
“I can add value to the classroom,” Sulimau said. “I can tell people how business operates in eastern Europe ... And the professors here don’t get embarrassed. They encourage us to say what we know.”
Sulimau is one of the Muskie students. That program was established by Congress in 1992 to encourage economic growth in Eurasia. It specifically targets students in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Eligible fields of study in the Muskie program include business, education, environmental management, international affairs, journalism, law and other areas.
Assel Mukhametzhanova of Kazakhstan is also at MSU on the Muskie program. After studying education here she’s made some decisions about the American system.
“You have this test accountability where you teach children to score well on tests,” she said. “And that’s wrong.”
She likes Mankato, though, even though she thought she’d be sent to a bigger city.
“I think it’s better to study in a small community where the people are closer,” she said. “My experience has been really great so far.”
Ahmet Dursun is here on a Fulbright Program scholarship. He said he’s been asked many times to talk to classes about misconceptions about countries where Islam is the dominant religion.
Just getting here, he said, was a marathon process. It took him two years of filling out applications, writing essays and going through interviews to finally get approved to come to the U.S.
When approval came, he said MSU was among the schools he’d chosen.
“I came here because the English department is internationally known,” he said.
Aecha Tammour of Syria, a Fulbright Program student studying physics, said she’s been struggling to meet the time demands in her first semester.
“They take time management very seriously, and that’s something I’m not really used to,” she said. “ I used to think I was tough and independent. After coming here ... I’m not that independent.”
All of them were very aware of what is happening in the U. S. politically. They said the election of Barack Obama leaves them hopeful for the U.S.
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