An LMU School of Education associate professor is spending part of this summer in Indonesia after being selected to participate in the prestigious Fulbright Specialist Program.
Karen (Karie) Huchting, SOE associate professor and associate director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice (EdD) program, will spend 23 days at Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY), working with faculty in the English Language Education department to build capacity in the areas of research and publications.
The Fulbright Specialist Program, part of the larger Fulbright Program, pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity. The specialists, representing a wide range of disciplines, are chosen through a highly competitive process based on their knowledge, skill sets, and ability to make significant contributions to projects overseas. They are then matched with projects designed by host institutions from more than 150 countries.
In Indonesia, educators are developing strategies to address teaching English in schools. “These English Language Education departments are important because the faculty are preparing college and graduate students who will go on to teach English in local schools,” explains Huchting, an expert in research methodology who teaches SOE’s research methods courses at the master’s and doctoral levels and who has served as an editor of the Journal of Catholic Education for the past five years. “I will be working with UMY faculty to develop their research skills and their ability to publish their scholarship.”
Beyond capacity-building and professional development, Huchting views the Fulbright Specialist Program as an invaluable opportunity to fuel her own personal and professional growth while fulfilling a goal expressed by LMU President Timothy Law Snyder.
“LMU is a member of a global community, and the Fulbright program helps to give our faculty a global presence,” Huchting says. “To be able to see another part of the world and experience a different culture — and going from a Catholic university to spend time at an Islamic university — is very exciting. It will broaden my perspective and enhance my ability to meet the needs of the diverse students I teach at LMU.”
