In 2021, the Fulbright Program celebrates 75 years of positive impact on the lives of individuals as well as on global and local communities. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers more than 400 teaching, research or combination teaching and research awards in over 135 countries. Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators as well as for professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others. Fulbright has been an exceptional opportunity to enrich education, advance careers, and make meaningful contributions to society through their international fellowships.
In the last weeks before this year’s application deadline of Sept. 15, we will share some of Marquette’s long, rich history with Fulbright by highlighting some stories of our own Fulbrighters.
If interested in applying for a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship in 2022-23, you can visit the Fulbright website or contact Averia Flasch, Marquette’s liaison for Fulbright Scholars.
This week’s highlight is Dr. Peter Toumanoff, associate professor emeritus of economics.
Dr. Toumanoff’s appreciation of the Fulbright opportunity is evident with the four fellowships he had between 2002 and 2018.
In 2002, Dr. Toumanoff was a Senior Scholar in Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation. He was at a private graduate business school, the Gold-Platinum Institute, where he taught MBA courses and helped with curriculum development, accreditation efforts and faculty development. In addition, he taught courses at Urals State Polytechnical University and gave a lecture at the Urals State Economic University. He was there with his wife and younger son, who was 15 years old at the time, and engaged beyond work with colleagues and new friends out in social settings.
In 2006, he was a Senior Specialist in Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Russian Federation. This was a one-month assignment at Komsomolsk-na-Amure State Pedagogical University where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses, gave public lectures and consulted on curriculum and faculty development.
In 2016, he was a Senior Scholar in Yerevan, Armenia at the Armenian State University of Economics. His primary responsibility was an MBA class in Econometrics, but he also gave numerous lectures on a wide range of topics to a variety of audiences. Since the Fulbright experience, he has maintained many contacts, participated in conferences, published in the Armenian Economic Journal and even took a group of Marquette students to Yerevan for a Study Abroad class in 2018. His wife was able to accompany him again on this experience.
Most recently, in 2018, he was a Senior Specialist in Novopolotsk, Belarus. This was a one-month assignment at Novopolotsk State University where he conducted a series of seminars for undergraduates on various topics in Economics and helped with curriculum and faculty development. He has also maintained contacts with colleagues in Belarus and has participated in two virtual conferences since his time there.
Dr. Toumanoff applied for Fulbrights because of his previous enriching experiences with exchange and research opportunities abroad. He had previously been an IREX scholar in USSR in 1977-78, a recipient of a Council on Economic Priorities grant in the USSR in 1987-89, had an IREX short-term travel grant to USSR in 1990 and a Citizens Development Corps grant in Russia in 2000. All these experiences helped to define his academic career and have informed his teaching and research. He had only positive outcomes from all these opportunities. In fact, he has given back to the Fulbright community by serving as a reviewer in many of their programs. Since 2004 he has been a reviewer for the Russian Fulbright Commission, reviewing applications from Russian scholars who want to study in the U.S. He is currently a reviewer for the Senior Specialist Program, recently finishing a 3-year term as a Discipline Reviewer for the U.S. Senior Scholar program.
This story, and others, can be found on the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Fulbright website along with additional information about applying for the fellowship.