Carolina faculty trio win Fulbright awards
Scholars in nursing, Latin American studies, and exercise and nutrition will travel to Nepal, Spain and Finland.
Three UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members recently received awards from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to teach or conduct research abroad during the 2024-25 academic year.
Among the 800 U.S. scholars selected are Carolina’s Suja Davis, clinical associate professor at the School of Nursing; Oswaldo Estrada, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Romance studies department; and Anthony Hackney, professor in the College’s exercise and sport science department and the Gillings School of Global Public Health’s nutrition department.
“Participation of Carolina faculty in Fulbright supports the global mindset of our campus and enhances the University’s global reputation,” said Giselle Corbie, senior vice provost for faculty affairs. “I am proud of these faculty who will maintain their international connections for years and bring global knowledge and perspectives to their research and teaching.”
Carolina has a long history with the Fulbright Program. This year, UNC-Chapel Hill was honored as a Top Producing Institution for Fulbright U.S. students for the 14th time for sending over 20 students and recent alumni abroad on Fulbright scholarships for graduate studies, research or teaching.
Suja Davis
An educator and a health care professional, Davis will be hosted by the Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences in Nepal. There she will teach adult health nursing and research courses, conduct workshops and seminars for the faculty and promote faculty scholarship. She will lecture, lead seminars and conduct research to incorporate educational innovations into the nursing curricula.
“The Fulbright Scholar Award is the most widely recognized, prestigious and respected international exchange program in the world,” Davis said. “I aim to build a global network of contacts, which can lead to collaborations and partnerships that benefit Carolina’s SON.”
Oswaldo Estrada
Estrada is a professor of Spanish and Latin American studies and director of the Faculty Fellows Program at the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. In Spain, he will do archival research as part of the Literature, Image and Cultural History research group in the Institute of Language, Literature and Anthropology.
Estrada’s work will focus on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), a poet from colonial Mexico. Estrada is writing a book about her carols, religious poems and her prologues and dedications to explore how the poet-nun of the Baroque era articulated a feminist discourse that attracts a wide range of readers today.
“My interdisciplinary reading reflects the true nature of the poet who contests calcified differences between male and female,” Estrada said. “I would love to offer undergraduate and graduate courses on Sor Juana’s feminism, in English and Spanish, to serve our students interested in gender studies, feminism and queer studies.”
Anthony Hackney
Hackney will complete the second year of his Fulbright fellowship at the University of Eastern Finland as the Fulbright-Saastamoinen Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences. Through the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children study, he researches how chronic engagement in physical activity, like sports, may affect the health and physical performance capacities of young girls transitioning to women.
This is Hackney’s fourth Fulbright scholar award. He also serves as the University’s Fulbright faculty liaison in the Center for Faculty Excellence and advises Carolina faculty on developing competitive Fulbright applications.
“If I had to name one thing that has profoundly helped to shape me into the person I am today, it would be the Fulbright program,” Hackney said. “It has made me a better professor in the classroom and the laboratory — a better all-around person — and enriched my life and that of my family. It has been and is a ‘win-win’ experience.”
