University of Mary Washington Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth and Professor Emeritus of Psychology David Rettinger have received Fulbright grants to teach and share their professional expertise overseas.
Farnsworth, who directs the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at UMW, will travel to Poland to serve his third Fulbright assignment in spring 2024, during a sabbatical from Mary Washington.
At the American Studies Center of the University of Warsaw, he will teach a graduate-level course about U.S. presidential communication regarding domestic and foreign policies. He’ll also look at how presidents use direct communication and the mass media to shape public perceptions of their own characters.
Farnsworth’s Poland assignment falls under the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. It’s his third Fulbright; in 2019 he served in Malaysia as a Fulbright specialist, and in 2006-07 he held a Fulbright research chair in public policy in Canada.
“This experience should allow me to teach in the U.S. with a much greater international understanding of the dynamics of presidential communication beyond the United States,” he said. “In addition, I hope that my experiences during the program will lead to new opportunities to connect U.S. scholars and students with their counterparts in Poland.”
Rettinger, who taught psychology at Mary Washington from 2006 until his retirement this spring, will complete a project at the Center for International Relations at Tribhuvan University in Nepal. His assignment falls under the Fulbright Specialist Program, which recognizes professionals with significant experience in their fields.
Besides the faculty awards, UMW also has two recent alumni recipients of Fulbright student grants, Emma Bathke ’21 and Olivia Foster ’23. Read more.
