MC professor selected for Fulbright committee

Oct. 14, 2009
Contact: Karen B. Eldridge, Director of News and Public Information
865.981.8207; karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu

Dr. Nancy Locklin-Sofer, Maryville College associate professor of history and chair of the Maryville Curriculum, has been selected to serve on a peer review committee for the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES).

CIES is responsible for coordinating and conducting the initial screening of applications (peer review) for the Fulbright Scholar Program. According to the program’s web site, “A hallmark of the program, peer review assures that applicants will be evaluated on academic, scholarly and professional criteria.”

A Fulbright Scholar to France during the 1998-1999 academic year, Locklin-Softer recently was invited to serve on the peer review panel for applicants hoping to go to France, European Union, Belgium or Luxembourg. She expects to travel to Washington, D.C., this month to meet with the committee for one day-long session.

CIES develops committees that represent academia’s disciplinary, geographic and institutional diversity. Committee membership is typically three years but is contingent upon each year’s committee needs.

Dr. Jeff Fager, Maryville College’s vice president and academic dean, said the College was “proud to have one of [its] own selected for this important work.”

“The Fulbright program is the premier system for American scholars carrying out their research abroad, and Dr. Locklin-Sofer’s participation at this level is a tribute to her reputation in academic circles,” he said.

The Fulbright Program was established by the United States Congress in 1946 to promote “international goodwill through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture and science.” Now six decades old, it remains the United States government's most prestigious scholarship program, operating in 155 countries.

The College recently celebrated the selection of recent graduate Matt Murrill for the prestigious Fulbright-Nehru Award. Murrill is currently studying groundwater arsenic contamination in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.