July 2 - August 3, 2009
PIER/European Studies of the European Studies Council at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale has applied for a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) grant to lead 14 high school teachers from New England, New York, and New Jersey on a study tour/curriculum development project, “Understanding Medvedev’s Russia in Historical Context,” in Russia this summer. We are accepting applications now for early selection of participants, but please be aware that grant approval is pending and that the proposed GPA program is contingent on grant funding by the United States Department of Education.
The proposed GPA will offer a rich and diverse range of experiences during a four-week study tour in Russia (July 5-August 3, 2009) that will provide an in-depth view of its people and culture. This Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad offers a unique opportunity to develop resource materials for teaching and for professional and curriculum development through classroom instruction, individual research, field visits, and home-stays in contemporary Moscow and historic Vladimir. Among the topics we will cover are: privatization and the making of the new elite; daily life in the USSR and today; Russian public opinion; the media today; the rebirth of Russian Orthodoxy; education at the crossroads; the business world; individual initiative and entrepreneurship; and art and theater in the New Russia.
Prior to departure, an orientation conference at Yale University (July 2-4) will be held. Upon returning from Russia, a series of activities will be offered to complete curriculum modules (probably September 19 and November 14, 2009; January 16, March 6, and a Saturday in October, 2010) and to organize the dissemination of what we’ve learned, including presentations at professional workshops and conferences over the next several years. Each participant will be required to pay a $1,000 fee toward the cost of the program.
The deadline for application is March 20, 2009.
Sponsored by Yale’s European Studies Council, the MacMillan Center, and the U.S. Department of Education through a Fulbright-Hays grant (pending).