Fulbright award sends professor to chile
Pastrana to work in neo-liberal education, aims toward holistic learning approach
Emily Hartwig
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
Take one education professor, drop her in the middle of Chile for seven months and have her conduct research relevant to U.S. education policy, and she'll rise to the challenge.
Jill Pinkney Pastrana, who teaches Foundations of Education, just joined the ranks of elite academics across the country as a Fulbright Scholar. She is one of four UW-Eau Claire professors honored with the competitive national grant in the last 11 months, which sponsors research for up to a year in a foreign country.
Pastrana will be working at the Catholic University in Valparaiso, Chile next year to gain a better understanding of how neo-liberal education - similar to No Child Left Behind in the United States - has affected the country.
"When a faculty member is selected for an award like this, it speaks volumes of the university," Steve Tallant, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said on the announcement of Pastrana's award. He added that all the professors honored with a Fulbright then bring their experiences back to Eau Claire to enhance students' education.
Besides Pastrana, Kate Reynolds of the English department, Michael Penkava from Mathematics and Mike Dorsher from Communication and Journalism won Fulbright awards within the past year as well.
Reynolds is living in the Ukraine to write an English as a second-Foreign Language textbook about American studies, while Penkava worked with a colleague in Budapest, Hungary, on a project involving mathematical theory. Dorsher will spend next year in Canada, comparing coverage of Wal-Mart in Canadian and American media.
As for Pastrana, she said she has always been interested in Chilean research.
"It's a really interesting way of looking at politics and education and how that plays out in terms of educational policy," Pastrana said.
The neo-liberal educational policies Chile implemented years ago are very similar to NCLB and new voucher programs in the United States, Pastrana said, adding that the Chilean programs "destroyed their educational system."
Jill Pinkney Pastrana, who teaches Foundations of Education, just joined the ranks of elite academics across the country as a Fulbright Scholar. She is one of four UW-Eau Claire professors honored with the competitive national grant in the last 11 months, which sponsors research for up to a year in a foreign country.
Pastrana will be working at the Catholic University in Valparaiso, Chile next year to gain a better understanding of how neo-liberal education - similar to No Child Left Behind in the United States - has affected the country.
"When a faculty member is selected for an award like this, it speaks volumes of the university," Steve Tallant, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said on the announcement of Pastrana's award. He added that all the professors honored with a Fulbright then bring their experiences back to Eau Claire to enhance students' education.
Besides Pastrana, Kate Reynolds of the English department, Michael Penkava from Mathematics and Mike Dorsher from Communication and Journalism won Fulbright awards within the past year as well.
Reynolds is living in the Ukraine to write an English as a second-Foreign Language textbook about American studies, while Penkava worked with a colleague in Budapest, Hungary, on a project involving mathematical theory. Dorsher will spend next year in Canada, comparing coverage of Wal-Mart in Canadian and American media.
As for Pastrana, she said she has always been interested in Chilean research.
"It's a really interesting way of looking at politics and education and how that plays out in terms of educational policy," Pastrana said.
The neo-liberal educational policies Chile implemented years ago are very similar to NCLB and new voucher programs in the United States, Pastrana said, adding that the Chilean programs "destroyed their educational system."
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