Biology, broadcasting, filmmaking and American history expertise shared with learning institutions in Germany, Taiwan, Guatemala and the Netherlands

SAN FRANCISCO, November 30, 2004 -- Three faculty members and a research associate from San Francisco State University have been selected as 2004/2005 Fulbright Scholars. The awards allow scholars to teach or participate in research or programs overseas.

Edward William Brennen, a research associate in the Biology Department is lecturing in biogeochemistry at San Carlos University in Guatemala City, Guatemala and conducting research on carbon storage within primary and disturbed forests in that country's Maya Biosphere Reserve.

Adjunct professor in the Cinema Department, Anita Wen-Shin Chang, is lecturing on documentary production and experimental filmmaking at National Taiwan University of the Arts in Taipei. She is also exploring Taiwan's colonial past and current global politics. Chang reports that Taiwan's documentary film and public television scene is "fairly new but vibrant."

In February 2005, history professor Robert Cherny will fulfill the John Adams Chair in American History at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Both his lecture course on the history of the United States from 1877 to 1917 and his seminar entitled, "California: The Great Exception," will be presented in English.

Last June, associate professor of broadcast and electronic communications Miriam Smith, attended a seminar on German studies in Berlin, Germany. Smith and European colleagues analyzed the interaction of art, broadcast and new media.

In addition, Kati Anderson Bell, SFSU study abroad adviser, received a scholarship to attend a seminar on international education also in Berlin.

The Fulbright Scholars Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, with additional funding from participating countries and host institutions in the United States and abroad. The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) is a non-profit organization that manages the Fulbright Scholar exchanges. During its 58 year history thousands of faculty and other professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad and thousands of their counterparts have engaged in similar activities in the United States.

One of the largest campuses in the California State University system, SFSU was founded in 1899 and today is a highly diverse, comprehensive, public and urban university.