For the past month, Kent State University has hosted 37 international graduate students as part of the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program, a monthlong immersion in American higher education and culture.
The group, from 26 countries, arrived on the Kent Campus on July 21 and was scheduled to depart on Aug. 17 to begin their graduate programs at universities throughout the country.
The orientation program is possible due to a $230,000 Fulbright grant awarded to principal investigator Amanda Johnson, Ph.D., director of the Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, within Kent State’s College of Education, Health and Human Services, and co-principal investigator, Debbie Rozner, M.Ed., director of Kent State’s English as a Second Language Center (ESL) in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The monthlong program includes seminars on American higher education, educational technology, leadership and other discipline-specific topics, in addition to tours and dinners to learn about American culture.
On Aug. 14, the group took part in a team-building exercise with the Hands of Gratitude Project, during which they assembled prosthetic hands to be distributed to the needy.
Hands of Gratitude, based in Kent, Ohio, was founded by Matt Campana, owner of Corporate Motivation, a consulting agency that creates platforms for businesses to give back through their retreats, meetings and events.
Campana created the activity to help with the worldwide need for prosthetic hands. An estimated 30 million people need a prosthetic hand worldwide.
Campana told the group that the hands they assembled would be given to recipients in Tanzania. The components of the prosthetic hands are made using 3-D printing and come as kits with detailed instructions for assembling. In addition, participants can create messages for the intended recipients to read.
Johnson enthusiastically welcomed the Fulbright scholars back to campus for the second consecutive year. The program will also take place at Kent State for three more years.
Hosting Hands of Gratitude was a meaningful project because many of the students come from countries where the hands have or will be distributed, and they can leave a message for the person who will receive the hand.
“It’s a really good connection for them,” Johnson said.
Campana has worked to establish partnerships around the world to distribute the devices and has distributed more than 5,000 hands since 2016.
Madinakhon Sidiqova, who teaches English as a second language at Khujand State University in Khujand, Tajikistan, will be departing Kent State to begin a two-year master’s degree program in curriculum studies and special education at Syracuse University in New York.
She said the month at Kent State has been a wonderful experience, and she was particularly excited about the Hands of Gratitude program because she has a student at home who needs a prosthetic hand. He will be spending a semester in Missouri in 2025, and she is hoping that during that time she could connect him with the program.
Campana said wherever he offers the program, there is typically someone in the group who knows someone who needs a prosthetic hand, which makes the project even more fulfilling.
Franklin Zaure, a lecturer in set design and technology in the Department of Theater and Performing Arts at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, is on his way to the University of New Hampshire, where he will spend 10 months as a research fellow studying eco-friendly and environmentally responsible design for the theater.
Zaure said the month at Kent State has been a wonderful experience.
“It has been beautiful, the people, the environment, everyone is friendly and accommodating,” he said.
Zaure particularly enjoyed the Hands of Gratitude project.
“It is innovative and it’s very commendable that we can all contribute a small part to use our hands to build extra hands for those who need it,” he said.
Kent State was the first-ever stop in the U.S. for Daiana Machado, who teaches political science at the National University of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands, at the southern tip of Argentina.
“It has been so wonderful to be here,” she said. “All of the professors have been so helpful and made us feel really comfortable.”
In addition, Machado said it was exciting to meet her fellow Fulbright scholars who come from all over the world and to celebrate those international friendships.
“I didn’t know what to imagine as a college town,” she said. “I’m so lucky to be here.”
Machado will be departing for the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she will begin a two-year program to earn her master’s degree in public policy. At home, Machado worked as director of international relations for her province.
The Fulbright Pre-Academic Training Program is designed to provide academic, linguistic and cultural preparation to approximately 40 foreign Fulbright grantees. The primary objective of the program is to ensure that the Fulbrighters are well-prepared for a smooth transition to their graduate and/or research programs and life in the United States.
The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international academic exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. Since its inception in 1946, it has aimed to promote mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people from other countries.
The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals and artists from abroad to study and conduct research in the United States. This program operates in over 160 countries worldwide, and around 4,000 foreign students receive Fulbright scholarships each year. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by the Institute of International Education.