Mandy Stewart, PhD, will spend four weeks this summer serving as a Fulbright Specialist in Costa Rica with CREAR, a non-profit organization that supports the arts and English language education and social responsibility in rural areas throughout the country.

"Of course, I'm honored to be able to serve as a Fulbright Specialist and share my area of expertise with others while also learning from them," Stewart said. "Serving with CREAR is especially meaningful to me because their purpose is to serve rural children and youth in Costa Rica. I'm also from a rural area, born and raised, and understand the beauty of growing up in that environment but also some of the challenges. Since I know first-hand what it's like to grow up in a rural area, I'm excited to get back to my country roots and learn with these young people and their teachers."

Stewart will work as a consultant, evaluating the CREAR English program and helping to improve its effectiveness. The prestigious Fulbright Specialist Program, coordinated by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Institute of International Education’s Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), provides grant opportunities to Fulbright Specialists.

Specialists are consultants with expertise in their academic discipline, who collaborate on projects in diverse settings of higher education in a wide range of eligible disciplines and fields. The program promotes relationships between U.S. scholars and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions overseas. The Specialist Program awards grants for short-term collaborative projects at institutions in over 140 countries.

Specialists may be requested to provide academic services, such as short-term lecturing, conducting seminars, teacher training, assessments and evaluations, special conferences or workshops, as well as collaborating on faculty development and curriculum or institutional planning.