Rider professor awarded second Fulbright grant

The Fulbright Scholar Program has awarded Dr. Frank Louis Rusciano his second Fulbright research grant to take place in the spring of 2018.

Rusciano, a professor of political science and the director of Rider's global studies program, received an award in Advanced International Studies at the highly respected Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway.

The Nobel Institute is home to one of the best international relations libraries in Northern Europe. “I was very happy and surprised when I received this grant," says Rusciano. "It’s a great opportunity to do research at the Nobel Institute where they have such an extensive archive of information."

Since 1991, nearly 100 visiting fellows from over 25 countries have spent time at the Institute, including many of the world's leading historians, economists and political scientists. In connection with the Fellowship Program, research seminars, that are open to the public, are held throughout the spring. Fellows must deliver one research seminar and one lecture while in residence at the Institute. Each year has a different topic, and the topic for 2018 will be: “The role of institutions and norms in war and peace.”

In a letter addressed to Rusciano in January, the Chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, Jeffrey L. Bleich, wrote, “The United States Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, which oversees Fulbright Program operations throughout the world, joins the Board in congratulating you. We hope that your Fulbright experience will be deeply rewarding professionally and personally, and that you will share the knowledge you gain with many others throughout your life.”

Rusciano’s previous Fulbright was a Policy Studies Award at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, where his research enabled him to write "World Opinion and the Northern Ireland Peace Process" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). The book analyzed the conditions of world opinion that encouraged a peace agreement ending the Troubles in that region.

“The book provided a natural transition to the Nobel Institute’s seminar topic of ‘institutions and norms in war and peace’ because it discussed the interaction of national and international structures and world opinion in the creation of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday/Belfast Agreement,” says Rusciano.

Rusciano also notes the importance of making connections with local academia and the community as benefits of the previous award. “We created a large number of contacts with the people at the University of Ulster,” he says. “One result of the contacts is that Rider’s Student Global Village® now participates in video conferences with Northern Ireland in the fall. In addition, the Transitional Justice Institute of Ulster does workshops for graduate students and peace makers around the world; they allow us to send two Rider undergraduate students to participate.”

The Fulbright Scholar Program receives funds that are appropriated by U.S. Congress, along with contributions from partner countries and the private sector. Since the beginning of the program, more than 370,000 “Fulbrighters” have participated in the Program, including Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and thousands of leaders across private, public and nonprofit sectors. “I think the Fulbright program is more needed now than ever for advancing the U.S. image abroad," says Rusciano. "I value the contacts I made during my last Fulbright grant, listening to their work and learning their perspective on things. I look forward to further networking with scholars and the community at the Institute in Norway.”