Campus Notes

Franciscan University of Steubenville announced yesterday that one of its students will be studying in Germany on the competitive Fulbright scholarship this coming school year.  From the University:

“Honestly, I’ve been waiting for so long, the fact that I fly to Cologne in September almost doesn’t seem real,” said Recznik, the first known Franciscan University student to win a Fulbright.  “Although I’m sometimes anxious and sometimes really excited, I really believe this is what I’m meant to do.”

Recznik, one of five siblings currently attending Franciscan University, grew up in Toronto, Ohio and was homeschooled until she entered Franciscan, where she majored in English with a minor in German.  In Germany, Recznik will be a teaching assistant in an English or American studies classroom, continue her studies in German and “perhaps try to study another language as well, depending on how much free time I have.”

There are about 140 schools participating in the Fulbright Teaching Assistantship Grant Program, co-sponsored in Germany by the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst.  Though Recznik has not yet received her assignment, the Catholic Canisiusschule in Ahaus under the bishop of Muenster in Westphalia (a Catholic region in northern Germany) has requested she be placed with them.

The Canisiusschule—named after the great Counterreformer and German catechist St. Peter Canisius, SJ—”is not currently part of the Fulbright program,” said Recznik, “so I do not know if this will work out. I could end up anywhere in Germany, but I have requested Bayern, if I am not placed in Ahaus.”…

Other Fulbright scholars at Franciscan University include Dr. Daniel Kempton, the new Franciscan University Vice President for Academic Affairs, who received two Fulbrights—one to Rhodes University in South Africa, the other to Tver State University, Russia; communication arts professor Dr. Dave Schaefer, who received a teaching and research grant for work in Singapore; computer science professor Dr. Ed Kovach, who worked in Budapest; and  history professor Dr. Robert Doyle, who pursued research into U.S. treatment of POWs in Germany.

Franciscan University is promoted in The Newman Guide for its strong Catholic identity here.