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Adapting to a New Country: USTA & FLTA Orientations

Moving to a new place always involves certain challenges, and while some feel at home right away, others must first surmount their initial apprehensions before they feel comfortable in a new setting. We asked two teaching assistants to share their orientation experiences with us: USTA Leah Bruce, who is residing in Steyr, Upper Austria, and FLTA Vanessa Erat, who is currently living in Norman, Oklahoma. Though their paths meandered along different routes, both have happily settled into their new adventure. Here are their stories.

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2018-19 orientation brings US and UK teaching assistants together for a week of work and fun

Of the 153 US teaching assistants who will be teaching in schools in communities large and small all across Austria, 105 are first-year USTAs who attended the annual weeklong orientation seminar organized by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science, and Research. USTAs assigned to schools in Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria, and Burgenland attended orientation in St. Pölten, while those working in schools in Carinthia, Salzburg, Tirol, Vorarlberg, and Upper Austria learned about the program in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. Participants at both orientations had a chance to learn about the Austrian school system, to put together lesson plans, to visit local classrooms, and to mingle with their fellow teaching assistants from the US and the UK. Congratulations to all first-year USTAs for successfully completing orientation; we look forward to an exciting school year!

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European Fulbright Diversity Initiative, September 22-23, 2018

The German-American Fulbright Commission was instrumental in the conception of the European Fulbright Diversity Initiative and hosted a conference in Berlin on September 22-23 with the generous support of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the US Department of State. ECA as well as Fulbright commissions worldwide strive to ensure that the Fulbright Program reflects the diversity of US society and societies abroad, and they are committed to providing exchange opportunities for all segments of society under the auspices of the Fulbright Program. This event created a unique multinational forum for the various constituencies involved in European Fulbright programs to address a wide range of issues related to the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Fulbright programming.

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Fulbright Orientation in Vienna, September 18-21, 2018

Twenty-one new US Fulbright student grantees and two scholars participate in the Fall 2018 US Fulbright orientation.

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US Fulbright Orientation, September 18-21, 2018

Twenty-one new US Fulbright Students and two US Scholars joined us for the fall 2018 US Fulbright orientation in Vienna. The fall 2018 US Fulbright orientation featured thought-provoking lectures and discussions in Fulbright Austria's Q21 offices with guests from the US Embassy Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the Haus der Geschichte Österreich.

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Alumni Profile - Bruce Pauley: Historian and Major Donor

When he was a PhD candidate 55 years ago, Fulbright alumnus and historian Bruce Pauley received a grant to do research in Austria. It changed his life forever and provided him with the foundation for a distinguished career as a scholar and teacher. He visited Vienna in June to give a public talk about his life and career and to publicly announce his second major gift to Fulbright Austria.

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The Fulbright Experience: Continuing Collaboration and Alumni Impact

Every year, the Fulbright US Scholar Program provides up to 25 academics with the opportunity to spend a semester at one of Fulbright Austria’s partner institutions, where they conduct research, teach, and advise students. Very often, their Fulbright experience extends far beyond the four months spent in Austria. As an international educational and cultural exchange program, the Fulbright US Scholar Program was designed to initiate contact between US academics and faculty and students at their host institutions and lay the ground for long-term collaborations. At the same time, the program wants to provide grantees with opportunities to build their academic careers and focus on their scholarship.

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Pre-Departure Orientation and Going Away Heuriger, June 22, 2018

On June 22, it was time to say goodbye not only to the US Fulbright Students and Scholars who studied and taught in Austria during the past academic year but also to the Austrian Fulbright Students, Scholars, and FLTAs who will be going to the US this fall.

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Alumni installation: “Kreuz und Quer”: Arnold Schoenberg’s Reimagining of Melody and Harmony, June 11, 2018

In this exhibit, US Fulbright alumni Franziska Brunner and Ross Lipton crossed boundaries of research and academic presentation to transfer their intellectual work into artistic practices, including visual art, installation, and sound design. They explored Arnold Schoenberg’s varied and far-reaching ideas of melody and harmony, which span from his early years in Vienna and Berlin to his later years in California. With approaches coming from the distantly related disciplines of historical musicology and comparative literature, Schoenberg the composer, artist, theorist, and pedagogue offered fruitful common ground for their creative and intellectual explorations. This experience was designed to provoke a dialogue about the relevance and value of new music and art in a world in which stark oppositions have become the norm.

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An American Historian's View on the First Republic: 1918-1938, Amerika Haus, June 7

Fulbright Austria is pleased to announce the following event on June 7: An American Historian´s View of the First Republic, 1918-1938, a talk by BRUCE PAULEY, University of Central Florida, moderated by Heidemarie Uhl, Austrian Academy of Sciences.

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Fulbright Austria Summer Fest

On June 6, Fulbright Austria and the Austrian Fulbright Alumni Association would like to invite you to a Summer Fest at our offices in the MuseumsQuartier.

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Fulbright Austria Summer Fest, June 6, 2018

Our Summer Fest on June 6, 2018 was a great success with more than 80 guests, Fulbright Austria alumni and friends, in attendance. With 25 auction items, a video screening of “Good Bye Schmidgasse” and great catering, friends and supporters of Fulbright Austria from near and far raised more than €6,500 for Fulbright Austria programs – including the donations made to our Annual Alumni Fund.

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USTA Regional Advisor Worshop, May 5, 2018

What is my individual worldview, what part of my brain do I use when I communicate, and how can I adapt my communication and leadership style to accommodate individuals with different perspectives and styles? These questions and more were dealt with at the first annual regional-advisor workshop, attended by the outgoing 2017/18 regional advisors and their incoming 2018/19 counterparts.

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USTA Going-Away Heuriger, May 4, 2018

Fulbright Austria said goodbye to more than 80 US teaching assistants (of the 150+ we manage) at the fifth annual USTA program going-away Heurigen in early May. Executive Director Lonnie Johnson and USTA program officer Dune Johnson were on hand for a festive evening full of Tracht (traditional dress) at the 10er Marie Heurigen.

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Fulbright Seminar in American Studies, 2018

More than 70 US and Austrian students, scholars and teaching assistants participated in this year’s Fulbright Seminar in American Studies; a three-day long intellectual mountain retreat and the highlight of the Austrian Fulbright calendar.

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New Fulbright Austria Staff Member: Dune Johnson

Dune spent his formative years in various European countries, lived in a variety of different states in the US, and studied abroad in the course of getting his BA in Theater & Dance with a focus on Language Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. After receiving his degree, he decided to return to Europe, first taking on an internship at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin followed by a position in the Student Services department at IES Abroad Vienna. Subsequently, he worked as a language trainer and was involved in the coordination of English summer camps in Austria. He then established himself as a professional translator, editor and writer, working with an international array of clients to craft contracts, essays, theses, and other content related to wide-ranging topics and fields before joining the Fulbright Austria team. With his colleague Belona Berchtaler currently on leave, Dune has assumed responsibility as the program officer for both the USTA and FLTA programs and is looking forward to getting to know the American citizens who come to Austria to teach and their Austrian counterparts assisting in German language classrooms in universities around the US.

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BeSt3 - The Job and Education Fair March 1-4, 2018

Five Fulbright Austria staff members spent four days advising hundreds of students about opportunities to study in the USA with Fulbright and EducationUSA. We also held a special workshop on writing personal statements and more for US university applications, and a talk on the Fulbright Program and other scholarship opportunities! Our presence at the fair was supported by a special grant from the US Embassy Vienna.

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US Fulbright Scholar Orientation, February 22-23, 2018

Sixteen new US Fulbright Scholars participated in the two-day February 2018 US Fulbright Scholar orientation, which included lectures and discussions with Fulbright alumni and representatives of the U.S. Embassy Vienna in Fulbright Austria's MQ – MuseumsQuartier Wien/Q21 offices, a walking tour of Vienna's historic Ringstrasse, and a reception with current US Fulbrighters, Austrian Fulbright candidates, alumni, institutional partners and friends, and more.

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USTA Second-Year Kick-Off, October 5, 2017

Fulbright Austria hosted an afternoon of brainstorming, discussion, and fun for the second-year teaching assistants to start the new school year off with enthusiasm. The afternoon was followed by a reception where first-year teaching assistant mingled with second-year teaching assistants and asked them for advice.

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New Agreement of Cooperation and Exchange between the University of Arkansas and TU Graz

Prof. Andy Proctor from the Department of Food Science at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, spent the fall semester of the 2015-16 program year as the Fulbright-NAWI Graz Visiting Professor in the Natural Sciences. This Fulbright award is jointly sponsored by the Technical University Graz and the Karl Franzens University Graz to enhance collaboration between these two institutions in the natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften, hence the acronym NAWI). Professor Proctor and his combined teaching and research project, "Integrating Basic and Applied Food Chemistry," were well received in Graz and led to fruitful discussions between the TU Graz and the University of Arkansas about institutionalizing more extensive collaboration and cooperation in the future. One of the outcomes of Prof. Proctor’s Fulbright award is a collaborative agreement between the University of Arkansas and TU Graz to promote joint research and bilateral student mobility in the food sciences that was signed in Graz on June 22. Fulbright Austria is proud to be associated with these partners and this outcome! Another outcome of this agreement was a summer program, in which, according to a press release, "Food science students from the U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, as well as students from other countries, participated in an innovative two-week short course, Food Science and Culinary Arts to Maximize Food Quality, at the Technical University of Graz in Austria for U.S. and European students during the summer.