Seton Hall and Fulbright-Italy Commission Establish Research Lecture Award Partnership

On March 28, 2023, Seton Hall University and The Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchanges between Italy and the United States of America signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to establish a Fulbright Research Lectureship Award at Seton Hall University for three academic years (2024-2027).

The lectureship will be focused on research pertaining to specialized areas within the sciences, business and communication with preference to the following fields: computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, data science, chemical and biochemical engineering, user experience (UX) design, systems engineering, human-centered engineering or design, design thinking, information and communication technologies, educational technology, or closely related fields.

The program will bring highly-qualified academics to Seton Hall who will carry out their research, teach lectures in select academic programs, and work with faculty at the University in areas that intersect with their expertise. The first round of applications will launch in the summer of 2023, with the goal of welcoming the first Fulbright Italy Scholar to the University by Fall 2024. Fulbright Scholars will be hosted at Seton Hall for one or two semesters, each year.

The prestigious opportunity was designed to stimulate research and student learning within these dynamic areas. The genesis of this program links back to an earlier visit of Paola Sartorio, Executive Director of Fulbright Italy to Seton Hall last Fall 2022, where she delivered presentations on the Fulbright opportunities to students and faculty from the United States to Italy. In that occasion, she also met with President Nyre, Provost Passerini, and other Deans, faculty and administrators and was impressed with the many programs and activities already available at Seton Hall to support multi-later exchanges between Italy and the United States.

For example, Seton Hall hosted its first Fulbright Scholar, Claudio Staiti from the University of Marino. We also provide an environment for reach interactions through study abroad programs, bachelor's degrees in Italian language and Italian studies, and an Italian Studies minor. The La Motta Chair in Italian Studies is held by Professor William Connell, who is an international scholar on key Italian and Italian American literature. Most recently, Professor Gabriella Romani hosted the first conference on Italian Literature in the 19th century (Ottocentismi), which was a great success.

This new partnership is an important step forward toward our goal of expanding Seton Hall globally, starting from the closer connection to the country where our religious affiliation stems from: Italy and the Vatican State. “We aim to build bridges to the world from New Jersey,” said Provost Passerini who represented Seton Hall at the Commission during a recent travel to Europe. “I am particularly proud of this special opportunity and its focus on knowledge sharing in STEM, technology, business and design areas because they also represent the rich tradition of Italy, and exchanges in these disciplines will benefit both countries and will further align Seton Hall’s integration of liberal arts and humanities knowledge into STEM disciplines. After all, Leonardo DaVinci taught us that one needs to be an artist, a designer, an engineer and a polyglot to be able to build tools that will change the world."

The name of our strategic plan Harvest Our Treasures predicates that Seton Hall shall leverage the treasures we already have to build its future, and our strong relationship with Italy, and the Vatican, is just another example of such treasures.

By launching this prestigious program, Seton Hall joins Universities such as Northwestern, Notre Dame, University of Chicago and University of Pittsburgh, that have established programs in the arts and humanities. Seton Hall will differentiate its position by attracting scholars from a larger number of fields, including from polytechnic universities.

Chair and Cultural Affairs Officer Rakesh Surampudi, who hails from Pittsburgh, discussed the importance of bilateral relationships and his appreciation for the depth and breadth of research that these exchanges can bring.

Categories: Education