Hi Folks, For those of you with an interest in the Arctic. Please contact my colleague Ross Virginia ([email protected])if you have questions.
best, dgwebster *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* *Dartmouth, University of Alaska Fairbanks scholars to lead new Fulbright Arctic Initiative* HANOVER, N.H. – October 22, 2014 – The U.S. Department of State announced this week that scholars at Dartmouth College and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will be partners in leading a new Fulbright Arctic Initiative. Mike Sfraga of UAF and Ross Virginia of Dartmouth will serve as distinguished scholar leaders of the program, which will fund interdisciplinary work for 16 scholars from the countries that sit on the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of the eight nations, including the United States, that addresses issues faced by Arctic government and peoples. Mark Brzezinski, the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, former member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, a Fulbright alumnus, and member of the Dartmouth class of 1987, announced the Arctic initiative. "I am just thrilled the initiative is going forward," Brzezinski said during an interview on MSNBC. “The Arctic region is an emerging frontier in which we have vital national interests. While taking advantage of economic opportunities in the Arctic, we must ensure we do not exacerbate climate change or environmental degradation. What happens in the Arctic affects everyone on Earth due to the region's impact on global weather patterns and sea levels." Virginia, the Myers Family Professor of Environmental Science, and Sfraga, a vice chancellor and professor of Arctic policy, will work with the State Department to set goals and select scholars for the new Fulbright Arctic Initiative. The new Fulbright Arctic program comes at a key time, said Virginia, as the United States assumes the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council in April 2015. "We'll have scholars from all the Arctic nations, from a variety of disciplines, and the challenge for this Fulbright program is to ask questions that are relevant to solving these problems," Virginia said. "We need to develop research questions and themes for these teams of scholars that generate knowledge that will be useful to policymakers and the U.S. as chair of the Arctic Council." The Fulbright Arctic Initiative scholars will work on advanced research and collaborative study, with guidance from Virginia and Sfraga, for 18 months in 2015-2017, coinciding with the United States' chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The participants will be selected from the United States and the seven other Arctic Council states through an open, merit-based competition. Areas of research focus will include climate change, water, energy, health, and infrastructure, among others, according to the Fulbright program overview <http://eca.state.gov/fulbright/fulbright-programs/program-summaries/fulbright-arctic> . "Fulbright has a long and prestigious history as the premier U.S. educational, research, outreach and public diplomacy program,” said Sfraga. “The decision by the State Department to establish the Arctic Fulbright Initiative underscores the importance the U.S. places on engagement and informed management of the Arctic at a time of rapid change that presents both challenges and opportunities." Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, the United States and Denmark—which also represents Greenland and the Faroe Islands—all hold seats on the Arctic Council, which is dedicated to addressing international policy questions presented by changes in the polar region including depletion of sea ice. Some of the issues before the council include the opening of oil and mineral rights, regulating new shipping routes, protecting the environment, and maintaining the rights of indigenous peoples and other populations in the Arctic. "The scholars will come from different countries and different fields but will share a commitment to working together to understand and address Arctic issues," Brzezinski said. "I cannot wait to see what Professors Virginia and Sfraga do with their new role.” *CONTACTS:* Mike Sfraga, 907-474-2600, [email protected]. Ross Virginia, 603-646-0192, [email protected]. *ADDITIONAL CONTACTS:* Marmian Grimes, 907-474-7902, [email protected]. Justin Anderson, 603-646-3017, [email protected]. ECA Press at [email protected] or (202) 632-6552. -- D.G. Webster Assistant Professor Environmental Studies Program Dartmouth College 6182 Steele Hall Hanover, NH 03755 phone: 603-646-0213 http://www.dartmouth.edu/~envs/faculty/webster.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
