An Institute of Technology Carlow lecturer has been announced by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan TD and Mr Reece Smyth, Chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Ireland, as one of 38 new Fulbright Irish Awardees.
Ms Trina Rea, a course director and lecturer in TV & Media Production at Institute of Technology Carlow, is amongst the 38 students, academics and professionals from 15 higher education institutes across Ireland and Europe this year to win Fulbright Awards to travel to top US institutions where they will study and collaborate with experts in their field.
As a Fulbright-TechImpact Scholar to New York University, Trina will evaluate the news habits of the first generation of digital natives and how those habits impact on digital news organisations’ editorial choices, packaging and delivery of news.
The Fulbright Awards programme encourages cultural exchange as well as educational collaboration. In addition to completing study or research projects, awardees are tasked with being cultural ambassadors during their time in the US. The rigorous application process ensures that the successful candidates are those who have conveyed how their work can have a positive impact on society.
This year the Fulbright Awards celebrates 60 years of educational and cultural exchange between Ireland and the US. Since 1957, the programme has provided Irish and European citizens with the opportunity to study, research, or lecture in America, and has supported US citizens to do the same in Ireland. The initiative is now established in over 160 countries globally, providing a fantastic international network for Fulbright awardees and alumni.
Fulbright programme founder Senator J. William Fulbright said of the initiative, "Of all the joint ventures in which we might engage, the most productive, in my view, is educational exchange. I have always had great difficulty in trying to find the words that would persuasively explain that educational exchange is not merely one of those nice but marginal activities in which we engage in international affairs, but rather, from the standpoint of future world peace and order, probably the most important and potentially rewarding of our foreign-policy activities.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charles Flanagan TD commented: “As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I am delighted to extend my warmest congratulations to the 38 Irish Fulbright Awardees for 2017/18. The Fulbright Commission plays an important role in providing reciprocal opportunities for Irish and US scholars and academics to study, work and experience life in each other’s countries.
This year’s 38 Irish awardees come from varying academic and professional disciplines, from the liberal arts – including Irish language studies – to science, technology, engineering and maths. These awards underline the breadth and depth of the Fulbright Commission’s work, covering 34 institutions in 18 states and Washington, DC. I wish this year’s awardees every success for their time in the US.”
Reece Smyth, Chargé d’affaires, US Embassy said: “I warmly congratulate the 2017-2018 cohort of awardees. The Fulbright Awards are highly-competitive, globally recognised, and associated with excellence and prestige so this is a real accomplishment. This year, 38 Irish Awardees from 15 Institutions across Ireland and Europe will undertake Fulbright scholarships to study, research and teach in 34 institutions across the United States. Their diverse areas of expertise reflect the fascinating direction of global research today.
We are proud to have such bright minds embarking on educational and cultural exchanges to the US, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their studies and research when they return to Ireland in 2018.”
PIC CAPTION: Trina Rea, a course director and lecturer in TV & Media Production at Institute of Technology Carlow, is amongst the 38 students, students, academics and professionals from 15 higher education institutes across Ireland and Europe this year to win Fulbright Awards to travel to top US institutions where they will study and collaborate with experts in their field. She is pictured with Professor John Hegarty, outgoing Chair of the Fullbright Commission Ireland.
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For reference: Alma Feeley, Communications Office, Institute of Technology Carlow
E: alma.feeley@midaspr.com
T: 059 9175098