College of Charleston professor and administrator Kay Smith has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship at Hong Kong Polytechnic University for fall 2011 and spring 2012. Smith, Associate VP for the Academic Experience at the College, will be building general education curriculum in Hong Kong universities. Specifically, she will teach a prototype First Year Seminar, much like the “Shakespeare on Screen” course she developed at College of Charleston for the First Year Experience program.

Hong Kong universities will be replacing their current three-year undergraduate program with a four-year program that will include general education requirements. Smith was chosen based on her ability to contribute to the development of new, general liberal arts courses that incorporate broad themes of Western and Asian society and culture that will equip Hong Kong students to enter productive civic and economic roles in the 21st century. While in Hong Kong, Smith will engage in a dialogue with Hong Kong colleagues, contribute to a major conference in Hong Kong on this subject at year’s end, and write a paper for a published anthology on general education based on her experience in Hong Kong.

“Our First-Year Experience program has been successful and engaging for faculty and students,” Smith says. As a Fulbright Fellow, I hope to share our successes with Hong Kong universities as they prepare to transition to four year programs, and also bring back useful and exciting ideas from them to share with College of Charleston.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” With this goal as a starting point, since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided almost 300,000 participants – chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

For more information, contact Kay Smith at 843.953.7402.