What's New - Fall 2005

RACU Welcomes Its First Fulbright Scholar

RACU is pleased to welcome its first Fulbright Scholar, Dr. James Brownlee. Dr. Brownlee, who holds a Ph.D. in Literature, has joined the RACU faculty as a Fulbright Scholar for a year, coming to RACU from Malone College in Ohio, where he has served on the faculty for 6 years.

“For several years I was interested in a cross-cultural experience, though I didn’t have any particular culture or country in my mind,” he says. “I wanted to teach students with a different cultural and historic background, and I wanted to teach in a Christian School like Malone College.” Robert Zwier, the Provost of Malone College, encouraged him to contact RACU to discuss the possibility of teaching there for a sabbatical year, and to apply for a Fulbright grant. Interested in Russian language and culture, Dr. Brownlee worked on this project with enthusiasm, and was pleased -- and a bit surprised! -- when he was awarded a Fulbright grant. “I don’t know why the Fulbright program selected me from a large number of other applicants,” he wonders. “Maybe because the heart of my application was to teach American literature -- what I know the best -- to people whose background is different.”

Dr. Brownlee is very positive about his experience at RACU, and he is pleased so far with his teaching experience in Russia. “My students here are very much like my American students: they are young, they speak English. I’m very much surprised by how many things are similar. And the most impressive thing for me is that my students are bilingual: they know English enough to listen, talk, and contribute into our discussions at class.” Though Dr. Brownlee is only teaching for two months at RACU, his students already love him a lot. “His classes are amazing,” says one student. “He presents difficult and complicated material in such an unusual and creative way that everybody easily understands it. His Phonology class, for example, is interesting and funny.”

Dr Brownlee says the highlights of his trip so far have been the people at RACU, who are incredibly friendly and helpful, and his trip to St. Petersburg, where the beauty of the city, the splendor of its museums, and the Russian Orthodox liturgy at the Kazanski Cathedral fascinated him.

As for the challenges, he admits that the biggest one is the language. While his students speak English quite well, it can still be difficult to grasp American idioms and specific cultural peculiarities. And, of course, it is a challenge to live in Moscow not knowing Russian. Before he came to Russia, Dr. Brownlee studied some Russian with practical concerns in mind -- living in Moscow, learning more about culture, connecting with students. Now that he is in Russia, when he takes Russian classes at RACU he looks at the language not only from a practical point of view, but also as a true scholar. “He doesn’t only learn Russian words and phrases,” his Russian teacher, Tamara Kozlovskaya, says. “He explores the language, he analyses the structure.” Dr. Brownlee admits it’s exciting and helpful to learn Russian. “I learn a lot from Tamara, and I use this knowledge in my classes.”

Dr. Brownlee is a wonderful addition to the RACU team, and the students, faculty and staff at RACU are thrilled to have him living and teaching in Russia for the year.