The following plan and accompanying budget cover the second year ofactivities between the University at Albany and Sofia University underthe auspices of the University Affiliations Program of USIA. The programsupports the exchange of faculty and other personnel of the cooperatinginstitutions over a three-year period, 1997-2000. The plan follows thegeneral outline of activities as set out in the original proposal to USIA,submitted in January 1997.
1. Planning
As in the past, the project directors, Ernest Scatton (UAlbany) andAlexander Shurbanov (Sofia) will be in contact by telephone, electronicmail and otherwise, in order to assure the smooth operation of the project.
The American director, Scatton, will visit Sofia for two weeks in Septemberand October 1998. This will provide an opportunity for face-to-face planningin the second year of the project. In addition, Scatton will attend a two-dayinternational meeting to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Sofia University'sDepartment of English and American Studies; here he has been asked to reporton Albany and Sofia's by now five-year collaboration which has been supportedby USIA. With funds provided by UAlbany, Scatton will visit Sofia again,sometime in the winter or spring of 1999 for research. This trip offersadditional opportunity for project planning. Finally, Scatton has securedsufficient funds from UAlbany to bring Shurbanov to Albany again for ashort stay either in the second or third year of the grant, if this wouldbe useful.
2. Public/Academic Administration
a. In-service program in administration and policy/academic administration
USIA funds will support the visit of Francine Frank, professor emeritaand former dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the Universityat Albany. Frank will be in Sofia for 8 weeks in the spring of 1999 togive lectures, seminars, and workshops dealing with issues of academicadministration based on her experiences as an academic administrator atvarious levels.
J. F. Volkwein, director of Albany's Office for Institutional Researchand professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy,who we had hoped to send to Sofia in the fall of 1998, recently announcedthat is leaving Albany for a position at another university. We are nowlooking for someone with his particular expertise to replace him. Tentativelywe are budgeting someone for a maximum of two months during the secondyear. We will, if we are able to identify someone, consult with USIA forapproval.
b. Administrative internships
Penka Ilieva-Baltova will spend the academic year 1998-99 at the Universityat Albany. During this time she will participate in the work of severalmajor administrative offices, including, tentatively, the Office of UndergraduateAdmissions, the Office of Foreign Student Advising, and the Office of theProvost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Every attempt will bemade not only to expose her to a wide range of important administrativeissues and practices but also to take advantage of her own personal experiencesas vice dean of the Department of Foreign Students at Sofia University,where she has responsibility for recruitment and advisement. In addition,through the generosity of Albany's president, Karen R. Hitchcock, and Provostand Vice President for Academic Affairs, Judy Genshaft, Prof. Ilieva-Baltovawill enroll in a five-course certificate program in Public Sector Management;offered by the University's Graduate School of Public Affairs, this programis specially designed for working professional administrators. Sue Faermanwill serve as Ilieva-Baltova's academic adviser; together they will designan appropriate course of study to broaden Ilieva-Baltova's administrativeskills.
In January 1998, when we selected Ilieva-Baltova as the 1998-99 intern,we offered the 1999-2000 internship to Todor Tanev, currently chair ofthe new Department of Public Administration at Sofia University. In theevent that Tanev's participation proves impossible (there is some likelihoodthat his administrative responsibilities in Sofia will prevent him fromspending 10 months abroad), during the current year, 1998-99, we will recruitsomeone to take his place.
3. Multiculturalism: Gender and Ethnicity
a. Curriculum development
Professor Judith Barlow will visit Sofia University for 5 months inthe winter and spring of 1999. During this time, she will team-teach withMadlen Danova (who visited Albany in the spring of 1998) a course in theliterature of Native Americans. In addition, Barlow is offering to teacha practical course in advanced English in writing non-fiction prose, whichwould represent a unique innovative opportunity within the curriculum ofSofia's English Department. Barlow, who will be on sabbatical leave, willbe able to spend 5 months, rather than the 1 or 2 originally planned, whichrepresents a significant increase in the number of American months in thecurrent year. See below for budget implications.
b. Collaborative Research Project: Changing Roles of Women and Minoritiesin Educational and Politics
Prof. Ralitsa Muharska of Sofia University's English Department willvisit Albany's Sociology Department and Institute for Research on Womenin order to continue her collaborative research project with Albany's Prof.Gwen Moore (who visited Sofia twice during the first year of the project).During this time, they will finalize the survey instrument for their studyof Bulgarian parliamentarians and begin to conduct interviews. For thetextbook study, Muharska will continue to identify and obtain appropriatehistory and literature texts from the 1970s and 1990s. The textual analyses,primarily by Muharska, but with the assistance of Elena Vesselinov (Moore'sgraduate student at Albany), will begin in the fall. Muharska is directionboth projects in Sofia this year, and she will devote most of her timeto them when she visits Albany in 1999.
4. Resource Development
a. Materials acquisition: social sciences
Kay Shaffer of Albany's University Libraries (who visited Sofia duringthe first year of the project) will complete the list of social sciencepublications (esp. public administration, academic administration, andpublic policy) to be purchased with funds from the grant and shipped toSofia during this year. She will be assisted by Professor Faerman, hercolleagues in Albany's Graduate School of Public Affairs, Richard Irving(Albany's public administration librarian, who will visit Sofia in thethird year of the project), and by colleagues in Sofia's departments ofpolitical science and public administration.
b. The Internet and distance-learning
Krassimira Rangelova will spend the fall semester of 1998-1999 at Albany.During this time she will work in the Center for Language Learning andResearch, directed by Prof. Carla Meskill, her partner in the current project.Together they will continue to develop distance-learning strategies foradvanced English-language instruction. In addition, Rangelova will teacha course for graduate students in ESL, Approaches to English Grammar.
5. Other
a. As mentioned earlier, Scatton has received a grant from the Universityat Albany to support his research in Bulgarian linguistics. He will usethis money to visit Sofia in the winter or spring 1999 for this purpose.During this visit, he will also carry out project-related activities asappropriate. The balance of this money will be used to bring his principalresearch collaborator, Dr. Boryana Velcheva (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences),to Albany for 4-8 weeks in the spring of 1999.
b. In addition, Scatton has secured sufficient funds from UAlbany tobring Alexander Shurbanov back to Albany for planning purposes if warranted.
c. Georgi Jetchev, a linguist in Sofia University's French Department,will be visiting Montreal University in the summer and fall of 1998. Heis invited to visit Albany sometime in October to lecture on his currentresearch and to meet linguists at Albany interested in his work. This tripwill be supported by UAlbany funds. Last year he submitted a Fulbrightproposal to visit Albany's Psychology Department for research in psycholinguistics;the proposal was not funded. Our hope is that he will resubmit upon hisreturn to Sofia.
d. Dr. Liliana Simeonova, a historian in the Balkan Institute of theBulgarian Academy of Sciences, will visit the United States to participatein a scholarly conference in October. She is also invited to visit Albanyto lecture on current crises in the Balkans. Simeonova was a Fulbrightlecturer at Albany for two years from 1993 through 1995.
e. Sue Faerman has been invited to visit Sofia in March 1999, to takepart in a public administration conference at Sofia University. If sheis able to attend, her expenses would be provided by Albany.
f. A proposal is currently pending in UAlbany's School of Educationto extend Krassimira Rangelova's stay through the spring semester of thecurrent academic year. During this time, she would continue to work withCarla Meskill and to teach. If approved, Rangelova would be supported entirelyby UAlbany funds.
6. Budget
A full budget for the second year is attached. It reflects some slightchanges with respect to the original.
a. Scatton's USIA-funded planning trip is 2 weeks long, not one month.
b. Barlow will spend 5 months in Sofia, not 2, as originally planned.To offset the additional expenses associated with the longer stay, Sofia'sEnglish Department will provide housing for her and Frank at its own expense,the equivalent of $300/month.
7. Calendar of Visits
Academic-year Penka Ilieva-Baltova 10months USIA-funds
Fall semester KrassimiraRangelova 4.5 months USIA-funds
Sept.-Oct. Ernest Scatton .5 month USIA-funds
Spring semester Ralitsa Muharska 4.5 months USIA-funds
Spring semester Judith Barlow 5 months USIA-funds
Spring semester Francine Frank 2 months USIA-funds
Fall (or spring) TBA: American 2 monthsUSIA-funds
Spring semester Ernest Scatton 1 month Albany-funds*
Spring semester Alexander Shurbanov .5 months Albany-funds*
Spring semester Krassimira Rangelova 5 months Albanyfunds*
Spring semester Sue Faerman 10 days Albany funds*
*Tentative
Summary (tentative not included)
Americans 4 participants 4 visits 9.5 months
Bulgarians 3 participants 3 visits 19 months
Submitted,
Ernest Scatton Alexander Shurbanov
Professor Head
Slavic Languages English & American Studies
University at Albany (SUNY) Clement Of OkhridUniversity (Sofia)