Catherine Amidon, director of PSU’s Karl Drerup Art Gallery, has recently received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. She will leave for Jamaica next January and will teach at the Edna Manley School of Arts and work at the National Gallery of Art in Kingston.
The Fulbright Program, established in 1946 by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas to foster mutual understanding between people of the United States and citizens abroad, sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year to lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
“A goal of the Fulbright program is to create a shared opportunity for enrichment of the political, economic, social, and cultural lives between the scholar and those she meets and works with while living in her new community,” said Julie Bernier, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Dr. Amidon will, in turn, enrich our community upon her return to Plymouth State University.”
“We are pleased and proud that Dr. Amidon has been named a Fulbright Scholar,” Bernier added. “It is a wonderful reflection on her and her scholarly pursuits.”
According to the Fulbright organization, Amidon was selected “because of her academic and professional accomplishments and leadership potential.”
“I have been doing research and curating exhibitions about Jamaican culture for almost ten years, yet have not had the opportunity to live in Jamaica for a longer period of time that would allow for focused research, as well as greater personal engagement with the culture,” said Amidon. “The Fulbright allows me a bit of a break from the more administrative aspects of my current position to research, write, and teach for a semester.”
Amidon is anxious to bring her Jamaican experience back to Plymouth State University. “There will be increased opportunities for partnerships and cross-cultural exchanges between PSU and several Jamaican institutions,” said Amidon.
This is the second Fulbright Amidon has received. In 1994, she studied for six weeks in the post-Soviet Baltic states and Russia as part of a Fulbright Program.— Bruce Lyndes
