Professor of English Meg Petersen, who was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, left for the Dominican Republic in August to begin her year-long project in teaching writing and mentoring teachers in a K–12 school system. Petersen is excited about the opportunity her Fulbright has given her to return to the Dominican Republic, where she worked for four years prior to joining the PSU faculty in 1991. “Ever since I left there in 1991, I have hoped to someday return to work to support Dominican teachers,” says Petersen. “I am so happy to see this dream become a reality.”
Petersen—who is also director of the Plymouth Writing Project, an organization committed to improving the teaching of writing and learning in the nation’s schools through professional development—notes that the Fulbright provides a chance to strengthen and enhance Plymouth State’s educational opportunities. “I hope to forge strong connections between the Plymouth Writing Project and the teachers I work with in the Dominican Republic,” Petersen said. “My eventual goal is to set up intercultural exchange programs between the two countries.”
A noted poet, Petersen’s work has appeared in Concrete Wolf, Entelechy International: A Journal of Contemporary Ideas, Garden Lane, English Journal, The Leaflet, The International Journal for Teaching Writing, the Plymouth Writers Group anthologies, and other publications. In 1997, she was named New England Poet of the Year by the New England Association of Teachers of English. In 2000, Petersen was honored with the PSU Distinguished Teaching Award.
