Gallatin News
Three Recent Alumni Receive Fulbrights
In the 2005-2006 academic year, approximately 1,200 American students will travel abroad to take classes, conduct research, or teach as part of the Fulbright Program. In 2005, a year in which NYU was listed among the top 25 research institutions from which American students received Fulbright Awards, ten of the coveted grants were bestowed upon NYU students and alumni—three of whom hail from Gallatin .
The three people who received this honor (all now alumni) are currently pursuing their work in locations around the world. What they have in common are some very “ Gallatin-esque” characteristics: drive, passion, creativity, independence, and global awareness. Yet, in true Gallatin fashion, these three individuals are interested in completely different subjects.
Adina Matisoff (BA ’03) is in China, studying the effectiveness of non-governmental responses to HIV/AIDS in the country. In order to compare different nonprofit organizations within the larger context of government and international stakeholders, she is conducting background research, interviews, and field research in the communities these organizations serve. She hopes to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the AIDS situation in China, and she is interested in seeing the forms that community organizing takes there.
Brett Shere (BA ’04) is studying flamenco guitar performance in Madrid, Spain. His work includes daily private lessons with world master guitarists and teachers, his own guitar study, attending high-level flamenco shows and gatherings in Madrid´s thriving music scene, and documentation. He has found the documentation element to be crucial to the project, given the nature of flamenco as an oral tradition and because he has been gathering extensive information, much of which has not yet been recorded.
Lee Douglas (BA ’05) is working in Buenos Aires, analyzing Argentina’s political history via the photographic image and exploring the relationship between these images and collective memory—she hopes to gain a greater understanding of how Argentinians perceive themselves and their nation’s past through this medium. Her project includes taking classes at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and completing research at both the National Archive and the Memory Museum in Buenos Aires. She plans to create a public exhibition of both archival photographs and the work of Argentinian photographers who are working with the concept of memory.
All three alumni are continuing the work they began as Gallatin undergraduates. Douglas’ Gallatin concentration in photography and Latin American studies was developed from interests and passions she’d had her entire life: photography had significant relevance to her family and schoolwork, and her interest in Latin American history began in her Texas high school, where she was exposed to what she describes as “a lot of bicultural issues.” Shere’s Gallatin concentration combined flamenco guitar performance, creative writing and literature, and psychology. Throughout his undergraduate studies he completed private lessons and independent study course work at the American Institute of Guitar. Matisoff integrated a study of communications, Chinese culture, and human rights to form her Gallatin concentration, because she wanted to study how social activism is pursued and how people from different cultures can work together for social change. She took courses in globalization, international relations, Chinese history and language, and communications; interned for the NGO Human Rights in China (where she later worked after graduation); and helped launch VISA (visit~invest~serve~advocate), a grassroots initiative at NYU that matched students with internships in underprivileged neighborhoods throughout NYC.
For all three, study abroad experiences helped focus their interests and give them the impetus to develop their Fulbright projects. Shere studied in Madrid in his senior year, during which he began intensive work with David Serva and Anton Jimenez, the two master teachers with whom he’s studying today. He states, “It was a real highlight of my undergraduate career, and I encourage all Gallatin students to take advantage of the chance to study abroad. In addition to the tremendous richness of the experience, it can be a great way to develop a project idea to do through Fulbright, another organization, or on your own.”
During her junior year Matisoff studied in China, where she undertook a field research project on the Chinese government's housing policies towards poor internal migrants in Shanghai. She attests that the experience of learning in the country offered her more than what she could have gained solely from academic research. Douglas studied abroad for more than a year in Santiago, Chile, where she completed a research project on photographic censorship during the Pinochet dictatorship (she received the first of her two Dean’s Scholarship Grants for this project) and an internship at the Center for Justice Studies in the Americas. After graduation she moved back to Santiago and, when not preparing for her Fulbright project, she taught English and worked at the same study abroad program in which she had participated as a student.
Each of these three impressive recent alumni credits Gallatin professors with helping to shape their studies and assisting them in the application process for the Fulbright Grant. Douglas avows that her adviser, Antonio Lauria, “not only encouraged me to apply for the Fulbright but supported me on every step of the way. He was more than a mentor, and his support was and is one of the most treasured things that I received at Gallatin.” Matisoff says of her adviser, “George Shulman was and continues to be an indispensable mentor in my life. He has been great at talking me through decisions and encouraging me to be bold in my aspirations.” Shere has several people he’d like to thank. He offered, “Nettie Jones was an extraordinary adviser and remains a very dear friend. My Fulbright application became possible because of the generosity of David Slocum, Don White, and Nettie, among others, and I would like to thank Bella Mirabella and Lisa Goldfarb for their consistent support and generosity throughout my time in Gallatin and as an alum.”
As for future endeavors, we can be sure that these three individuals will continue on exciting paths. All share a deep love for travel, an optimistic outlook, and a desire to make a positive impact on the world. Matisoff would like to see what opportunities arise from her current work and hopes to eventually pursue an advanced degree. Shere is assessing his options; he may start a record label or he may attend graduate school—he’s already been accepted to the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Douglas is considering getting her master’s abroad and would eventually like to teach, “and change the world, of course!”