by Reves Center staff
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April 20, 2022
The Reves Center for International Studies has awarded the Reves Faculty Fellowships 2022 to six William & Mary Professors. Each year, a committee of Reves faculty and staff awards the scholarships to support research and faculty-student collaboration on committed, internationally-focused scholarship. The initiative is open to full-time William & Mary faculty in all academic units. Projects must include an international, global and/or transnational orientation or context and involve undergraduate or graduate students in W&M. With rare exceptions, the project must include a research component abroad.
The 2022 faculty members of the Reves Center are:
Leslie W. Grant, Dorman Family Term Distinguished Associate Professor, School of Education; and James H. Stronge, Professor of Heritage, School of Education
Project: Qualities of Effective Teachers in East Asian International Schools: A Mixed Methods Study
Understanding the behaviors, skills and dispositions of effective teachers is essential to help improve schools and student success. Research in the United States shows that teachers
have a significant impact on student success. Such studies do not exist for teachers working in independent international schools –– including research that reflects the importance of understanding both the context of working in cross-cultural contexts and the skills that enable teachers to thrive in these contexts.
Recognizing the unique opportunities and challenges presented by independent schools located in diverse host countries, this project focuses on uncovering the beliefs and practices (including planning and teaching skills) of effective teachers who can cross existing international and cultural contexts. in international schools.
Sharan Grewal, Assistant Professor, Government
Project: Public opinion poll in Tunisia
Tunisia’s fledgling democracy, the only one to emerge from the Arab Spring, was recently rocked by a presidential takeover that threatens to undo the country’s democratic gains. Surprisingly, the President’s coup was met with considerable public approval. The proposed inquiry would therefore examine the sources of this public support, and thus contribute more generally to research on the popular foundations of democratic backsliding. Populist politicians, from Hungary to Turkey, from the United States to the Philippines, have tried to leverage their public support to undermine democracy from within. Yet researchers have only begun to explore sources of public support for such actions.
Daniel Maliniak, Assistant Professor, Government
Project: Veterans of the Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq in the United States and the Republic of Georgia
Georgia sent troops to support both US-led conflicts, largely in an effort to curry favor with Americans: politicians, policymakers, bureaucrats, the public, and the US military. The US-Georgia relationship has evolved over the past 20 years. American decision makers expressed their gratitude for the Georgian military involvement. Many Georgians expressed the importance and intention of sending troops to support US military missions as part of a strategy of political alignment with the US and the West. There has been no research, however, into the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers – or their families – who served alongside Americans, or those of their American counterparts. The research team will answer two questions: (1) How do Georgian veterans think about their time in service and how do they see the news?, and (2) How do American veterans view soldiers and countries that supported the stay of these soldiers abroad?
Iyabo Obsanjo, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Health Sciences, and Director of the Africa Research Center
Project: Comparing the role of community health workers serving in low-income black communities in South Africa and the United States
In South Africa and the United States, the effect of long-term social barriers on health outcomes is profound, with the black population having a significant negative impact on their health outcomes from both chronic non-communicable diseases and Infectious diseases. South Africa has a long history of using community health workers (CHWs) in low-income black communities to improve health outcomes. While the use of CHWs began in low- and middle-income countries around the world, their use in minority populations in the United States has increased over the past 20 years as a way to reach low-income populations with culturally appropriate and inexpensive access to health and health education. Researchers interviewed community health workers working in public housing in the Richmond/Henrico Health District about their perceptions and motivations for the work they do. The project will allow them to include an international comparison, interviewing CHWs in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. This is a new collaboration with colleagues at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Jennifer Stevens, Associate Professor, Psychological Sciences
Project: Intercultural understanding through art
This project involves the work of a faculty-led student team that seeks to assess a six-factor model in experiencing art in terms of how we understand others and how we understand ourselves. . This cross-cultural examination will include interviews, surveys and observations at the Louvre (Paris, France) and the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC). The socio-theoretical basis of this work rests on the question of whether art is culturally specific or whether it offers a universal language. The results of this work, although art-based, should provide a blueprint for cross-cultural understanding, broadly defined.
Former Reves faculty scholars and their projects are listed in line.