Education professor receives Fulbright to study in Morocco

Judy Sharkey, assistant professor of education, has been selected for the Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad Program in Morocco for the summer of the 2004.

Created under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange (Fulbright-Hays) Act of 1961, the program provides opportunities for educators and administrators with responsibilities for curriculum development in fields related to humanities, languages and area studies to receive an introductory cultural orientation to a particular country.

The six-week Moroccan seminar, “The Triumphs and Challenges of Women in Morocco,” will focus on the changing role and status of women in Morocco. Participants will have an intensive language (Arabic) and cultural orientation to prepare them for three weeks of travel around the country, which includes the country’s complex linguistic situation, the evolving multi-party political system, the legal and cultural ramifications of Islam, and educational reform.

Sharkey has been at UNH since 2001. She received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in bilingual/multicultural education from The Pennsylvania State University. While in Morocco she hopes to focus on second language literacy, specifically how Moroccan children learn to read and write in schools, and Islamic feminism. These projects are related to her research in the language and literacy experiences and processes of English language learners in public schools in the United States.