Foreign scholars visit UAFS

The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith has three visiting scholars visiting in the fall semester as part of the university’s effort to expand its international connections.

V.L.V. Kameswari of India, who is UAFS’s first Fulbright Scholar; Yoko Kowata of Japan, who has been brought to Fort Smith under the Japan Outreach Initiative; and Laura Dirks of Germany, a participant in the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program.

Dr. Kameswari assisted UAFS professor Ragupathy Kannan during his activities as a Fulbright Scholar in India in 2007. Kameswari  is an associate professor at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in India. She has a bachelor’s degree in analytical chemistry and master’s and doctoral degrees in communication. Kameswari will assist the UAFS speech faculty in the development of new core courses required by UAFS and will teach undergraduate classes, according to a UAFS statement.

Kowata comes to UAFS from Tokyo, where she was an assistant convention director for the Show Management Department of Atex Co. She was previously an intern with the International Environment NGO, Friends of the Earth Japan. Her two-year work at UAFS will include teaching Japanese language and culture in local schools and on the UAFS campus. Kowata has a bachelor’s degree from Rikkyo University in Tokyo and a master’s degree in environment, science and society from Essex University in Essex, England.

This is the second trip to America for Dirks, who previously lived in Texas as a foreign exchange student while she was in high school. She also had other exchange student opportunities in Taiwan, France and England. Dirks received a bachelor’s degree in English (with teacher licensure) and a bachelor’s degree in educational psychology. Dirks served in an elective office with the Youth Advisory Board Starnberg from 1997 through 2003, a post which included practical youth work, such as homework mentoring, and involvement in youth-relevant local affairs. Dirks will teach German during the spring 2009 semester at UAFS.

"We see our students learning from the scholars as we merge the scholars into our population," Takeo Suzuki, executive director of international relations at UAFS, said in the statement. "UA Fort Smith is fortunate to have 13 global partnerships with other institutions around the world. Having these scholars visit here is another means of broadening our international footprint."