Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A recently retired Mississippi State human sciences professor and repeat Fulbright Scholar will cap her career as a nutritionist later this year by lecturing and studying at a university in India.
Wanda Dodson, who concluded her academic career at MSU last summer after 15 years in the School of Human Sciences, travels to the University of Mysore this spring to begin a six-month Fulbright teaching stint. In addition to leading such courses as food science, human nutrition, nutritional biochemistry, and research methodology, she will be there to learn.
"I anticipate acquiring new knowledge and information on integrating nutrition into community medicine," said Dodson, who now resides in her native Monticello, Ky. "I expect to gain new insights into addressing health care issues in the community."
She said she plans to put the teaching and research experience to good use when she returns to the United States by making presentations to various groups on the MSU campus, and at professional meetings at the state and national levels.
It marks the second Fulbright award for Dodson, who lectured at the Second Tashkent State Medical Institute in Uzbekistan in 1996. She also became MSU's Fulbright campus representative in 1998 and received the Mississippi State Alumni Association Faculty Recognition Award for outstanding achievements in 2002.
Dodson is the second MSU faculty member chosen as a Fulbright Scholar for the 2004-05 academic year. George Adebiyi, a longtime MSU professor of mechanical engineering, returned to his native Nigeria last year to help colleagues at Bowen University develop a solar crop dryer for use in rural communities.
"Solar energy is a promising resource for meeting energy needs in agriculture and for improving the quality of life in rural areas," said Adebiyi.
Dodson and Adebiyi were among approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals selected for travel to some 140 countries during 2004-05 through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between people of the United States and foreign countries.
"My first Fulbright was among the most rewarding things I've done," said Dodson, one of nine U.S. Fulbright scholar assigned to India for the year. "I thrive on the challenge that comes with living and working in a different culture, and I love exchanging ideas and learning new approaches to providing better health care."
At Mysore, Dodson will work with professor G. Saraswathi, head of the university's food science and nutrition department. Founded in its namesake city by an Indian maharaja in 1916, the 53,000-student--yes, 53,000--institution of higher learning is located in the western state of Karnataka, which has a population of 55 million.
A hot climate, numerous infectious diseases and a massive population combine to provide unique challenges for Indian health care workers, Dodson noted.
"Having safe food and drinking water is an important priority there," she said. "There's a whole lot of creativity and ingenuity that has to go into finding solutions to their problems.
"We'll share with them what we do here (in the United States) and learn how they handle those issues there," she added. "It's an exchange of ideas; we're there to promote international relations and understanding."
It will mark the second trip to India for Dodson, who accompanied a nurse on a four-month tour of medical facilities there in 1974. While the University of Mysore will provide housing, Dodson said she will conduct her travels by taxi, railroad, bicycle, and foot.
"I love to go to the markets and shop," she said. "English is pretty widely spoken, particularly in the market areas. Also, I expect students and faculty there to be very accommodating.
"The Fulbright program encourages us to take two weeks and travel around India," she said. "It's a large country and I expect to be doing some traveling."
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Dodson at wldodsonfredrick@yahoo.com.