Contact: Heath Fisackerly
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A former MSU administrator returning from a recent Fulbright trip to China is encouraging other retirees to consider applying for the nation’s flagship international educational exchange program.
William E. “Stephen” Cottrell retired from MSU in 2015 but has not lost interest in his quest for knowledge and advocacy for critical thinking. He spent six weeks in October and November teaching at Yunnan Minzu University in Kun Ming, a city in China’s Yunnan Province near the Himalayan Plateau.
Cottrell emphasized that he would like to see MSU retired faculty members “take the golden opportunity to apply the years of expertise they’ve built through their careers and become diplomats through the Fulbright program.” He called an affiliation with Fulbright a “feather in the cap” of individuals, the community and the university.
The retired director of international engagement with MSU’s International Institute focuses on cultural geography and cultural intelligence, among other topics. He is a Fulbright Ambassador Emeritus and has previously been a Fulbright faculty scholar in Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright program is designed to increase mutual understanding between Americans and the international community. Through the Fulbright program and other international initiatives, MSU regularly sends faculty members around the globe to foster the institution’s land-grant missions of teaching, research and service. Cottrell invites retirees to consider these opportunities as well.
“At its core, the Fulbright is a tool for soft diplomacy,” Cottrell said, explaining that his interest in international exchange dates back to his experience as a soldier in the Vietnam War and coincides with Fulbright’s vision of enhancing quality of life in all nations.
“Fulbright gave me the opportunity to expand my critical thinking abroad and absorb other cultures without judgement,” he said, adding that foreign exchange helps dilute the “arrogance of power” referenced by the late J. William Fulbright, former Arkansas senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who spearheaded the program.
For more information on the Fulbright Scholars Program, visit eca.state.gov/fulbright.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.