Professor Emeritus Paul Bredeson has been awarded the Fulbright Roving Scholar Upper Secondary Grant through the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. The Fulbright Fellowship to Norway is for the 2012-2013 academic year. As a Roving Scholar, Bredeson will be located in Oslo but spend his time visiting and lecturing in upper secondary schools throughout Norway. The focus of his project is to help Norwegian high school students and staff gain a better understanding of American culture through the lens of education reform, especially high school reform initiatives in the United States. Given that educational policies, practices, and performance standards are part of the contested landscape in American society, education reform is a lens for viewing the larger American society, its hopes, dreams, and challenges. As others have noted, sooner or later the most critical social, political, economic, and cultural issues come through the school house doors. His stint begins in mid-August 2012 and will be completed mid-June 2013.
"My personal interest in this opportunity stems in part from a mix of professional work with colleagues at Umea University in Sweden over the past 18 years and from my family background – my grandparents came from Norway to the US in the early 1900s," Bredeson said. "I believe the Fulbright offers my wife and me the opportunity to reconnect to the country and culture they left over 100 years ago."