Dr. Alan J. DeYoung, professor in the College of Arts & Sciences Department of Sociology and professor of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education, has been selected by the US Department of State and the International University for the Humanities and Development (IUHD) in Turkmenistan to serve as Fulbright Specialist in the spring 2016 semester. This project is coordinated by the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Dr. DeYoung will work with local university staff on the continued development of their specialization in sociology by reviewing their new curriculum and giving lectures to students of that department as a visiting speaker. 

IUHD is a new educational institution, which started offering its 14 different majors with English as the medium of instruction this academic year. DeYoung will also work with the teaching staff of the University and help them develop their general curriculum development skills. This will happen in workshop settings or it could be through informal individual consultations.

The objective of the Specialist program is to not only help in the development of the subject-specific curriculum, but also to equip teachers with the skills to write and improve curricula they can use after the Specialist’s departure. 

DeYoung has been involved in numerous externally funded faculty development and curricular improvement projects in the former USSR for more than a decade; specifically in the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.  This will be his first time visiting Turkmenistan.

"I am very excited by the opportunity because Turkmenistan is one of the new republics which has remained virtually closed to outsiders even two decades after the collapse of the former USSR," DeYoung said.