Six Red Raiders advanced their teaching, research and professional networks in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America as Fulbright awardees.
(Photo above: Carole Edwards at the Oued Noun Film Festival in Guelmim, Morocco.)
Contributing to another year of recognition as a Fulbright Top Producer, six Texas Tech University faculty and administrators traversed the globe after receiving awards from the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program for the 2025-26 academic year.
The instructors include Amy Boren-Alpizar (Peru); Joseph Aranha (Indonesia); Carole Edwards (Morocco); Jeong-Hee Kim (Korea); and Barbara Lauriat (Italy). Heather Greenhalgh-Spencer, an associate dean of the Graduate School, completed her experience in France.
Boren-Alpizar’s excursion to the high Andes Mountains for the Scaling Bioeconomic Innovations for Forests and Climate Stabilization program was her first Fulbright experience.
An associate professor of agricultural education & communications, Boren-Alpizar had worked in rural development across Latin America for 15 years but saw a different opportunity regarding reforestation and community-based forest management systems in Peru’s high Andes.
“Since reforestation has increased across most areas of Peru, but not in the high Andes, I thought it would be interesting to examine how communities that manage these forests make decisions, organize around forest governance, and balance environmental conservation with socio-economic needs,” she said.
Though political unrest and bureaucratic obstacles presented challenges, she enjoyed getting to work with new communities and new collaborations, as well as being exposed to alternative research approaches.
Aranha, a professor in the Huckabee College of Architecture, is teaching during the spring 2026 semester at Warmadewa University (WU) in Bali.
Aranha has prioritized contributing to curriculum development, collaborating on new projects and sharing his extensive expertise, not only to junior WU architecture faculty, but to students and through guest lectures and other academic interactions at several institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.
Fulbright offers opportunities for scholars to leave their normal environments, see vastly different cultures and educational contexts and enrich their own research and teaching when they come back home, Aranha said.
“It also contributes to trust, understanding, respect, and professional collaboration with people across the world and to opening one's mind to knowing, understanding and respecting alternative points of view in one's professional and academic work,” Aranha added.
Texas Tech’s profile across Morocco has significantly risen, thanks to Edwards, a professor of French.
Her scholarly study of Maghrebi literature resulted in numerous invitations to contribute broadly to academic pursuits. Maghrebis are inhabitants of the North African countries Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, all of which were influenced by French colonial rule.
In addition to teaching English as a second language, Edwards served on juries for film festivals and conference panels, delivered keynote addresses and established institutional partnerships and professional networks.
She expects to substantially enrich her teaching at Texas Tech through the insights she gained overseas. Edwards also called the experience invaluable, as it supported pedagogical and scholarly development, enabled meaningful cultural immersion and required reflection and thoughtful representation of her home nation and university.
Kim, the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Education and professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, believes strongly in the power of shaping educational experiences through narrative inquiry, a methodology that seeks to understand the human experience through stories.
Teaching students in medical and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields to reflect on what being human means in an increasingly technical era is vital, she said.
At the Seoul National University College of Medicine, Kim taught and researched a narrative medicine course that included storytelling to help prepare more reflective, human-centered physicians. Her time in Korea was transformative, encouraging her to expand how she saw herself as a scholar and engage more as a global educator.
“Fulbright is an important program to take part in because, for me, Fulbright makes the impossible possible,” Kim said. “Through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, I was able to bring to life a project that had long been a dream, one I once thought was beyond reach.”
Lauriat participated in a research lectureship at Luiss Guido Cardo University in Rome, where she was also a Visiting Researcher Law and Ethics Observatory.
A professor in the School of Law with an interest in intellectual property, Lauriat researched and taught about standard essential patent disputes amidst the development of Europe’s Unified Patent Court. She also strengthened her network of colleagues in Europe and experienced a different academic culture.
“In my own field, many aspects of intellectual property law and legal practice are increasingly transnational and globally interconnected,” Lauriat said. “It’s important to understand multiple perspectives on existing challenges.”
In France, Greenhalgh-Spencer connected with administrators from American and French universities, networking and developing partnerships in entrepreneurial ideas and innovative practices as well as degree programs.
She also researched how French institutions cultivate personalized learning pathways and degree plans that emphasize workforce readiness.
“My Fulbright experience and connections have already turned into further conversations about accelerated degree programs and joint degree programs between several programs here at Texas Tech and universities in France,” Greenhalgh-Spencer said.
International Affairs, under the Office of the Provost, supports Texas Tech scholars who apply to Fulbright.
About Fulbright
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. government. Participating governments and partner institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program. Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors and the world and have included 44 heads of state or government, 63 Nobel Laureates, 93 Pulitzer Prize winners, 83 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders in all sectors and industries across the United States and around the world.