ORONO – Dana Wilde of Troy, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Maine and copy desk editor at the Bangor Daily News, has received a Fulbright Senior Specialists grant in U.S. Studies-Literature at Xiamen University English department in China.

This is the third Fulbright for Wilde, who will be accompanied on the three-week trip by his 12-year-old son, Jack. Wilde said he has been to Xiamen University twice before. He will help students write theses.The Fulbright Senior Specialists Program offers two- to six-week grants to leading U.S. academics and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at academic institutions in 140 countries around the world.

Created to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program which was started in 1946, the Senior Specialists Program aims at increasing the number of faculty and professionals who have the opportunity to go abroad on a Fulbright.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and managed by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. The program’s purpose is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

“The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program offers grants ranging from two months to an academic year, but some academics and professionals find it difficult to be away overseas for that length of time,” said Patti McGill Peterson, executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. “The new Senior Specialists Program offers them another option.”

Grantees also undertake new activities, ranging from conducting teacher training and developing and assessing curricula or educational materials to leading seminars or workshops or conducting needs assessments.

For information about the program, visit www.cies.org.