College of Applied Arts’ López selected as Fulbright Specialist

By Ryan Thornton
Office of Media Relations
April 6, 2016

Omar López, an associate professor in the Department of Occupational, Workforce and Leadership Studies (OWLS) at Texas State University, has been selected for the Fulbright Specialist program.

As a Fulbright Specialist, López expects to serve in the professional development of overseas faculty with the transition from traditional to hybrid/blended or fully online teaching and work with overseas faculty in the planning and design of institutional or programmatic evaluations. López will also encourage activities beyond lecturing and research with overseas faculty that will engage the OWLS Department’s faculty, staff and students on a global stage in higher education.

The Fulbright Specialist Program (FSP) was created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program by awarding grants to qualified United States faculty and professionals, in select disciplines, to engage in short-term collaborative two- to six-week projects at eligible institutions in more than 140 countries worldwide.

The Fulbright Program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the United States government. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. For more than 60 years, U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad, and thousands of scholars from abroad have done similar work in the United State. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement.

López does research in a variety of fields, including education, technology and health. He has published research in the fields of educational accountability, technology in education and higher education sustainability. López teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in work-based learning, instructional strategies and education technology to prepare non-traditional students for careers in technical education and corporate training.

For more information about the Fulbright Specialist program visit www.cies.org/programs.