Two George Mason University faculty members in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) have been selected as recipients of Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards for 2026-2027.
Fulbright Scholar Awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that allow scholars to teach and conduct research abroad to establish long-term relationships between people and nations.
Lisa Gilman, professor in the Department of English and the director of the Institute for Immigration Research, will be teaching with the faculty of sociology, anthropology, and folklorists at the University of Iceland for the spring 2027 semester. She will participate in a bi-national program of educational exchange between the United States and Iceland and will be teaching two folklore classes. She is hopeful that the experience will spur future partnerships between the folklore programs George Mason and the University of Iceland.
“I am excited to learn about Icelandic culture from my students and to explore collaborations with my colleagues at the University of Iceland,” Gilman said. “One of the best things about teaching folklore internationally is that I always learn as much, or maybe more, from students about their folklore as they do from my teaching. The value of the Fulbright Scholar Award will extend far into the future because I will be able to integrate the knowledge I gain into my teaching at George Mason after I come back, thus expanding our program’s curriculum.”
Jennifer Ashley, associate professor in the Global Affairs Program and the director of the Latin Studies minor, will travel to Santiago, Chile to the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez for the spring 2027 semester. She received a Fulbright research/teaching award; her project will examine political communication strategies in Chile in a context of weak political parties, high levels of institutional distrust, and a growing discontent with political elites.
“I first traveled to Chile as an undergraduate study abroad student and then returned again as a graduate student to carry out ethnographic fieldwork for my dissertation,” Ashley said. “In each case, I benefitted from the knowledge, experience, and professional networks of Chilean professors who guided me in my research. Receiving this Fulbright Scholar Award allows me to return to a country that has been central to my personal and professional development and to give back to the intellectual community that helped to train me.”