Last week, the Institute for International Education named Towson University a Top Producer of Fulbright Scholars in 2011. Towson ranked first among 29 regional master’s institutions with four 2011 Fulbright honorees.

Each year, a select number of exceptional scholars are chosen as the recipients of this award.

This year, Towson professors Brian Fath, Robyn Quick, Joseph Rudolph and Rebecca Pisano were recipients of a Fulbright grant.

Fath, a biology professor, was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair Position, which is the most prestigious award offered.

“Of course it is an honor to receive this,” he said. “In fact as far as I know, it is the first time that a Towson faculty has been awarded a distinguished chair position.”

Quick, a theatre professor, won the same award.

“I am very honored by this award and appreciative of the opportunity to share artistic methods and plays from the U.S. with students and audiences in Russia and to learn more about Russian life and culture,” she said.  “Ultimately, I hope my work makes some useful contribution to the Fulbright program goal of promoting mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

This is Rudolph’s, a political science professor, third grant from Fulbright.

He was awarded his first Fulbright grant to Belgium as a graduate student to study the problems of managing national conflict, which lead to his first publications.

He received a second Fulbright grant as a professor sent to Czechoslovakia, the last year the country was united, to teach students emerging from communist education and assist universities to develop western-style programs in political science, a discipline that did not exist under communism.

He is now teaching at the American University in Kosovo, where he is trying to bridge those teaching political science and international relations with members of the discipline in the western world.

“The first two grants helped me establish my professional reputation, such as it may be, and this time around I am trying to give something back to the program,” Rudolph said.  “Obviously I am a big fan of the program, but then I never met anyone who has been a part of it that did not feel the same way.”

Interim President Marcia Welsh said the professors’ achievements are a small portion of what makes the University great.

“I am pleased to see that our excellence is receiving international recognition as a top-producing Fulbright institution,” she said in a press release.