Fulbright Scholars Abound!

Dr. Les Hannah, associate professor at NSU, has recently made a voyage to Denmark.  His mission with the  Fulbright program is to develop a cultural exchange between two schools,  Esbjerg in Denmark,  and NSU.  Hannah aspires that through this mission, it will lead stronger academic relationships between the two nations.

Here is a Q & A to get to know Dr. Hannah who talks about the upcoming journey.

Tell us about your trip to Denmark?

I will be housed in Esbjerg, Denmark, which is a western coastal city. I will be working primarily with the Handelsskoles, which is a university prepatory school. During my time there I will lecture to most of the teachers in that nation-wide system. I will also spend several days in Copenhagen at the Education Ministry working with them to develop cultural curriculum. The hope of the Fulbright program with this partnership is to develop a cultural exchange between the two schools: Esbjerg and NSU.  Hopefully that will lead to more and stronger academic relationships, and other types of relationships, between not just the schools but the nations.
I am stopping along the way to Denmark at a few places I exchanged emails with.  I will be making stops in Dublin, Belfast and Antrim Ireland/Northern Ireland, Glasgow Scotland, London, Paris, Brussels Belgium, Hannover and Hamburg Germany, then finally to Denmark. These stops have several reasons; some are just because I want to, but others are because I have swapped emails with someone at an institution that discussed a cultural exchange with me while I was in the Fulbright selection process.


What are your aspirations and limitations for this trip?

I will begin with the limitations first: as with any teacher the most concerning limitation is time. There is never enough time to teach what truly needs teaching. That is true even under the “normal” circumstances. However, it is even more so under these circumstances, you know – when an entire country wants one person to come in and teach their children everything they ever need to know about American Indian people. That simply cannot be done by one person. I will do what I can, hopefully plant a learning seed that will grow, and maybe, just maybe some of these Danes will gather at NSU to learn more.
Which leads me to my aspirations: I want this to open doors for Danish students to come to the States and to NSU, and for some of our NSU students to travel to Denmark.  One concern I have about NSU students is the lack of international experience so many of them have. A comment came to my attention recently  from one of our Composition classes wherein a student remarked on a photo of an Afgan boy; the comment was, “Probably grew up to be a terrorist.” Perhaps.  However, it is just as likely that he grew up to be a child psychologist specializing in children traumatized by war. Or he may have become the emergency room surgeon that saved your mother’s life from that American DUI hit-and-run driver.  Such preconceived prejudices can be easily stopped with something as simple as a visit. I do not believe so much of the rhetoric I see on television: why? Because I know better. How? Because I’ve been there, and I have come to know many of these people on at least a fundamental level. We are all only human.  I wish to inspire NSU students to get outside their stifling little comfort zones and learn a thing or two about their own humanity.

What is your one major goal you hope to achieve while Denmark?
 I hope to show everyone who cares to watch that learning is a life-long process. To better yourself better your mind. Learn. Learn. Learn. I cannot stress enough how important learning is to the betterment of all humankind.  Learn people! That’s all it takes – LEARN.


Tune into A Fulbright Odyssey regularly to see updates from Dr. Hannah in Denmark!