Two professors at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Drs. Joan Beder and Jonathan Fast, have been matched with international universities to serve as Fulbright Specialists in January. The Fulbright Specialist Program is designed to award grants to U.S. faculty and professionals in select disciplines ranging from agriculture to urban planning to participate in two- to six-week projects at colleges and universities in more than 100 countries.
Beder and Fast join three of their Wurzweiler colleagues—Dr. Gary Stein, Rev. Frederick Streets and Dr. Rozetta Wilmore-Schaeffer—who have served as Specialists in the past year. In addition, a sixth Wurzweiler professor, Dr. Norman Linzer, is in the process of being paired as a Fulbright Specialist with a host institution.
Beder, an expert on social work practice in the military, will be teaching a course at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Her course will focus on the nature of war, its impact on those who are wounded—both physically and mentally—and their loved ones/caregivers. The course will explore theories, research and intervention strategies for social workers who choose to work with this population. Beder will also meet with Israeli scholars who have engaged in research on military social work with the intention of pursuing possible joint research endeavors.
Fast, who has studied mass murder since the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 and has lectured and conducted seminars on the subject, will lend his expertise on ceremonial violence to the University of Pretoria in South Africa—a country dealing with serious school violence issues. He will work closely with the school’s department of psychology and teach at the School of Social Work and Criminology, supervising students writing dissertations on violence. Fast will also teach a module on violence and aggression.
