Manhattan College Faculty Member Receives Fulbright Award

Dr. Pamela Chasek to research in New Zealand from February through August.

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Dr. Pamela Chasek, associate professor of government and director of the international studies program at Manhattan College, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and research at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand during the upcoming spring academic semester.

Chasek’s project, “Small Islands, Big Issues: Formulating Regional and International Responses to Environmental Problems in the South Pacific,” will examine environmental issues faced by South Pacific island states.  She will address how the government of New Zealand has worked with the small island states of the South Pacific within the context of regional organizations to respond to these challenges.

“I’ve been interested in island ecosystems and sustainability issues for over a decade, and I will now finally get the opportunity to look at these issues more closely,” says Chasek. “This research is quite important because in a globalizing world, it is the small, isolated countries that are being left behind. How can we ensure that their unique culture, history and ecosystems can survive in a world that doesn’t value the small and weak?”

Chasek, who is one of nearly 800 U.S. faculty and professionals traveling abroad through the Fulbright Scholar program in the 2006-07 academic year, will be using her time in New Zealand to better understand the region’s dynamics and its interactions within the larger United Nations system.

In the past, Chasek has examined similar issues in Africa. Her experience should help shed new light on the research being done in a region of the world that is not often studied or understood by professionals in the United States. Most of the region’s experts currently reside in New Zealand or Australia.

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright (D) of Arkansas, the purpose of the Fulbright Scholar program is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world. Since the program’s inception, 102,900 Americans have studied, taught or researched abroad. Another170,600 students, scholars and teachers from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. 

Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. 

Chasek is the author and editor of several books on international environmental policy, including Global Environmental Politics, 4th edition, The Global Environment in the 21st Century: Prospects for International Cooperation, and Earth Negotiations: Analyzing Thirty Years of Environmental Diplomacy. She has published articles on the United Nations and its work on environmental issues, and is also the editor of Earth Negotiations Bulletin, a reporting service on environmental and development negotiations at the United Nations.

Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education and engineering. For more information about Manhattan College, visit www.manhattan.edu.