PITT SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES WELCOMES INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS

PITTSBURGH, September 13 -- The University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences (SIS) is hosting eight visiting scholars who are participating in the school's graduate programs.

Six of the participants are in the Fulbright Scholars program, which typically provides a year of study for visiting international scholars, and is considered among the most prestigious scholarship programs in the United States. The Fulbright Scholars visiting the School of Information Sciences are: Jesus Alonso of Spain, Julio Arauz of Ecuador, Jesus Calle of Colombia, Francisco Cordova of Ecuador, Octavio Herrera of Mexico, and Kate Manning of Ireland.

A seventh Fulbright Scholar, Denis L. Nkweteyim from Cameroon, is participating in the Fulbright Junior Staff Development (JSD) program. The program's objective is to train junior faculty members in African systems of higher education.

The eighth visiting scholar, Andrei Troufanov of Russia, is sponsored by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) under the Contemporary Issues Fellowship Program.

"The School of Information Sciences is very honored and proud to be hosting such a distinguished group of scholars," said SIS Dean Toni Carbo, who noted that six is an unusually high number of Fulbright Scholars to be studying at one information sciences program.

"The addition of the IREX Fellow working on information exchange and protection enhances the school's community of scholars and supports the school's multicultural and interdisciplinary research and learning," she added.

The Fulbright Program awards approximately 4,500 grants a year, for both travel and study, to bring scholars representing a variety of disciplines from over 120 countries to the United States to lecture or conduct research. The program also gives grants to allow scholars from the United States to expand their studies abroad. Named for the late Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright, the program was founded in 1946 to improve understanding and relations between the United States and other nations. (More information about the Fulbright program can be found at www.iie.org/fulbright.)

Through its Contemporary Issues Fellowship Program, IREX is helping to support individuals with leadership potential from the new independent states of the former Soviet region to conduct research and analysis, write studies, and deliver lectures in the U.S. with the goal of playing an active role in sustaining the transition to democracy, free market, and civil society in their home countries.

- 30 -

9/13/00/mgc