Fellner awarded Fulbright Specialist grant to North Macedonia

Dan Fellner, faculty affiliate with the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has received a prestigious Fulbright Specialist grant to the Republic of North Macedonia.

This is Fellner’s seventh Fulbright fellowship; previously he has received Fulbright Scholar grants to Latvia, Moldova and Bulgaria, and Fulbright Specialist grants to Indonesia, Lithuania and Latvia. Additionally, he has taught a one-week intensive course in communications four times at the Fulbright International Summer Institute in Bulgaria, which borders North Macedonia.

Fellner joined Arizona State University as a faculty associate in 1998. He has taught courses in print and broadcast journalism, public relations, international mass media, intercultural communications and travel writing. He currently teaches courses in Eastern Europe, Asia, Cuba and other foreign destinations for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

In North Macedonia, Fellner will be teaching a course in intercultural communications and conducting other lectures at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, or UKIM, during a six-week period beginning in late April. UKIM is the oldest and most prestigious university in North Macedonia, which recently changed its name from the Republic of Macedonia to resolve a three-decade-long dispute with its neighbor, Greece. Greece had blocked the country’s full international recognition, including its admission to NATO and the European Union, since its declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.  

Skopje, capital of North Macedonia, is Tempe’s sister city. The relationship dates back to 1971, when Skopje was part of socialist Yugoslavia. As part of that relationship, ASU and UKIM collaborated to exchange students and faculty between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Fellner’s Fulbright is one of a set of initiatives the two universities are pursuing to revitalize the partnership. During summer 2019, UKIM Professor Borche Arsov will teach Macedonian at ASU’s Critical Languages Institute in Tempe, while School of Politics and Global Studies faculty members Henry Sivak and Daniel Pout will head a study abroad program to Greece and Northern Macedonia.

"The University of Saints Cyril and Methodius and Arizona State University share a commitment to the importance of higher education for broader society. We are pleased to be extending our collaboration by hosting Professor Fellner as a Fulbright specialist," said Professor Nikola Jankulovski, rector of UKIM. 

“As a vibrant, multicultural democracy that avoided major violence throughout a turbulent period, the Republic of North Macedonia offers lessons and inspiration for foreign scholars and students,” said Keith Brown, director of the Melikian Center. “We look forward to the mutual learning that Professor Fellner’s Fulbright will set in motion.”

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Fulbright Specialist Program provides awards to U.S. academics and professionals to work in partnership with academic, nonprofit and cultural institutions in over 100 countries. Grants range from two to six weeks.