More alike than different
Posted: November 5, 2009
Fulbright Scholar brings home a world perspective
ATSU-KCOM Professor Richard Cenedella, Ph.D., or “Dr. Richard” as he was known at the University of Bahrain, recounted his experience as a Fulbright Scholar for about 40 faculty, staff, and students on ATSU’s Missouri campus in August.
His six-month stay in the small Islamic country was “rich and layered,” he said. “I benefited more than I gave, surely.”
A visiting professor at the University of Bahrain, the pride and joy of the country’s king, Dr. Cenedella said he was treated with respect and friendliness and learned much about the country – small, isolated, and liberal – and its people, mostly foreigners. In fact, 45 percent of the country’s population are foreign workers.
“They want to know who you are first, and what you do second,” he said. “Overall, we’re more alike than different. Family is No. 1.”
While at the university, Dr. Cenedella taught a nutrition course to a class of eight female students and conducted research with faculty in the Biology Department. Women, he said, make up the overwhelming majority of students on campus. Faculty, he said, have the same concerns as faculty in the United States and are friendly and social. The majority of their research, he said, focuses on enhancing the economic development of the country.
When he wasn’t teaching or doing research at the university, he found time to fish and swim; explore the country, its cuisine, and world-class malls; and work in a one-week trip to Egypt. He also learned more about the culture, such as inexpensive services and an aversion to speed limits.
As an official member of the U.S. Embassy, he also attended embassy parties and had access to the U.S. military base.
“I had a really good life,” he said, “but above all else, my stay in Bahrain contributed to the goal of the Fulbright program of enhancing relationships between the United States and other countries.”