Tricia Hepner, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Disasters, Displacement, and Human Rights Program, received a Fulbright Award for the 2017-18 academic year.
Hepner will teach and conduct research in the Institute for Ethnology at the University of Munich in Germany. She will work through data collected with a Wenner-Gren Foundation grant on Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers and their mass mobilization for human and refugee rights for an upcoming monograph, tentatively titled Pillars of Salt: Captivity and Resistance in the Eritrean Refugee Experience.
Hepner said she hopes to gain inspiration and insight from working in Germany, which in recent years has absorbed more refugees than any other European country. In addition, she will teach an advanced English-language seminar that blends elements of two popular courses in the DDHR program. The course, Refugees, Displaced People, and Human Rights, will emphasize experiential learning.
The Fulbright Program is a prestigious international exchange initiative that awards about 1,100 grants to American scholars each year. Funded by the United States government, Fulbright Scholars are chosen based on their leadership and their abilities to teach, conduct research, and contribute to solutions for shared international concerns.
In addition to her Fulbright, Hepner received the 2017 President’s Award from the American Anthropological Association for her “gracious and powerful” leadership in “ensuring that the AAA Committee for Human Rights meets the many human rights challenges we face today.” The National Academy of Science designates the AAA President’s Award as “Highly Prestigious,” which contributes to raising our university ranking. Hepner will receive the award at the November AAA annual meeting in Washington, DC.