Drew Foster Goes East to Japan
May 31, 2008 | 
Email This Post
| 
Print This Post
| 
Drew Foster, a senior at Colorado College, has been awarded a Fulbright to study in Japan. Foster will be conducting sociological research on the development of institutional identity within Japanese higher education.
The Fulbright Program for U.S. Students is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
According to Late Senator J. William Fulbright, who was instrumental in getting the program started, “Fostering leadership, learning and empathy between cultures was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program.” The Fulbright grants provide travel and living expenses during a year of research. Past recipients of Fulbright fellowships serve in leadership positions in government, academia, business, the arts, science, media, and other professional fields. Among past Fulbright scholars are the recipients of 37 Nobel Prizes, 65 Pulitzer Prizes, 23 MacArthur Foundation Genius Awards, and 15 U.S. Presidential Medals of Freedom.
CSR+: Congratulations to you, Drew Foster, on being a student recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship. How does it feel to be a Fulbright recipient?
DF: I was very pleased to get the fellowship. The Fulbright is a tremendous opportunity, so I certainly felt like I had lucked out in a big way.
CSR+: Please tell us about the research you are going to conduct in Japan.
DF: My project will explore the development of campus cultures at Japanese universities. Specifically, I’ll be investigating how a campus “speaks about itself” to the rest of the world—that is, how components of campus life become distilled and commodified and then articulated to society at large. The research design includes content analysis of university websites and advertising literature (which I will translate), interviews of administrators and current students, and survey distribution. I’ll be traveling to a handful of universities around the country to conduct the on-site research, which also includes attending campus tours and information sessions for prospective students.
CSR+: Tell us about the Japanese higher education system in brief. How does it compare with the higher education system in the US?
DF: Tertiary education in Japan is actually in a rather unique state of flux right now, and my interest in the development of campus culture there emerged from the confluence of a couple of interesting social and political forces that are transforming the way Japanese universities work. First, the birthrate in Japan has been declining rapidly for several years, and the effects of this “population crisis”—as some term it—are finally coming to bear upon the college-age population in Japan. The 18-year-old population reached its peak in 1992 at 2.05 million, and it is expected to fall to 1.2 million by 2010. Secondly, in April 2004, as a consequence of a new deregulation initiative laid out by Japan’s Ministry of Education to change public institutions into “independent administrative corporations,” the national government began to substantially reduce its direct financial support for higher education institutions. The universities are expected to use their newly granted independence to develop more marketable curricula and to compete for students and faculty. My project will investigate how Japanese universities are attempting to bolster their appeal to a dwindling consumer base by utilizing their newfound autonomy in marketing to put forth distinct institutional identities.
CSR+: What is the reason for your interest in studying institutional identity in higher education? Are you talking about students, alumni, faculty or staff, or a community identifying with an institution? Is such identification good or bad? What purpose does such identification serve? How does such identification form?
DF: Institutional identity simply refers to the ostensible character, values, and practices of an “institution” in society, which includes entities like corporations, churches, and certainly universities. The basic theory is that individuals in society become affiliated with institutions and their own personal character, values, and practices (their “identity”) comes to be shaped by that of the institution. So, for instance, a student who becomes affiliated with a university whose identity includes high prestige is likely to take on high prestige as a part of her own identity. In short, identity—in the sociological sense of the word—comes to inform the manner in which one segments, orders, and acts upon the social world. We care about the development of an institution’s identity, then, because it tells us something about how its constituents operate in society.
CSR+: Why did you choose to conduct your research in Japan? Do you think your findings in Japan will have relevance elsewhere in the world?
DF: First and foremost, I’ve been fascinated with Japanese language and culture for several years now. I lived and studied in Tokyo for five months last year, and I’ve been itching to get back to the country for a longer period of time ever since. As for the relevance, I hope that my research will contribute to the academic community’s broader understanding of social identity in general. It’s difficult to gauge at this point where my findings will be applicable elsewhere, but I see academic research like this as the process of making small contributions to a fantastically noisy discussion about the human experience that’s been going on for centuries.
CSR+: You seem to have a lot of fascination for things Japanese, or things Asian. When did such fascination start? Why do you think you have such attraction to things Asian? Are you a fan of anime and Japanese computer games as well?
DF: The first course I took at CC was called “Japanese Language & Culture,” and I took the course largely on a whim. I’d had plenty of experience with video games from Japan up to that point but was otherwise a newbie to both the language and culture in every way. That class really changed my life, though, and I quickly found myself fascinated with the culture and inspired by the prospect of mastering the language.
CSR+: What is the application process for the Fulbright Fellowship for students like? What are the steps you had to go through?
DF: The Fulbright sends students to around 150 countries every year, so choosing the destination is one of the first steps. Some Fulbright Fellowships are for English teaching assistantships, and others, like mine, are research grants. In my case, I had to complete a lengthy application that included a personal statement and a proposal for my research project. The next step was being interviewed by a committee of CC faculty members who endorsed my application and project and sent it off for competition at the Institute of International Education’s offices in New York. A number of committees judge the applications, beginning with a group of academics from your discipline (sociology in my case) and then an admission committee in the country to which you apply. Finalists move on to the presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright committee for final selections. The whole application process lasts from October to April.
CSR+: If you had to coach or provide suggestions to a future Fulbright applicant, what would be your advice?
DF: Make sure that your project is logistically feasible. It’s easy to become fascinated by a topic and then bite off more than you can chew by designing a huge research project. Also, put a lot of thought into making a case for how you might be uniquely qualified to conduct the research. Demonstrating that you’re the “right person for the job” is key.
CSR+: You are about to graduate from Colorado College, a fine institution for higher education in the Rockies. Please tell us about some of your fond memories of Colorado Springs and Colorado College.
DF: My fondest memories are undoubtedly of the people at CC. Learning about myself in the context of friends and professors who have become something more like siblings and parents has been tremendously formative for me. Time with friends has been punctuated by activities that became rituals, from hikes through Waldo Canyon and snowboarding trips in Breckenridge to movies at the Dollar Theatre and lunches at Wooglin’s.
CSR+: A lot of Colorado College students are insulated from the surroundings. Did you have much connection with the city and the community at large?
DF: I grew up in Cañon City so have been in and out of Colorado Springs for my entire life. Southern Colorado has always been my home, so I probably came to CC with a much bigger pre-existing connection to the community than most of my peers.
CSR+: What do you like to do when you have free time?
DF: Video games are always at the top of my free time list. Hiking, running, and snowboarding are the ways that I get outside in Colorado, and reading (mostly non-fiction) and cooking (mostly non-edible) are what keep me indoors. Performance is a passion of mine, so I’ve spent the last few years performing with CC’s comedy improv team, acting in the occasional play, and making movies with my roommate. I also like keeping up with current events, so various news sites eat up much of my free time as well.
CSR+: You grew up in Cañon City. Then you moved to Colorado Springs to study at Colorado College. Now, you have a Fulbright to conduct research for a year in Japan. Many Fulbright recipients have gone on to achieve great things in life. What does the future hold for you, do you think?
DF: Hopefully as many more adventures as possible. At CC I discovered that my two favorite activities are thinking and writing, so I’m hoping to pursue a career that facilitates both of those things for me. After some time in Japan my plan is to attend graduate school in sociology.
CSR+: Good Bye!
DF: Thanks for the interview.
- J
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
